diggin4clad
Elite Member
This photo is of the Chappell Coal Company of my home town of Norwich, Conn. Back in the 1940's and 1950's many homes were still heated with coal rather than gas or oil. My grandfather heated his home with coal bought from this company. The boats loaded with coal came up the Thames River and docked along side the wharf and the company unloaded the coal with a steam powered derrick that made so much noise you could hear it all over town even if you were a couple of miles away. When you ordered coal the truck would come to the house and open a window that lead to the coal bin in the cellar, put a chute down into the bin and the coal would slide into the bin. Buckets of coal ashes would be put out on the sidewalk to be hauled away once a week by the garbage truck.