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Pennsylvania Scenes: Preserving the Huber Breaker and an Update from The Times Leader
During his interview, Monsignor McGowan talked about the Huber Breaker. He talked about breaker boys, and he talked about his father’s experience as a breaker boy.
Monsignor McGowan, as you know, was from Ashley, and the Huber Breaker is located in Ashley and Kitch and I thoughtit it would be a very good idea to present a Pennsylvania Scene on the Huber Breaker.
I offer this disclaimer.
For many years, my wife and I along with a group of public spirited citizens have been trying to save the Huber. If truth be told, we’ve spent very long hours and we’ve had the best intentions, but we haven’t made a great deal of progress.
In the years that I was part of the Huber Breaker Preservation Society Board of Directors, we accomplished some very, significant things, but the breaker stands in an incredible state of disrepair and if something isn’t done soon, there will be no future for the Huber Breaker.
 
But it’s interesting. On the day when we’re talking about one of Ashley’s most celebrated sons, we thought it important to talk about one of Ashley’s most celebrated treasures, the Huber Breaker. Our desire is that maybe it will inspire some people to make things happen so that the Huber Breaker will serve Ashley and the Wyoming Valley and Northeastern Pennsylvania for many years to come
The Huber Breaker is an architectural and historical treasure. It stands as a bridge between two worlds. It is a monument to thousands of men who went deep into the earth in search of anthracite coal
In its day it was a technological marvel
This once magnificent pre World War 2 Industrial property closed in 1976, and for the past 30years it has been ravaged by vandals and gutted by salvagers.
It was not always that way. During the heyday of the Glenn Alden Coal Company, 3,000,000 homes were heated by anthracite. 17, 000 men work for the company…13,000 of these men worked below ground.
The Huber employed 6, 000 of these men, It produced 7,000 tons a coal a day.
Preserving the Huber is a challenge that must be met.
Huber may be dismantled for scrap Owner says he has offer for property
By DAVE JANOSKI
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TIMES LEADER/CLARK VAN ORDEN
The Huber Breaker in Ashley
ASHLEY – Plans to transform the Huber Breaker into an anthracite history museum will go on the scrap heap if its owner accepts an offer to dismantle the mammoth structure to recycle its steel.
No. 1 Contracting Corp. has given a county agency seeking to preserve the vacant structure until Dec. 7 to sweeten its offer for the 68-year-old coal-processing plant, touted as the centerpiece of a proposed $9 million museum and park complex.
The Luzerne County Redevelopment Authority had offered 6 acres it owns near the breaker to No. 1 Contracting in return for the facility. But company president Al Roman wants 21 other authority-owned acres near the breaker, plus an option to buy 3 additional acres from the authority for $60,000.
And he’s given the authority 10 days to answer his counter-offer, advising he has competing offers that could earn No. 1 Contracting more than $650,000.
Warlock Industries of Reston, Va., has offered $285,000 to dismantle the breaker and haul away its 1,150 tons of steel, Roman wrote in a Nov. 27 letter to the authority. And U-Haul Corp. is interested in buying the property after the demolition for use as a maintenance facility, he wrote.
“No. 1 Contracting would like to see the last steel Coal Breaker saved and am (sic) willing to accomplish this even at a loss,” Roman wrote. “We will expect an answer in 10 days from this writing since steel is at an all-time high and we are compelled to accept or reject the offer from Warlock Industries.”
Redevelopment Authority Executive Director Allen Bellas did not return phone messages left at his home and office Wednesday.
But the three county commissioners, who appoint the authority’s board members, said they are committed to acquiring the 134-foot-tall breaker, the last of its kind in the anthracite region.
“It would be a travesty if the property gets dismantled,” said Commissioner Greg Skrepenak, who recently learned his maternal grandfather died after a work accident at the breaker in the 1950s.
Commissioners Skrepenak, Todd Vonderheid and Steve Urban said the county, through the authority, was willing to pay a fair price for the site.
“But we can’t be held with a gun to our head,” Skrepenak said. “I’d be curious to see if we could condemn the property. We have to look at our options if we think the offer is unfair.”
Vonderheid didn’t want to discuss a possible condemnation at this point, but he said the public, through the authority, has made several reasonable offers to No. 1 Contracting. “The public just can’t be extorted.”
Urban said the county should study Roman’s proposal.
“If that’s really the fair market value, then we should look at his offer.”
Roman, reached by phone Wednesday, confirmed he had an offer that included the demolition of the breaker, but he declined further comment.
Officials from U-Haul Corp. could not be reached for comment Wednesday evening. The Virginia demolition firm – identified both as Warlock Demolition and Warlock Industries in Roman’s letter – could not be located through Internet searches or directory assistance.
The push to revive the hulking breaker, idle since 1976, has been led by the nonprofit Huber Breaker Preservation Society, which has already acquired 3 acres near the site to be used as a park.
The breaker, with its row upon row of broken windows, dominates Main Street in Ashley and the view from nearby Interstate 81.
“It’s a priceless architectural treasure, even though it looks a mess right now,” said society board president Anthony Mussari. “It’s hard to believe that it might not be a part of the landscape of our area.”
Mussari said the breaker is a key component in proposals to boost local tourism, citing the county’s plans to put a visitors center in a former train station in downtown Wilkes-Barre and the possibility of linking the Huber Breaker to the Steamtown National Historic site over existing rail lines.
“There’s a thing here that 15 years from now, when fully developed, could make this such an attractive place to visit.”
The breaker could be a “monument to the sacrifices of thousands of people who provided the anthracite that fueled the industrial revolution in this part of the country,” Mussari said.
On the web
Huber Breaker History
For more photos and a link to the Huber Breaker Preservation Society, go to www.timesleader.com.
1938: Glen Alden Coal Co. builds the steel breaker to replace the original wooden one, built in 1895.
1939: Named after company chairman Charles F. Huber.
1970: Acquired by Beltrami Enterprises.
1976: Closes for good.
1991: National Park Service studies breaker and enters diagrams of the structure in Library of Congress Historic American Engineering Record.
2000: Current owner No. 1 Contracting Corp. agrees to negotiate transfer of breaker for use as a museum.
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