In my last column, I wrote about the “Wizard of Menlo Park,” Thomas Edison, and his interest in the cement industry. A man of a million interests, Edison decided to build a cement plant, which he designed by his own hand in 24 hours.

The Edison Portland Cement Company was organized on Aug. 19, 1899, and constructed in New Village, N.J. It was built there because of the abundant limestone resources. The plant started operation in 1901 and produced 3,000 barrels of cement daily. Edison was interested in all facets of the industry, especially the kilns. A kiln is a long steel cylinder where cement rock is burned at very high temperatures. It is still a major component in present-day cement plants.

Most early kilns had a diameter of 8 to 10 feet and were 70 to 80 feet in length. In 1909, Edison was granted a patent for use of kilns 150 feet and more in length. This was a bold move, and many in the industry were apprehensive, thinking it wouldn’t work and it would be impossible to turn such a large kiln without warping.

Edison, a man with little experience in the industry, was right; the experts were wrong. Shortly after his patent, 125-foot kilns became standard as substitutes for the old 70-footers. In one instance, he built one 465 feet in length.

In my years visiting cement plants, I have seen 500-foot kilns in operation. Today, many kilns are shorter, but they rotate more rapidly as the stone is heated in preheaters. If you drive past Keystone Cement Company, you will see the “Empire State of Bath,” a concrete preheater taller than the PPL building in Allentown.

Edison also experimented with concrete highway construction. He contacted the highway department of New Jersey to build an experimental one-mile section of a highway. It was constructed by Salmon Brothers of Netcong, N.J., in 1912. In 1954, the state redid the highway, and it lasted for more than 50 years, leaving some of the original blocks intact. A section of the original highway is on display at Edison National Historic Site in West Orange, N.J.

The historic sign of the highway reads: “The Concrete Mile - New Jersey’s first concrete highway was built in Franklin Township in 1912 with cement manufactured at Thomas A. Edison’s Portland Cement Co. in New Village.”

If you drive on Route 57 in New Village, you will find stone buildings with a store and a post office visited by Edison. A few remains of the old plant still exist off the highway.

The Edison Portland Cement Company plant, from 1901 to 1941, was a complex of 60 buildings, underground passageways and a railroad system. At its height, it employed more than 600 people and operated its own farms.

Locally, old-timers I interviewed told me the first concrete road in our area used Coplay cement from the historic Coplay Cement Manufacturing Company founded by David Saylor. The road from North Coplay to Cementon was said to be our first.

***

In two weeks, we will be visiting the first concrete homes.