As my loyal readers know, I have written numerous columns on our local cement industry and the lives of cement workers. For many years the Lehigh Valley was the largest producer of Portland cement in the world. Recently, I was given rare photographs of a company whose memories have been lost in time except in a ward of Nazareth which, even today, carries the name Phoenix.

Driving past Gracedale Nursing Home, on the right will be a sign with the name Phoenix. The village-like area dates back to 1900 when the Phoenix Portland Cement Company was organized. The new company joined a list which would include 30 different companies. The plant capacity was 5,000 barrels a day. It would be acquired by Lone Star Industries in 1928.

I wanted to know more about Phoenix so I contacted a former resident, Mr. Kevin Reichel of the Reichel Funeral Home in Northampton. One afternoon I walked into the funeral home and interviewed Kevin with an endless list of questions.

To my surprise, two Nazareth gentlemen with Phoenix connections were present.

"Men how about joining the interviews?" I asked, and Mr. Dale Kocher and Mr. Ron Keppel graciously agreed.

The Reichel family has roots in the Burgenland area of what was, before World War I, Austria-Hungary. His grandfather, as many from Central Europe, migrated to the United States for opportunity and to improve their standard of life.

The route to Nazareth started in St. Louis, where cement plants used the mighty Mississippi for transportation. Friends convinced him to move to Coplay to work for the Coplay Cement Manufacturing Company where David Saylor received the first patent to produce Portland cement.

When the Coplay plant had a lull in production, he moved to Phoenix where the family would plant new roots. There, Joseph Reichel, now a funeral director and former coroner of Northampton County, was born on Mauch Chunk Street.

Kevin recalls, "During the dark days of the Depression, my grandmother would provide food on the front yard lawn to assist those in need."

His father would play football for Andrew Leh's Nazareth Blue Eagles. A burly lineman, Joe and some of his teammates would take some of the equipment home and play semi-pro football on the weekends. Coach Leh was not happy about it!

Phoenix became home to many immigrants. Most were employed at Nazareth plants named Dexter, Nazareth, Penn Dixie, Penn Allen and Phoenix. The population became a melting pot of different ethnic groups such as Austrians, Hungarians, Italians, Poles and Slovaks, hard working blue-collar employees.

Cement and block company homes provided for basic employee housing. Today the company homes are but past memories.

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I will be in Phoenix in two weeks. Please join me.