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Chronological List of District Heating
Systems in the United States |
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| On Feb. 2, 1968, a Canadian Pacific locomotive was producing steam for the crippled Reading Steam Heat and Power Co. plant at Elm and Reed streets. Mayor Victor R. H. Yarnell complained about pollution from the engine’s smokestack, but conceded it was “the price we’ll have to pay to keep warm until the repairs are made.” |
The Reading Steam Heat & Power Co. incorporated July 8, 1887 and began service on December 10, 1887.
The company suffered a fire in February 1958 and was also knocked out of service in February 1968. Steam locomotive were brought in both times to provide temporary steam service.
The system last operated around April 1968.
References
1887 Reading
Times, July 11, 1887, Page 1.
The Reading Steam Heat and Power Company has been chartered. The capital
is $100,000, in shares of $100 each, all of which has leeu subscribed for,
10 per cent, having been paid in aa required by law prior to obtaining a
charter. Among the heaviest stockholders are McIlvain & Sons, Thomas
P. Merritt, Isaac McHose, Albert Thalheimer, S.E. Ancona, John R. Miller,
Levi Quier, James Nolan and J. H. Cheetham. The plant will be centrally
located, and work of laying mains will be commenced at once.
1887 "Steam Heat Assured," Reading Times, August 25, 1887, Page 1.
1887 "Progress of the Steam Heat Company," Reading Times, October 25, 1887, Page 1.
1887 "Steam
Heat for Reading," Lancaster New Era, November 30, 1887,
Page 1.
The Reading Steam Heat Company completed the laying of the steam pipes for
the introduction of the Hollywood system of steam heating, and will be
ready in a few days to introduce steam into the houses of subscribers.
1887 "To Test the Steam Heat Mains To-Day," Reading Times, December 10, 1887, Page 1.
1909 Historical
and biographical annals of Berks County, Pennsylvania
Page 162: Steam heating came to be supplied in the central part of town
along Sixth, Fifth and Penn streets, and to be gradually introduced in
dwellings.
Page 200: Steam Heat. — In 1887, Isaac McHose, William Mcllvain, Levi
Quier, John R. Miller, James Nolan and others, organized the Reading Steam
Heat and Power Company for the purpose of supplying public and private
buildings in Reading with steam heat, and a large plant was established
on. Elm street, near Reed, comprising ten boilers with a capacity of 1,800
horse-power. Mains were put down along Fifth, Sixth, Elm, Walnut,
Washington and Penn streets, with total length exceeding ten thousand
feet, and three hundred patrons were secured. The plant has been improved
and the patrons have been increased under the management of Jerome L.
Boyer since 1905. John R. Miller has been the president of the company
since its incorporation, and Lewis Crater the secretary and treasurer.
1958 "Fire
Cuts Off Heat to 500 Homes, Buildings," The Morning Press,
February 13, 1958, Page 10.
The boiler room of the Reading Steam Heat and Power Co. was damaged by
fire today, cutting off heat to 500 homes and buildings.
Two firemen were hurt fighting the blaze.
The Reading Railroad offered to pump steam into the company’s mains by
using two steam locomotives as an emergency measure in the current
freezing spell.
1958 "Reading, Pa.," District
Heating 43(4):151 (April 1958)
On February 13 a disastrous fire swept the district-heating plant of the
Reading Steam Heat & Power Company, causing injuries to a number of
firemen and damage to the plant estimated at $200,000.
The roof and one wall were burned off the buildings. Falling timbers
broke some steam lines and insulation was water soaked. Full service
was restored in less than 16 hours.
1968 "Steam
Heat Co. May Drop Reading Service," Lebanon Daily News,
August 13, 1968, Page 1.
The Public Utility Commission today authorized the defunct Reading Steam
Heat and Power Co. to abandon service in downtown Reading. The PUC said a
Reading bank has sold the company's equipment and is in the process of
disposing of its real estate.
A committee headed by Mayor Victor Yarnell took over operation of the
company February 10 following major equipment breakdown. The firm
suhsequently pleaded insolvency and petitioned the PUC for permission to
abandon operations.
The company served some 400 customers last year, but many converted to
other forms of heat as a result of the plant failure, the PUC said.
2015 "History
Book: For a second time, Reading ran out of steam," by Ron Devlin,
Reading Eagle, February 25, 2015
In my last Ron Devlin’s History Book, I wrote about Reading Railroad
locomotives being used to generate steam for the Reading Steam Heat &
Power Co. after a 1958 fire.
Bill Richardson of Reading called to question the date, saying his
recollection was that it happened in 1968.
Turns out we were both right.
Locomotives were brought in after the 1958 fire and again, 10 years to the
month later, when the plant’s boilers went down in February 1968.
Richardson recalled the 1968 incident because, at the time, he was
administrative assistant to newly elected Mayor Victor R.H. Yarnell.
“Victor was only in office a week or so,” Richardson said, “when the steam
plant went down and downtown had no heat.”
On Feb. 2, 1968, the Reading Eagle reported that Yarnell had vowed to take
corrective measures to ensure that the company’s customers had heat.
Two former Canadian Pacific locomotives, Nos. 1238 and 1286, were brought
in from Jersey City to help generate steam while the plant’s main boiler
was repaired.
The old steam engines were owned by George Hart of Doylestown, owner of a
rail excursion company.
Yarnell, who died on Jan. 22 at 95 years old, is quoted as being concerned
about pollution generated by the locomotives.
A Reading Times photo showed one of the locomotives engaged in “throaty
belching of smoke.”
“I was alarmed at the amount of soot emitted from the engines,” the mayor
said, “but it’s the price we’ll have to pay to keep warm until repairs are
made.”
Yarnell chided the state for, in his opinion, not making regular
inspections of the aging steam heat plant.
“I’m in sympathy with the company’s plight, and bringing in the
locomotives was the right thing to do,” Yarnell said. “But we cannot
tolerate a repetition of the breakdowns that have plagued us this winter.”
Yarnell appointed a Committee of Seven to “untangle the heat riddle.” Its
members included bankers, insurance company executives and a
representative of the Reading-Berks Chamber of Commerce.
Ironically, pollution control devices ordered by the state were the source
of the plant’s problems, according to Vincent Strollo, superintendent. Air
baffles in the chimney prevented heat from dissipating and caused the fire
in the boiler to burn out.
Headline writers had a field day during the plant’s outage.
“Heat crisis gives bankers chills,” “Veteran railroaders pour it on, but
they’re going nowhere” and “Locomotives puff, pollute” are a few examples.
Hart pulled out his locomotives Feb. 7, 1968, while officials debated the
company’s future.
In the end, insolvent, the Reading Steam Heat and Power Co. simply ran out
of steam.
On April 5, 1968, Secretary-Treasurer Leon Ehrlich announced that the
company had petitioned the Public Utility Commission to allow it to
terminate service. The plant needed $1 million in repairs, he said, and no
source of funding could be found.
The Committee of Seven recommended the plant be shut down at the end of
the heating season.
On April 16, 1968, workmen from AJA Equipment Co., Laureldale, began
demolishing the plant’s 150-foot chimney.
In August, Reading Metro Taxi Inc. bought the plant, ending 81 years of
service to 500 homes and businesses.
In an obituary of sorts, Reading Times reporter Joe Farrell lamented the
passing of centralized steam heat.
“It meant no muss, no fuss, no cold mornings,” Farrell wrote. “So popular
was steam heat, structures built in downtown after the turn of the century
didn’t even have chimneys.”
© 2024 Morris A. Pierce