The Cooper Files: An Inside Look At The Mine Subsidence Of 1940 (Part 2)

(Editor’s Note: This series was made possible by the discovery of nearly 200 documents in the former J.W. Cooper Memorial High School building pertaining to the Shenandoah School District’s response to the mine subsidence of 1940, provided to the Sentinel by Kent Steinmetz.)

If you missed Part 1, you can read it here.

Seeking Help

On March 22, the school district received a letter from the Works Progress Administration providing the application and instructions to seek assistance.

Later in the month, Governor James sought authorization to have WPA work done in town under the Emergency Flood and Disaster Project.

He noted the damage to school buildings, sewers, and roads creating an “a serious health condition.”

The WPA came to town on March 29 to survey the damage and, on March 30, the Rescue Hook and Ladder Fire Co. thanked Ratchford for efforts in seeking WPA assistance.

“We assure you that the Rescue Hook and Ladder Company is backing you in your efforts and hope that it will soon be granted,” Philip Gradwell wrote on behalf of the fire company.

Efforts began to receive bureaucratic pushback in April. On April 15, Ratchford provided an update to the district’s board and faculty.

Colonel Philip Matthews, state administrator of the WPA, had doubt about the legality of considering the subsidence and disaster and passed the decision on to Washington.

“Matthews remarked that the coal was not removed by God, and, therefore, it would be difficult to interpret the situation as an act of God,” Ratchford wrote.

Investigating A Cause

Thomas M. Brennan, a mining engineer from Shamokin, was hired by the school board, borough, and Citizens Disaster League to investigate the mine subsidence the day of.

He provided his report on April 24, noting that mining activity in the Indian Ridge and Kehley Run collieries had involved “robbing the pillars,” or removing coal strategically left to support the roof of the mine.

“It is a well-known fact that settlements or subsidence follow closely after the robbing of an area,” Brennan said.

He noted that the surface in the subsidence area had dropped up to four feet, largely from Main and Coal east to Bower.

Up to two months prior to the subsidence, property owners in that area had noticed signs of an impending collapse.

A property owner at 113-115 North White Street had noticed cracks in his basement floor in January that had been “getting larger every day.”

Cracks had been noticed in homes in the 200 block of North White Street a few days before the subsidence as well, Brennan reported.

Four days before the collapse, a petition had been drafted and sent to the Philadelphia and Reading Coal and Iron Company, the Girard Estate, and state mining officials to stop mining in that area.

Adolph Kerewicz and Shem Evans, Sr., provided a report on May 31 as well.

Bureaucratic Struggles

On Oct. 28, the school district received word that the WPA could not take on a project in excess of $100,000, or $2.23 Million today.

Austin Reilly, the original architect who designed the Cooper, estimated that repairs would cost around that amount to repair the Cooper high school.

The WPA also noted that they would need a “sponsor’s contribution” of 25% of the project’s cost.

Ratchford wrote to Haas and the Department of Public Instruction seeking state assistance for the sponsor’s contribution.

“We are trying to get the WPA, the Governor’s Office, and the Girard Estate together on such a project,” Ratchford told Haas. “The school board wishes to say with assurance, if necessary, to the Girard Estate that they have exhausted every possible avenue through which cash contributions might be received.”

Ratchford said, though, that the school board believed the Girard Estate should be the first to provide a contribution.

“In the event that the Girard Estate does finally refuse to contribute the sponsor’s contribution, it will then be necessary for the School Board to sue the Girard Estate, which may mean a long, drawn-out court case.”

Another hurdle emerged in November. The WPA did not have any steelworkers, bricklayers, or plasterers available.

“It was [a WPA representative’s] opinion that sufficient skilled labor would not be available to undertake the job,” Ratchford wrote to Brennan on Nov. 19.

A WPA letter from Joseph Nelson, director of the division of operations, to E. K. Hunter, Reading district manager, echoed that sentiment.

“We would like to help them in their work of rehabilitation in every way possible but any project which is written for this rehabilitation must be written with the understanding that the sponsor would be required to furnish labor of any kind which could not be supplied by the WPA,” Nelson wrote. “This contribution would be over and above the sponsor’s contribution specified in the proposal.”

Additionally, Ratchford told the board in a memo on Dec. 30 that “the Girard Estate does not feel responsible for the damage occasioned on our school buildings.”

“We were further advised that the Girard Estate at no time agreed to provide the sponsor’s contribution for a rehabilitation project,” Ratchford wrote, though noting that the Girard Estate said they would be willing to pitch in if other government agencies did.

In June of 1941, the WPA notified the school district that, due to budget and labor pool constraints, they could not take on the project and that “it would best be accomplished by private contract.”

Throughout the year, the district had been trying to arrange a meeting with the Governor’s Office, Girard Estate, and the district and had not received a reply by August, prompting the passage of a resolution by the school board.

“Numerous civic, fraternal, and labor organizations have publicly voiced a desire for early action on the rehabilitation of the high school buildings,” P.J. Brennan, school board secretary, wrote to Governor James in Oct. 7. “As representatives of the people of the community and as trustees of the Commonwealth interest in public education, we again heartily pray that you will see fit to arrange a conference… It is hoped that through such a conference, means may be found whereby the distressing situation facing the public school system of the community might be amicably alleviated.”

The Women’s Club of Shenandoah held a meeting in November demanding the same. Ratchford spoke at that meeting about the educational losses in the district.

Part 3: https://shensentinel.com/news/the-cooper-files-an-inside-look-at-the-mine-subsidence-of-1940-part-3/

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