Huber Coal Breaker

The beautiful Huber Coal Breaker in Ashley, Pennsylvania. It's a deteriorating monument to the great pasts of Scranton and Wilkes-Barre. The site was originally the home of the Lehigh & Wilkes-Barre breaker, built from 1892-1895. In 1920, the Lehigh & Wilkes-Barre Coal Co. merged with the Glen Alden to form the largest coal company in the area. The Glen Alden Coal Company began experimenting with dying its coal blue in 1928, which it later gained fame for. After the employees of the coal colliery went on strike in 1937, construction began on a new and improved breaker. It's construction was completed in 1939 and it was one of the most technologically advanced breakers of its time, and it was the largest of its kind. It was renamed the Huber Breaker after the Glen Alden chairman, Charles F. Huber. Over time, Glen Alden merged with other companies and the breaker eventually changed hands to the Lucky Coal Company in 1970. The breaker was closed in 1976 as the coal market failed and the anthracite era of the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre area came to a close. In the early 1990's, the Huber Breaker Preservation Socitey was formed to preserve the breaker and form a museum.

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