Empire Coke Plant, Holt Road, Holt

Source document Quoted word for word from HAER ALA,63-HOLT,2-. Not written, edited or summarised by this site.

This report is based upon written documentation donated by the Birmingham Historical Society, reformatted to HABS/HAER guidelines. Description: The plant contains 4 0 Semet Solvay ovens dating to 20 ovens dating to chargers, the original three story, wood-frame overhead, gravity-fed stock trestle, the by-products recovery plant with two original exhausters constructed in and the original streetcar-like rail system, coke wharfs, etc. The brick power house contains one Ridgeway No. Engine patented in and a General Electric Direct Current Motor patented in as well as three other early compressors. Condition: The site is currently in operation and well-maintained.

Significance The Empire Coke Plant is an exceptionally well preserved, rare surviving example of the first by- product coke making process imported into the United States from Germany. Preceded only by plants at Syracuse, New York, Dunbar, Pennsylvania and a few others, now demolished. Empire's Semet- Solvay plant is still fully operational and employs most of the original equipment. The coke oven battery differs significantly from the battery and features a series of improvements, particularly in flue work EMPIRE COKE PLANT HAER No. AL-21 (Page 2) and oven heating techniques, representing early technological milestones in the evolution of the Semet-Solvay process.

The organization of work, retained virtually intact from the original plant, provides an extremely important record of the tasks and skills required before by-product coke making achieved the mechanization of modern plants.

Historical Overview

The coke works were built to supply the blast furnaces and foundry associated with Central Iron and Foundry Company's cast iron soil pipe works operated just to the west of the works until the In the first battery of Semet Solvay ovens were built here and followed by a second battery and a by-product coke plant in The plant operated until the depression. DeBardeleben Coal Company acquired the coke works and by-product plant in Henry T. DeBardeleben, son of Henry F. DeBardeleben, served as President of DeBardeleben Coal from its formation in through the merger of this company with Empire Coal Co.

and Corona Coal Company in In the new company owned coal lands in Walker, Cullman and Fayette counties, engaged in mining on the Black Creek, Mary Lee and Corona Seams with an annual capacity of one million tons, operated retail coal yards in Birmingham, bunkering divisions at Mobile and New Orleans and this by-product plant. McWane, Inc., headquartered in Birmingham, acquired Empire Coke in The 60 original Koppers ovens and by-product plant have been continuously operating since with the ovens individually relined as they wear out. It is believed to be the oldest operating Semet Solvay by-product plant in the nation. The Henry Ford Museum supplies spare parts to the plant. EMPIRE COKE PLANT HAER No. AL-21 (Page 3) Sources Consulted W. W.

Davis, "The Semet-Solvay By-product Coke Oven," In Proceedings of the Engineer's Society of Western Pennsylvania. 2 6 by the Engineer's Society of Western Pennsylvania, D. L. Jacobson, International Handbook on the Bv-product Coke Industry (New York: The Chemical Catalog Company, Inc., F. W. Miller, "Alabama has Made Great Progress in Coking Coal," Coal Age 26 (October H. S. Geismer, and David Hancock. "Beehive and By-product Coke in Alabama," Coal Age 3 (June Field Check with Marvin Harper, Birmingham Historical Society, Industrial Corporation files, McWane, Inc. Site Visit led by assistant plant manager Danny Lewis, Guy, Jim, plant manager. Interview by Brenda Howell, National Cyclopedia of American Biography, Vol. 47, p. 321 Woodward, Joseph H., Alabama Blast Furnaces. pp.