{"nrhp_refnum":"80003556","name":"Coplay Cement Company Kilns","other_names":["Saylor Park Industrial Museum"],"category":"structure","location":{"address":"N. 2nd St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Coplay","county":"Lehigh County","state":"PA","lat":40.676553444000035,"lon":-75.49603025682359,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1980-09-02","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Industry","Engineering","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["national"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A group of nine Schoefer vertical kilns built of locally made red brick in Coplay, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, used by the Coplay Cement Company from 1893 to 1904 and now housing the Saylor Park Cement Industry Museum.","why_significant":"The kilns represent the shift in cement kiln technology from bottle or dome kilns to rotary kilns. They also commemorate David O. Saylor, the Coplay Cement Company and the Lehigh Valley in developing the American portland cement industry. They are the oldest surviving structures associated with the company and are probably the only kilns of their type still standing.","narrative":"Nine tall brick kilns in Coplay, Pennsylvania, preserve an early chapter in American cement making. Built by the Coplay Cement Company in 1892-93 as Schoefer vertical kilns, a Danish modification of an upright kiln first developed in Germany, they produced portland cement until 1904, when rotary kilns made them obsolete. The company later used them for storage. The surrounding factory building was torn down in the 1920s, and the upper 33 feet of the kilns were probably removed then. In 1975 the company gave the kilns and a small parcel to Lehigh County, and restoration began in 1976. Today the kilns, about 60 feet tall, house a cement industry museum. They are tied to David O. Saylor, who made the first portland cement in America in 1871 and received the first American patent for it. As the oldest surviving structures linked to the company and probably the only kilns of their type still standing, they illustrate the Lehigh Valley's role in the industry.","period_of_significance":"ca. 1860-1904 (site); specific dates for structures 1892-1904","architect_builder":"Coplay Cement Company","architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":"Restored and stabilized after the company donated them to Lehigh County in 1975; nine kilns house museum exhibits on the history of the American cement industry.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:59:04.242167-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_PA/80003556.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/80003556/0f48fdcdbf-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/80003556/0f48fdcdbf-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY 2.0","author":"Nicholas A. Tonelli","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Coplay_Cement_Company_Kilns_in_Saylor_Park.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Nicholas A. Tonelli</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY 2.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Coplay_Cement_Company_Kilns_in_Saylor_Park.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71995152","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coplay_Cement_Company_Kilns","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5168618"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/pennsylvania/lehigh-county/coplay-cement-company-kilns-80003556/"}