Tractors, trucks, and (as of 1926) zippy Puch mopeds have been locally produced. In east-side Münichholz, a plant (open for tours) manufactures engines for BMW automobiles. The city's industrial activity came at the price of World War II air raids, the heaviest coming on February 23, 1944. Two Stadtplatz buildings, hit by stray bombs, were destroyed, afterwards replaced by ambitiously blended-in 1950s structures. Streetfront plaques on each of them tell the story.

Toward the war's end in May 1945, the bridge spanning the Enns became the meeting point of the Soviet Red army's 5th guards parachute unit and the 751st tank battalion of the Americans' 71st infantry division. Two months of joint Russian/U.S. occupation followed.

Austria's Christmas Village
An epileptic local bandmaster's miraculous recovery led to construction of 1725's echt-Barock, richly gilded Christkindl Pilgrimage Church, 3 km/1.86 mi southwest of the Innenstadt. Gaze high upward toward the dome fresco, a vision of the Assumption painted by Johann Carl von Reslfeld. Visitors come from far beyond for seasonal viewings of the parsonage's enormous Pöttmesser nativity scene (778 figures!) and a Biblical diorama populated by 300 linden-carved creatures, made mechanically moveable by Karl Klauda's intricate system of bicycle chains, gears, and shafts. Deluged by mail during each year's Advent season, the village's tiny post office nevertheless manages to Christkindl-postmark more than two million cards and letters.
Right in town, a former hospital now houses Austria's first Christmas museum, displaying Elfriede Kreuzberger's collection of 14,000 Yuletide decorations dating from as early as 1830, plus doll houses and 200 puppets. As expected, a huge Tannenbaum fir tree stands at midpoint on the Stadtplatz, a setting (strung with thousands of lights) for caroling and trumpet concerts. Narrow, north-branching Enge Gasse ranks as Steyr's swankiest pedestrian lane, favored by shoppers for leather goods, fashion attire, and handicrafts.