Reason for demolition

Apparently, the city said "yes" to a demolition permit request before checking the historic designation (it was on the National Register of Historic places)

Today in Europe these types of sites are preserved and celebrated for what they are – monuments, gigantic outdoor urban sculptures. Here we seem to be eager to demolish them because we think they are “ugly.” (OK, the land they are on IS worth something). In the last few years Providence has lost the Allens Avenue gasholder frames, the India Point Swing Bridge, almost all of its Provisions Warehouse NR district… the list goes on.

History

The Atlantic Coal Company “Blue Coal” storage silos were built in the World War I era for coal storage. They were cylindrical, reinforced concrete storage bins fed by a vertical bucket conveyor that elevated the coal to the top of the structure, and a horizontal conveyor running across the top that fed the individual bins. The coal was delivered by the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad and distributed by horse-drawn carts, and later, by trucks.

Until the advent of natural gas and oil for home heating, New England’s primary domestic fuel was anthracite coal, a hard, smokeless, clean-burning coal that was only mined from three coalfields in eastern Pennsylvania. Many anthracite-hauling railroads had their own coal marketing and distribution companies.

The name “Blue Coal” was the promotional trademark of the Reading Coal Company, a subsidiary of the Reading Railroad. The company actually sprayed a light blue coating on random pieces of coal to identify their product. The Atlantic Coal Company was the Providence distributor of this product, as well as bituminous coal for blacksmithing and coke for foundry furnaces.

Anecdotes

vicki  I have an old wood thermometer that advertises “blue coal” made by Dorfmann Bros and I’m trying to identify the source of the ‘blue coal’ . The advertisin source is D. F_ADD (can’t make out what follows the “f”) and the address is 623 Scio St. I am assuming this is in Rochester NY. The slogan says: “Americas Finest Anthracite”. Can anyone help me with this? Thanks

Dolly from Cranston  I was researching Narragansett Brewery and came upon this wonderful website! I cannot believe that they tore down the Atlantic Coal Company “Blue Coal” storage silos. I didn’t know they had done this, and if I had not seen this website I would probably not have noticed. How strange it is too see a photo and all the memories come pouring back. It’s a pity it took knocking them down for me to really notice how impressive they really were.

bob renell  Having grown up in rhode island in the 60’s and 70’s and now living in the mid west,its sad to see money,and greed destroying the things that built the blue collar towns that supported the state for so many years. What next,the raised railroad bridge?? Why not they destroyed phillipsdale landing.

Adam Waring  I own a 1960 Volkswagen pickup truck that was an Atlantc Coal fleet truck of some sort. It is truck number 56. I am looking for information on their fleet of rucks ad looking for photos possibly including my truck.

Gerry Geisler  “blue coal” was not a Reading Railroad trademark. It was the trade mark of the DL&W Coal Sales Company, a subsidiary of the Delaware, Lackawanna, and Western Railroad company. Mining of the coal was spun off to the Glen Alden Coal Company after the anti trust proceedings forced the railroads to rid themselves of the mining operations, but DL&W Coal Sales continued on for a while. The Reading trademark was “Famous Reading Anthracite”, a name that survived the railroad that created it.

Chris  This structure was visible in a few scenes from Michael Corrente’s 1994 film “Federal Hill”.

A Radio Fan  Blue Coal was a sponsor of the radio “The Shadow.”
http://www.mwotrc.com/rr2004_02/shadow.htm

diane greco  Thanks so much for making this information available! We used to see this building from the car all the time, coming around the curve that links Rt. 6 to Rt. 10. It always looked so mysterious and strange rising up out of the landscape next to the freeway. I’ve never seen anything like it, actually, and I’m very sorry it’s been torn down. When I was little, mother once told me the coal “burned blue,” hence the name – I’m not sure that’'s accurate but I bet lots of folks from Olneyville or Silver Lake would say the same thing.

Add your Anecdotes

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