Most of the workers who died in the catastrophic 1869 fire at the Avondale Mine in Plymouth were immigrants.
But the late Steve Kondrad, former president of the Plymouth Historical Society, was determined they would be remembered as Americans.
So, as current president Joseph Slusser says, Kondrad climbed over a guard rail from Route 11 to hang an American flag over the site of the mine, where the historical society remembers victims of the Avondale Mine disaster.
“He wanted to honor them, you know, they were immigrants coming to America,” Slusser said. “He wanted to recognize that they were Americans and that they’d be remembered.”
Slusser hopes to take that flag down soon and replace it with a true flagpole. That’s what the Plymouth Historical Society is fundraising for this Giving Tuesday.
“The miners that lost their lives … they came here to work in America, raise their families in America, and we feel they deserve to be recognized as Americans even though they didn’t take a test or anything like that,” Slusser said.
Giving Tuesday provides an opportunity for non-profit organizations of all kinds to kick start their holiday fundraising efforts on the Tuesday following Thanksgiving. Slusser said the historical society has already seen a few contributions to their campaign for the Avondale Mine site.
The Avondale Mine Disaster was a massive fire at the mine in Plymouth Twp. in September 1869. More than 100 workers, trapped in the shaft of the mine with only one exit, died in the blaze that roared through the tunnels after a coal breaker caught fire.
Slusser said the fire at Avondale claimed the most lives of any anthracite mining disaster. After an investigation, new collieries were required to have at least two ways in and out of the mines.
Now, parts of the mine remain off of Route 11 in Plymouth Twp. The Plymouth Historical Society maintains the site as a memorial to the miners who died in the disaster.
Once they have the funds, they’ll install a flagpole with a solar light to illuminate the memorial site — and a new memorial to Kondrad.
A president’s passion
The Plymouth Historical Society has an extensive collection of military and household artifacts donated by people throughout town. But the exhibits of Plymouth’s anthracite mining heritage are particularly robust.
Mining history was Kondrad’s passion. In one display case on the second floor of the historical society, Kondrad’s photo sits next to the lunch box his own father used when he worked in the mines at the Loomis Colliery.
Kondrad died suddenly in January. He was 67 years old.
Historical society member Mark Ruseskas called his enthusiasm for history “contagious.”
“That’s what I thought, that was a big thing to him,” he said. “I knew Steve in high school, but until we started coming here, I didn’t realize his passion. It got me involved.”
Georgetta Potoski, another member of the society, said Kondrad was their “go-to” for any mining history.
“He knew where all the breakers were, he knew where all the mines were,” she said. “And Avondale was a pet project of his. He went down there often, he would cut the grass and he built the kiosk.”
The kiosk sits at the base of a small hill leading to the Avondale Mine site, standing between where the Avondale Breaker and breaker annex once stood. Materials printed by the historical society tell the story of the mine and the disaster of 1869.
Behind the kiosk, a path leads up the hill to the entrance to a brick wall that would have been laid by hand, and the entrance to a tunnel for the Avondale Mine. In the center of it all, a memorial to Kondrad now sits.
“This was his heart and soul,” Ruseskas said. “This is the perfect place.”
The historical society will formally dedicate Kondrad’s memorial in the spring, and they hope to have an American flag flying overhead when they do.
To contribute to the Plymouth Historical Society, go to their website. Find more information on Giving Tuesday at givingtuesday.org.
