Each year in this column, we step back and reflect on our heritage, and the beginnings of coke making in Bethlehem. It has been said often enough that through all of your reading you probably know that the Coke Oven Division traces its German roots to 1910, with the formation of the Lehigh Coke Company. Its primary business was the production of metallurgical coke to feed the blast furnaces of local iron and steelmaking, most notably Bethlehem Steel, but it also produced coke oven gas and variety of coal chemicals that in that pre-petroleum era were the backbone of end products that were used both within and outside of the steel business. For example, coke oven gas was used for heating furnaces in the steel plant and for domestic consumption -- do any of you remember the Allentown - Bethlehem Gas Company, the predecessor of UGI? We supplied them with our gas through 1952. Coal chemicals went into fertilizers, road materials, dyes, explosives, and a host of products like nylon, plastics, and carpet fibers that were derived from our benezene, tolene, xylene, and naphthalene. With such a variety of processes going on, a historian can select numerous anniversary dates to talk about and celebrate, and in one way or another, all of you have made this history possible, either by operating the equipment, maintaining, or rebuilding it, or by supporting those who did with puchasing, sales, scheduling, and so forth. Since we have such a "young" group, it might be wise to pick a relatively recent bit of history to note an anniversary. 2006, marks the 30th anniversary of the start up of "A" Battery, which pushed its first coke on June 16, 1976. As you may remember, these were the first and only 6 meter ovens that operated in the Coke Oven Division. Now you may have a variety of emotions jump into your mind at the mention of "A" Battery. It certainly was big. The pusher weighed in excess of 400 tons, the ovens were 20 feet high, and when you dropped a door, it was a big deal. Each oven produced about 23 tons of coke from a charge of 35 tons of coal. Almost from the "get go," it developed refractory bulges in the oven chambers under the Larry rails, most memorably #29 oven, along with other problems, but through everyone's efforts, the problems were slowly coming under control. The final oven push on "the Big A" came at 1:00 a.m. on March 28, 1998, but our memories of it last a life time. Think about it, because if you do, you won't just think about bricks and mortar, but rather of the fabulous friendships you created. So enjoy these times together and keep the memories alive because the Coke Ovens were a special place to work and with a lot of extraordinary people.

The most important thing about our Reunions is that we celebrate together like the "family" that in a sense we are. No other part of Bethlehem Plant was quite like ours when it came to close knit relationships. For more than 86 years, cokemaking went hand-in-hand with friendship because there were times when we spent more together than with our own families. For the last nine years, we have come together to prove that our bonds are as strong as ever. There will never be another group of people quite like ..........The Coke Ovens - Our people make Us Special !!!!