After being shuttered for more than 50 years, Pennsylvania’s last massive coal breaker has been demolished in a controlled implosion.
Called the St. Nicholas Breaker, it was situated between Mahanoy City and Shenandoah in Schuylkill County.
“It is a marker to the past because it shows how important this area was, not just to the industrial revolution but the development of the nation as a whole,” said Tom Loftus of Pioneer Tunnel, as reported by WNEP.
Gene Perkins, a third-generation miner from Schuylkill County, was interviewed by WNEP when working as a security guard at the St. Nicholas Breaker.
“When you look at this what do you see? A lot of blood, sweat and tears,” said Perkins.
The breaker closed in the 1960s and its owner, Reading Anthracite Company, has had it demolished.
In its final days, the coal breaker attracted visitors who wanted to see it one last time.
A couple from Maryland couldn’t resist seeing the mammoth relic one last time.
“It is amazing. I wish I could come back 40 years ago when it was in operation, just to see it and hear it,” said Richard Edwards from Maryland.
Watch the raw footage above of the breaker coming down on Thursday, March 15, 2018.
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