The Cooper Files: An Inside Look At The Mine Subsidence Of 1940 (Part 5)

(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 4, you can read it here.

State Finally Pitches In; Insight Provided Into Cooper History

On Dec. 6, 1944, the school district received word that they would receive a $70,000 disaster grant from the state.

A timeline was also provided that day to the board, noting that steel was set to be installed by January and that all work was expected to be done by June.

A report on Feb. 16, 1945 to the state Department of Military Affairs also shed light on the earliest history of the Cooper building.

The district reported that it was built as a brick and concrete construction building.

It had been designed by Reilly, of Wilkes-Barre, and built by John J. O’Hearn, of Shenandoah, at a cost of $181,612.93, or $4,051,680.69 today.

The pool was a later addition, installed in 1926 at a cost of $25,000, or $438,668.54 today.

On March 28, 1945, a memo written by Ratchford recalled statements from a conference between the district and various state officials.

Richard Maize, secretary of mines, lodged complaints about how the $70,000 grant had been expected to be provided. He claimed that the state had been expecting to cover half of the project cost, paid as bills became due, not paying $70,000 in addition to what the district has already spent on work already completed.

“Since your money is practically all expended, it therefore appears as though you are asking the State to pay 100% of the additional work required to complete the building.” Maize said. “We cannot just give you a check for $70,000 and permit you to spend the money as you see fit.”

Joseph J. Walsh, deputy secretary of mines, went a step further, claiming that since the district could borrow $140,000 through a bond issue, that they are not distressed.

“If I can go to the bank and borrow $10 from the bank, I am not distressed,” he said.

R.M. Vail, Adjutant General of the Dept. of Military Affairs, felt otherwise.

“I think that since the work has been done and since the community has spent approximately $140,000 on the project that there should be no question about our right to turn over to the school district the sum of $70,000 which has been allocated for the work.”

“I see no reason why the $70,000 cannot be paid over to the district, such payment being predicated on evidence of supporting data showing that the district has already spent $140,000 in rehabilitation,” E.A. Delaney, deputy attorney general, added. “If there is a question, as there apparently is, in the minds of the Department of Mines concerning the legality of making such payment, we in the Department of Justice will be glad to give you an opinion just as soon as you submit your questions to us.”

‘I have no hesitancy in saying that the money can and should be paid to the district at an early date,” Delaney added.

Work Wrapping Up, Cooper School Returns

In April 1945, Ratchford wrote to the O’Hearn company asking that the auditorium be ready no later than June 1 for commencement practice.

The first graduation ceremonies back in the Cooper were set for June 13.

Ratchford also wrote to board President N.C. Brennan on May 25, 1945 asking about the possibility of permanently covering the skylight.

He said that auditorium skylights were becoming “passe” and that temporarily covering it for movies and such had become dangerous.

On August 10, 1945, Brennan wrote a letter to Senator G. Harold Watkins thanking him for the $70,000 grant.

“The work of rehabilitation is about completed and the children of the public schools of Shenandoah will be placed on full session with a desk for each child for the first time in over five years,” Brennan told the senator.

In October of 1945, Ratchford raised the question of how to handle the community use of the auditorium and gym. Should the auditorium be free for all groups, paid for some and not others, paid only when an admission fee is charged, Ratchford asked.

In total, the work to repair the Cooper building cost the district $213,610.76, or $3,606,350.05 today.

Girard Estate Lawsuit, Cooper’s Future

The school district, joined by the borough and other municipal entities, continued their lawsuit against the Girard Estate.

In November of 1949, the borough and school district were awarded a combined $862,140 by a Philadelphia County jury.

The lawsuit, however, was overturned on appeal, with the appeals court ruling that the Girard Estate’s tenants, not the Girard Estate as the land and mineral rights owner, were responsible for the mining activities.

Superintendent Ratchford retired in 1951 after nearly a quarter-century leading Shenandoah schools.

The Evening Herald in 1980 recalled the “lasting imprint” he had left upon town.

“Practically nobody had heard of A.J. Ratchford prior to his arrival here in 1927,” Bill Witt wrote in his Witticisms column. “But Ratchford, an innovator in the field of education and specially fitted for the position he assumed, soon won the marked attention of the populace as he became pre-occupied with improving the standards of teaching in local classrooms.”

He organized the high school band, modernized the library, spearheaded the construction of Memorial Stadium — the predecessor to today’s Veterans Memorial Stadium — and helped bring WPA projects to town.

“When a major portion of the northeastern sector of the town was damaged by the mine subsidence of March 4, 1940, Ratchford’s advice and guidance helped immeasurably in the relocation of students with a minimum of confusion and delay,” Witt wrote.

“Above all, A.J. Ratchford had implicit faith in Shenandoah,” Witt added. “He was in the forefront of any movement calculated to make the town a better place in which to live. He was always doing deeds of kindness, such as leading fund drives to aid victims of rheumatism and arthritis.”

Upon retirement, he moved over to the valley, near Brandonville. His retirement, sadly, was shortlived, as he died a year later in 1952 at Locust Mountain Hospital.

“A.J. Ratchford will always be remembered as a top-rated educator, an outstanding civic leader, and most of all, a gentleman of quality. He did everything his way, and his way turned out to be the best way,” Witt wrote. “Truly a man about whom nice things can be said, A.J. Ratchford left a lasting imprint on Shenandoah where he spent almost 25 years of the 58 that God granted him on Earth.”

As for the Cooper school, it continued to be the central high school for the Shenandoah Borough School District, and then the Shenandoah Valley School District, until the fall of 1982, when the current Shenandoah Valley Jr./Sr. High School on West Centre Street was dedicated.

At that point, all neighborhood elementary schools were consolidated into the Cooper building until August 1994, when the current elementary center opened.

The school was then sold to Lynda and Lewis Eyster shortly after its closure in 1994. An attempt to turn it into a youth treatment center failed and the building sat abandoned for nearly 15 years. The Lehigh Annex and Old White Street school were also razed around that time.

Kent Steinmetz, of the Schuylkill Haven area, purchased the building in 2009 and fought an uphill battle to save the structure. He and a group of volunteers renovated portions of the building with hopes of opening a business incubator and community center.

The battle came to an end this month after a partial collapse.

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