Recently, I was given the original minutes from the organization of the Coplay Cement Manufacturing Company, dated March 20, 1866. At the meeting, David Saylor, Esias Rehrig and Adam Woolever formed the company to produce hydraulic cement, which preceded Portland cement.

The company was a stock company with a capital of $100,000, divided into 2,000 shares of $50 each, with a privilege of increasing the capital to $300,000.

They purchased a tract of land in North Whitehall containing cement stone. David Saylor was president, and Esias Rehrig was secretary/treasurer. The Coplay Cement Company, in 1978, would close its Coplay plant and construct a modern plant in Nazareth, which became Essroc. Today, the facility is owned by Lehigh Heidelberg.

Another piece of local history forwarded to me was published in 2016 in American Breweriana Journal. The magazine covers brewery history and advertising. The cover features a photograph of a calendar from the Northampton Brewing Company in 1911. The original calendar was given to me by the nephew of Betty Seidel, of Cherryville, whose mother, Helen, was a secretary at the brewery in 1911. This treasure of the past can be viewed at Atlas Cement Company Memorial Museum, 1401 Laubach Ave., Northampton.

The museum was also given a 1928 Atlas trade manual in excellent condition. The company’s main office was 25 Broadway in New York City. The company had plants in Leeds, Ala.; Hudson, N.Y.; Hannibal, Mo.; Independence, Kan.; and Coplay. The most famous of the plants was the giant complex in Northampton, which was the largest in the world.

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In two weeks, celebrate a milestone anniversary of Zion’s Stone United Church of Christ, Kreidersville.