Coplay Cement Company Kilns facts for kids
Quick facts for kids |
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Coplay Cement Company Kilns
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Coplay Cement Company Kilns, September 2012
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 Location in Pennsylvania
Location in the United States
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| Location | N. 2nd St., Coplay, Pennsylvania |
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| Area | 2.6 acres (1.1 ha) |
| Built | 1892–1893 |
| Built by | Coplay Cement Co. |
| Architectural style | Schoefer vertical |
| NRHP reference No. | 80003556 |
| Added to NRHP | September 2, 1980 |
The Coplay Cement Company Kilns, also known as the Saylor Park Industrial Museum, is a cool outdoor historical site. You can find it in Coplay, Pennsylvania, in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania. These nine giant ovens, called kilns, were built between 1892 and 1893. They were used to make a super strong building material called Portland cement.
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What are the Coplay Cement Kilns?
These kilns are made from red bricks that were produced right there in the local area. They are a special type called Schoefer vertical kilns. The kilns stopped working in 1904 because newer methods came along.
In 1975, the Coplay Cement Company gave the kilns and the land around them to Lehigh County. This gift helped create a museum about the cement industry. The museum celebrates how important the company and cement were to the area's early growth. Today, Lehigh County owns and takes care of the site. The Lehigh County Historical Society helps with educational programs. The kilns were added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.
Why is this place important for cement history?
The Saylor Cement Museum honors a man named David Saylor (1827-1884). He is known as the "father of the American Portland cement industry." The museum also celebrates all the people who helped build this industry. It became very important in the Lehigh Valley and across the country.
Lehigh County was a perfect place to make cement. Cement is made from rocks that have lime, silica, and alumina. Luckily, Lehigh County has a special type of limestone called "cement rock." This rock naturally contains all three of these ingredients!
Who was David O. Saylor?
In 1866, David O. Saylor helped start the Coplay Cement Company. In 1871, he received the very first American patent for Portland cement. This type of cement is much stronger than the natural cement used before. Saylor's Portland cement was used to build many important structures. These included bridges, docks, jetties, roads, aqueducts, subways, and even skyscrapers! By 1900, the Lehigh Valley was making 72% of all the Portland cement in the United States.
How did cement kilns change over time?
The very first kiln at the Coplay Cement Company was a "dome kiln." These kilns were not very efficient. They had to be shut down often to be refilled and cleaned.
In 1893, Coplay Cement built a new section called Mill B. This is where the Schoefer kilns you see today were located. Schoefer kilns were a big improvement. They could run all the time without stopping. However, even more efficient machines, called rotary kilns, soon came into use. Because of this, the Schoefer kilns in Mill B became outdated and were shut down in 1904. The buildings of Mill B were later used by Coplay Cement for storage.
