A contractor on Monday started the demolition of the 130-foot smokestack that towers over the property of Ed's USA Auto Rentals in Pottsville.
"We took 10 feet off of it today, so now it's about 120 foot," said the contractor, Vince Madonna, president of Madonna Enterprises, Port Carbon.
The smokestack is connected to a brick building that was once part of the Tilt Silk Mill, which opened in July 1888, according to Scott Mitchell, a sales and marketing coordinator for Ed's USA, 303 N. 12th St., Pottsville.
"This used to be the boiler room," Madonna said.
The company is also planning to demolish the 3,500-square-foot building the smokestack is connected to. The wooden supports for the roof are old and in poor shape, according to Chris Fenstermacher, the company's vice president.
"It should be down in two or three weeks," Madonna said.
The estimated project cost is $29,500, according to the building permit filed in the office of the City of Pottsville Code Enforcement Office on April 5.
Tracey Fenstermacher, wife of Chris and owner of Ed's USA, said the company may decide to build a storage building on the site but the matter is still being discussed.
According to an article in The New York Times, published July 18, 1888, the Tilt Silk Mill opened July 17, 1888.
"The mill has been one year in construction, is the most extensive and completely equipped establishment of the kind in the country, cost $250,000 and will employ 1,000 operatives," according to the article.
"This silk mill was the first textile mill to locate in this section and, from its earliest existence, it was a policy of the company to make the surroundings as pleasant as possible for the workmen," according to the "Joseph H. Zerbey History of Pottsville and Schuylkill County," published in 1936.
It was owned by Phoenix Silk Manufacturing Co., which was incorporated Nov. 18, 1824, as the Phoenix Manufacturing Co. B.B. Tilt & Co. bought the company in 1835, according to the Zerbey History.
The property changed hands over the years, according to the online Schuylkill Parcel Locator.
Ed's U-Save opened at 1208 Laurel Blvd. in July 21, 1983. In December 1984, Edward and Mary D. Keese bought the property at 303 N. 12th St., the complex which was the former Tilt Silk Factory, and Ed's U-Save moved to that location, according to Mitchell.
Tracey Fenstermacher is the daughter of Edward and Mary Keese, Mitchell said.
KF Partnership, run by the Fenstermachers, bought the property from Edward Keese for $1 on Dec. 31, 2007, according to the parcel locator and Mitchell.
Ed's U-Save became Ed's USA in the late 1990s, when the family left the "U-Save" franchise, Mitchell said.
Chris Fenstermacher said Ed's USA hired a contractor in summer 2012 to remove 10 feet from the top of the smokestack, when it started to crumble.
"So, originally, it was around 140 feet high," he said.
Madonna said his crew is removing the smokestack from the top, and he was up in a telescopic lift doing some of the demolition work himself Monday.
The smokestack's bricks are brittle, Madonna said.
"It's very easy to break. I was breaking off most of it with my hands," he said.
He's been dropping the debris down the smokestack to a slide he set up on the bottom. It carries the rubble to a pile his trucks can gain access to.
In July, the business is celebrating its 30th anniversary, as well as the 125th anniversary of the buildings on the property, Mitchell said.