Today, I am looking at a rare piece of Saylor history - a century-old booklet titled “Cimento Portland Saylor’s Coplay Cement Manufacturing Company.”

Coplay Cement decided to open an export sales office on Fifth Avenue in New York City. They decided this was necessary to continue to be competitive.

When World War I started in 1914, European cement companies curtailed exporting their cement to many customers in Latin America; as a result, United States companies filled the void.

Coplay printed a number of sales pamphlets in Spanish and Portuguese. The pamphlet we are looking at is printed in Portuguese.

The company traces its history and quality of its cement. They show some of the many projects that used Coplay Cement.

Coplay Cement was the first cement company to employ a chemist to monitor its cement. Mr. John Eckert, of Lehigh University, was selected by Mr. Saylor as his assistant. This marked the first stop in scientific progress in the cement industry.

***

In two weeks, we will return to 1920 and board a Lehigh Valley Railroad train to visit some projects built with Coplay Cement.