Tonight | Empire Builders: The Rust Belt on SBS: America’s industrial rise and fall – Empire Builders: The Rust Belt airs on SBS on Saturday 3 October 2026 at 5:25pm.
American Titans opens the two-part series by looking at the infrastructure and industries that transformed American life. The Erie Canal and Milwaukee’s brewing heritage offer two routes into the Great Lakes region’s industrial story.
Empire Builders on SBS: American Titans
America’s Great Lakes region had coal, iron ore and water in abundance. Those resources fuelled an industrial revolution that created vast fortunes and transformed Chicago, Detroit, Pittsburgh and Milwaukee.
For almost a century, the Midwest supplied the United States and the world with products ranging from steel and cars to typewriters and razor blades.
From the 1970s, economic crises, global competition and technological change brought a different era. Factory closures, job losses and shrinking populations transformed the region into the Rust Belt.
The series charts this rise and fall, examining industrial disruption and the challenge of reinvention. Its opening episode is American Titans.
The episode explores the impact of the Erie Canal, America’s first major trade route. The canal helped spark a boom in agriculture and factory-made goods in cities including Buffalo, New York.
It then turns to Milwaukee, where German immigrants brought the lucrative craft of brewing. Across the country, industrial titans drove innovation and progress that reshaped everyday life.
When to watch
Watch Empire Builders: The Rust Belt on SBS on Saturday 3 October 2026 at 5:25pm. Stream free on SBS on Demand.
More TV Central SBS news. Visit SBS on Demand for viewing information.
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