The paper is an initial attempt to approach the tension between industrial heritage in rural company towns and working class identity. By sketching the decline economic process starting in the 1970s and the following boost around the industrial heritage in the shadow of deindustrialization we try to approach the question how history can bring people together for the benefit of the community at large. How could a history of rural communities include working class people to empower local communities finding themselves struggling to survive? In the end of this paper we try to outline some perspectives on how to possibly do research about history, memory and cultural heritage as community building aspects in the rusty Bergslagen region.