Local Grange Celebrates 100th Year
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The Home News Your Local News
JUNE 30-JULY 6, 2016
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Saylor Anniversary Fire at Alexandria Manor Page 7
Schoefer Kilns and Essroc Nazareth. -photos by Larry Oberly
by ED PANY In 2016, two cement companies observed milestones in history. I was fortunate to have been invited to the 15th anniversary of Saylor Cement 1866-2016 by Essroc of Nazareth who continues to honor the Saylor name and Buzzi-Unicem of Stockertown which was Hercules Cement. David Saylor, a local boy, saw the future of cement in the Lehigh Valley when he and some friends founded the Coplay Cement Manufacturing Company
in Coplay. They utilized the abundant supply of cement rock in the area. He was determined to make cement as good and superior to the cement being produced in Europe. With his patent of Portland Cement in 1866, he was awarded a Superior Quality Award at the Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia in 1876. The first cement was shipped in wooden barrels produced in a co-operative operated by the company.
The historical Schoefer Kilns at Saylor Park, constructed in 1892, are the only vertical kilns remaining in the United States and give us a view of our past. This writer has spoken to many of the former Coplay Cement Company employees who for years were listed as local #14 United Cement Lime and Gypsum workers. After a long and distinguished history, the Coplay Cement plant was in need of major renovations. In 1976, the company was
purchased by Paris based Ciments Francais who entered the American cement market. The cost to rebuild Coplay was prohibitive so a new plant was constructed in Nazareth on the site of the old Nazareth Cement Company. The new plant was the most energy efficient plant in North America. In 1990-97, Ciments Francais North America was grouped under one name: Essroc. In 1992,
The East Allen Township Board of Supervisors on Thursday voted to apply for 2016 uncommitted municipal gaming grant funds. The maximum possible is $25,000, said Township Manager Deborah Seiple. If granted, the money would come from the Northampton County Gaming Revenue & Economic
Redevelopment Authority, and be used for as yet undetermined capital needs. Previously, East Allen received funds toward a ladder truck for the volunteer fire department in 2012 and funds in 2014 for a security system at the municipal building and public works garage. Another much larger grant application was approved, which would seek from $200,000 to
$250,000 for a right turn lane on eastbound Rt. 329 and Airport Road. Township engineer James Milot was authorized to apply to PennDOT for a Multimodal Transportation grant that would give the township three years to spend it. Milot said last month that the industrial park development proposed in Allen Township could result in a greatly increased flow
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East Allen to apply for $25,000 gaming Grant, another for right turning lane by BILL HALBFOERSTER The Home News
Kerry Huffman Joins Phantoms Staff
of tractor-trailers heading east on R. 329 and turning south on Rt. 987 (Airport Road) to reach U.S. Rt. 22. Mrs. Seiple wants to schedule a meeting with Allen Township and Hanover Township, Northampton County on the Northampton Industrial Park highway occupancy permit and traffic impact issues regarding Continued on page 2
Opinion: Sweitzer’s State of the Union Page 13
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