In today’s column, we are remembering the Bath Portland Cement Company on the current site of the Keystone Cement Company quarry on Route 329 in East Allen Township. Recently, this writer received a history of the Bath Portland Cement Company from Mrs. Barbara Wiemann, a historian with the Governor Wolf Historical Society.

Mrs. Wiemann is a graduate of Palmerton High School and Millersville College, where she earned her library certification. She served as librarian at the Easton Area Public Library and the Henry F. Marx Local History Room for 42 years. According to the Easton Area Public Library, the Marx Room contains the largest collection of local history and genealogy in northeastern Pennsylvania. She continues her research with the GWHS.

In this initial column, Mrs. Wiemann takes you back to the formation of the Bath Portland Cement Company:

East Allen was an agrarian township with 138 farms in 1900. Farmer and farm laborer were the predominant occupations. There were 248 dwellings to shelter 1,137 residents — all but 26 native born. But change was at hand, and East Allen was about to become home to its first large scale industrial operation.

On Dec. 10, 1902, the Pennsylvania State Department issued a charter to the Bath Portland Cement Company of Easton. The new venture had capital of only $1,000. The man directing this endeavor was Fred B. Franks. Although only 32, he had already built and sold a cement mill near Martins Creek.

In December 1903, after attracting investors, BPCC purchased four farms on 320 acres northeast of the intersection of present day Route 329 and Airport Road. Construction of a modern cement manufacturing facility began almost immediately. Plans called for a plant constructed of concrete and metal and featured a steam power plant with a duplicate electric plant. The stack would be 150 feet tall with kilns 100 feet long.

Plant construction took about 18 months and production began in July 1905. By November, the company was operating day and night at full capacity. In January 1906, BPCC packed 65,000 barrels, each containing 376 pounds of cement. In November, production reached 3,000 barrels a day. By 1908, BPCC employed 500 men.

The influx of employees created a need for housing and services. A new general merchandise store opened near the plant. BPCC built tenant houses in what was known as East Jacksonville, on current Jacksonville Road. In 1900, Jacksonville was the intersection of Airport Road and Route 329. When the intersection became known as Franks Corner — named for BPCC founder Fred Franks — the Jacksonville name shifted to the company houses to the east. For recreation, the company organized a baseball team.

To obtain its cement rock, BPCC operated a large quarry on the property. Indeed, the location of BPCC had been determined by the availability of the raw material. On April 2, 1908, Mrs. Franks detonated the largest blast in the history of the cement industry up to that time. Workers drilled holes 20 feet from the edge of quarry cliff — 18 feet apart and 70 feet deep. More than 50,000 tons of cement rock were blown loose. The blast cost between $3000 and $4000.

In July, Mrs. Franks set off an even larger blast that loosened 100,000 tons of rock. The shock was felt 15 miles away in Easton. This aggressive blasting was needed to meet a one million barrel order, worth $2 million, from Havana, Cuba.

In November 1908, feuding shareholders elected a new management team. The losing shareholders charged mismanagement by the new leaders, and, in 1910, after a “long and bitter fight marked by acrimonious debate,” BPCC shareholders ousted the management and named Fred Franks superintendent and general manager.

The fight wound its way through the court system. In 1911, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled in favor of the 1908 team. However, they retained Franks to run the operation.

In the next column, Mrs. Wiemann shares the growth and expansion of the Bath Portland Cement Company.

See you in two weeks.