Bessemer, Pa., mourns loss of longtime cement plant

By Mary Grzebieniak

The loss of Essroc and its 110 jobs will hurt the town in many ways, the mayor says.

BESSEMER, Pa. — The recent announcement that the Essroc cement plant here will soon be idled deals a major blow to borough residents and businesses.

Employees were told Monday that shutdown of operations will begin at the end of April and extend into the third quarter of this year, and could become permanent. A decision is expected by year’s end, based on business conditions.

The plant employs about 110.

The recession has greatly reduced demand for cement, company officials said.

Many local residents, however, say hard times and lost jobs are nothing new in this struggling community.

Empty storefronts are common in the small business district, and several local homes are on the list for this month’s sheriff’s sale.

Essroc’s silos tower over East Poland Avenue, Bessemer’s main thoroughfare. This last industrial plant in what was once a booming town has a long history and began as a brickyard in the 1890s, about a mile west of the plant’s current location.

Later, it became a cement plant, which has had several owners over the years.

Although the job losses will hurt, many of those who worked at the plant are not from Bessemer, so the effects of unemployment will be spread over a larger region.

But it is the loss of the cement plant’s role as supporter and contributor to many community efforts and needs that will hurt most.

Art Pierog, owner of Artie’s Barber Shop on East Poland, said that although he doesn’t expect the closing to affect his business, he will miss the plant’s generous attitude toward the community.

He pointed out the cement plant sends trucks to sweep East Poland outside his shop nearly every day when the weather permits.

One of the barbershop’s customers said Essroc helped pay for a well and improvements to a road at a local hunting club.

Michelle Audia, president of the Mohawk High School Baseball Boosters and a volunteer for many years with many local athletic groups, said the company always “had been there to help us out if we needed something.”

Last spring, for example, Essroc donated $300 to the high school baseball team’s spring training trip. The company has sponsored a team every year for younger players and regularly bought program ads to help support athletics.

Mayor William Martin agreed that Essroc has been “a good neighbor,” donating $10,000 to the borough for a police car and contributing $2,500 a year for borough beautification efforts.

He said the borough receives property taxes from the plant as well as occupational tax from its employees. That revenue loss will hit hard in the borough, which is still paying off a recently constructed sewage plant. He said he expects local grocery stores, restaurants and other businesses to be affected.

Martin also will be personally affected by the plant closing as owner of a 75-year-old local business. Martin Trucking Inc. on East Poland, which was started by his uncle, employs 45 to haul cement within a 100-mile radius, and Essroc accounts for 55 percent to 60 percent of its business.

He said the closing surprised him as his company had just made a major investment in equipment.

Another local business, Bessemer Supply on East Poland, also hauls cement.

General Manager Wendell Harman said Essroc is only one of Bessemer Supply’s customers and “we have no idea how it will affect us.” He said the business is watching efforts by local legislators to keep the plant here.

Anthony Ambrosini, owner of Ambrosini’s Restaurant which opened two years ago on East Poland, said the cement plant had an account at his restaurant and that its workers often eat there. In addition, he said four members of his family are employed by Essroc.

He doesn’t know what the future will bring but said that already his business has suffered because residents are worried. “Business has slowed way down” since the plant closing was announced, he said.

Jack Kaylor, a driver for Kennedy Oil, another local business on North Main, remarked that he was in high school when the local brickyard closed in the 1960s. He said Bessemer has survived those hard times and also will get through the loss of the cement plant.