Concrete City

Concrete City is perhaps one of the area's most easily accessible ruins, and yet it's so little known. Finding the location is difficult, since the sign doesn't give much information, but the local citizens of Nanticoke are usually happy to tell you the way. In this case, I was aided by a man named Carl, who also filled me in on the history of Concrete City.

Concrete City was opened in 1913 as a housing complex for the supervisors and important employees of the nearby Truesdale Colliery and the DL&W railroad. There are 20 buildings made purely of concrete, which are divided in half, providing homes for 40 families. Concrete City is thought to be the earliest example of modern tract housing. Each building has three floors: the basement, first floor and second floor. They are all identical inside, and each level is prefabricated, so there are stairs leading to nowhere on the second floor.

The City was supposed to be a rather beautiful community. There were gardens, a wading pool, a playground, tennis courts and more. Unfortunately, the railroad company didn't know at the time that concrete is a very poor material for housing. The houses were always very damp and often cold, and tenants quickly grew tired of the uncomfortable conditions. In 1921, the Glen Alden company (largest coal company in the area) took over the complex, and decided to scrap the place rather than spend the money on a sewer system. The houses had no bathrooms, but each was provided with an outhouse in the back. The company quickly abandoned the complex in 1924 after attempting to demolish it. The concrete structures were designed to last, and 100 sticks of dynamite had little effect when used on a single building. Since then, Concrete City has been used by the military, law enforcement and Luzerne County Community College as training grounds. The City was declared a historic site in 1988.

Concrete City is at its best in summer. I found the building in this next picture to be especially pretty, all covered in vines.

Here, we entered a house that has a lot of damage. The concrete of the entire ceiling of one room fell down, revealing the metal frame. This gives a bit more insight into how concrete structures are formed, with a metal frame and concrete poured on top.

There are quite a few random items laying about.

Below, one of many targets positioned into the windows of one building. There were many Winchester boxes lying around, and we found a shell in our travels. This is possibly part of a Luzerne County Community College training program, or it may just be some people fooling around with guns.

A lonely lobster toy, left to rot within the walls of a rotting city...

We found a grenade on the ground. It's not real, of course. It appeared to be some sort of firecracker. There were many different kinds laying around the ruins.

Links to more information and pictures:
The Concrete City
Coal Region Towns, Villages and Patches
History of Concrete City (19.0 MB file)