Old photographs of the Coal Region often show enormous dark buildings towering over valleys and towns. Those structures were coal breakers.

What happened inside

A breaker processed raw anthracite after it came out of the mine. Coal was crushed into different sizes, cleaned and separated from slate and other waste.

Why they were so large

Anthracite was sold in specific sizes for different furnaces and heating systems. Large-scale mining required equally large-scale processing.

The human side of breakers

Before machinery replaced much of the hand sorting, breaker boys picked pieces of slate from moving coal. The work became one of the most recognizable symbols of child labor in the anthracite region.

Why they disappeared

Changes in mining technology, fuel use and coal markets made many giant breakers obsolete. Most were eventually demolished.

Their absence changed the skyline, but their image still defines how people picture the historic Coal Region.

Sources: Library of Congress Historic American Engineering Record and Wikimedia Commons coal-breaker collections.