Alpha Portland Cement Co. Board of Directors meeting minutes, November 20, 1918

Minutes of board meeting of the Alpha Portland Cement Co. held November 20, 1918 which include the following actions: the President reported that manufacturing conditions were poor as the Spanish Influenza epidemic had affected all of the company's plants; the president reported that the Emergency Hospital established at Martins Creek, Pa. did excellent work responding to the epidemic; the President reported that the company's subscription to the Fourth Liberty Loan was $100,000; F.M. Coogan reported that due to the signing of the armistice all contracts with the government had been cancelled and that he expected sales for 1919 to be excellent; F. G. McKelvy reported that 24 employees of the company had died as a result of the epidemic; the company presented a wristwatch to Major Hooe, a U.S. Army officer who managed the Emergency Hospital at Martins Creek, for his excellent work during the epidemic. The Alpha Portland Cement Co. was organized in 1895 when it acquired the Whitaker Cement Co. Originally based in Philadelphia, the company later moved its headquarters to Easton, Pa. Based in the area of the Lehigh Valley in Pennsylvania known as the ""Cement Belt,"" Alpha Portland Cement Co. grew to become one of the largest cement companies in the United States.