I remember it well: The coal truck backs up to the front of the Glover house at 131 Hartley Avenue, Myer's or J.B.Richardson ("Blue Coal") or the coal dealer with the least expensive ton of coal, gets out of his truck, flips a big cast iron lever, and the dump body of the truck raises to a 45 degree angle, Next, he opens our cellar window to our "coal bin," extends a telescoping steel coal chute into the window, raises a little door on the back of the truck, and one ton of chestnut, or pea coal flows noisily but excitingly into the Glover's cellar coal bin. What thrill that was to a young boy! I dare say there are few visitors to my blog that recall the "coal man;" now as obsolete as the huckster, rag man, milk man, and the ice man. And then, along came the less expensive heating system known as the oil burner. "burning lowest cost domestic fuel oil" as detailed in the ad above. My brother Bud Glover went on to complete more than 42 years with the Tattersall Company, where he and his partner Ed Malloy installed MANY of the oil burners in the Mercer County area. Ahh, those memories!
Ralph Lucarella said...- HI TOM....I AGREE, WE ALL HAD PROBLEMS DURING THE COAL ERA. WE HAD PLENTY HEAT DOWNSTAIRS BUT UPSTAIRS WE FROZE. THE KITCHEN WAS WARM WITH OUR COAL STOVE BUT MY FATHER HAD A TOUGH JOB EVERY MORNING WITH THE ASHES BEFORE HE WENT TO WORK. THE RICH FOLK HAD HOT WATER HEAT WITH RADIATORS IN EVERY ROOM BUT IN THE BURG IT WAS MOSTLY COAL. OIL BURNERS WERE THE ANSWER BUT THEY WERE EXPENSIVE. AS A KID I OFTEN WONDERED WHAT THE COAL MEN DID IN THE SUMMER, WELL, THEY SOLD ICE FOR THE ICE BOXES.
Saturday, September 18, 2010
- Anonymous said...
- Hi Tom,By the time I was a little kid in the 50's those coal burners were truly disappearing from the city's landscape. However, it was such a huge thrill when that coal truck would pull up and my neighbor who had the one remaining coal burner on the block got a delivery. We kids would stand gathered around to watch this each and every time a delivery was made. Thanks for the memories!Judy Bingley Staed
- Sally Logan Gilman said...
- HI Tom: I remember our two coal bins in the basement -- beneath the cellar windows. And boy, it was cold upstairs. When we got an oil burner, TruHeat delivered the oil. That was living.
JoeZ said...- Tom, I remember the old coal truck pulling up in front of our house my dad opened the cellar window and that chute being moved into position and me as a little kid loved watching that coal move down that shute.
