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History
In 1833, the Jarvis Company built their first blast furnace in Erie,
Pennsylvania. Power was obtained by a blind horse walking in a circle,
hitched to a shaft. The Perry Iron Company was later organized in 1905.
By 1907, another furnace was lit. In 1912, the Perry Iron Company sold
their interest in the plant to Pickands, Mather and Company of
Cleveland, Ohio. A battery of Wilputte coke ovens was built on a site
east of the furnace. The battery contained 37 ovens, which became
operational in 1925.
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The annual
capacity of the plant was 300,000 tons of coal processed, or about
195,000 tons of coke produced.
Plant
operation was eventually taken over by the Interlake Iron Company
of Chicago, Illinois, which changed the name to Perry Furnace Company.
In January 1942, "B" Battery was put into operation, which consisted of
35 ovens of the Wilputte double-divided, underjet design. In January
1952, "A" Battery was put into service on the site of the original 1925
battery, and it was a Wilputte two-divided, gun type with 23 coke ovens.
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Interlake
continued operations until 1967 when the plant was closed. On July 16,
1970, the plant was restarted to convert coal to coke for the Koppers
Company.
The plant was
initially
operated by Interlake under a coal conversion agreement with Koppers.
On March 1, 1974, Interlake leased the plant to Koppers with a purchase
option included at the end of the agreement, which Koppers exercised,
and purchased the site in 1980.
In early
1987, the facility was acquired by J.D.Crane and began operations as
Erie Coke Corporation. The plant continues to operate as a merchant
producer of high-quality foundry coke.
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