By Christine Lorraine Morgan, Nov. 17. 2022

These images of the Erie Coke plant were captured in July 2018 and February 2019. Situated at the foot of East Avenue, it this sprawling site began producing coke in 1833. Operations were discontinued in December 2019 after city of Erie, PA officials ordered the plant to cease discharging its wastewater into the city’s sanitation system.

At the local plant, coke was formed by a process of heating coal to extreme temperatures inside large ovens. The finished product was then utilized in the transformation of smelting iron ore into steel.

When coke was first manufactured at this Erie, PA bayfront site in 1833, there were no houses or city sanitation systems.

City officials ordered the plant to cease operations in December 2019 to ensure its wastewater would no longer drain into the City of Erie sanitation system.