photo by: Stephanie Elverd

Smokestacks 1 and 2 come down at the W.H. Sammis Plant in Stratton Saturday morning in Northern Jefferson County, closing both lanes of Ohio 7. Each smokestack stood about 500 feet high.

The ongoing demolition of the W.H. Sammis Plant continued Saturday morning with the implosion of two smokestacks at its north end, a development that drew many spectators from both sides of the Ohio River.

“I wanted to see it. It (the power plant) is such a piece of history for this part of the valley,” said Wilfred Howcroft of Steubenville, who was among many who watched from the overlook near the Hancock Emergency Services Center on W.Va. 2 north of New Cumberland.

Howcroft said, like many, he knew people who worked at the plant during its more than 60 years of operation.

Approximately one mile of Ohio Route 7 near the plant was closed for about an hour while crews removed the smokestacks, which stood about 500 feet high, and four boilers from the site and cleared the roadway of any debris.

The work was part of an ongoing demolition of the former power plant by crews with B&B Wrecking & Excavating. Crews with the Cleveland business have been working there since the plant was acquired by Energy Transition and Environmental Management of Houston.

The plant was closed in 2023 by Energy Harbor, which cited a desire to shift from coal-fired power plants to carbon-free nuclear plants more compliant with federal environmental regulations.

It had been opened in 1962 and gained recognition for its 625-megawatt generator in the March 1967 issue of Forbes magazine. It was followed by another generator, with a capacity to produce 650 megawatts of power, in 1971.

The plant ultimately generated 2,220 megawatts of electricity.

“We live in Toronto. We just decided to come out and see it. I remember seeing the stacks my whole life,” said Jeff Rankin, who grew up in East Liverpool and now resides in Toronto with his wife, Susan.

“I remember when they were putting them up,” said Susan, who noted the plant underwent various additions through the years.

Among them is the four-lane tunnel along Ohio 7 that runs through the plant that supports pollution control equipment that was added in 1982 to comply with federal regulations.

Plans call for those facilities to be removed in the future, though that may not occur until next year.

Officials with B&B Wrecking & Excavating said cranes will be used to remove them, with Ohio 7 again temporarily closed for the public’s safety.

Bob Norton of New Cumberland noted the plant is one of a number of industrial facilities that have disappeared over the years.

“You go away and it (the skyline of the Ohio Valley) has changed,” he noted.

The closing of the W.H. Sammis Plant — named for the Ohio Edison executive who headed the company — resulted in the termination of 140 employees. At one time, the plant employed about 400 people.

Efforts by B&B Wrecking & Excavating are intended to make the property available for new development.

Working with engineers and other contractors, the company also has removed, through detonation, a wall of duct work that carried air and particulate matter to the plant’s smokestacks.

The ductwork included multiple sections, each weighing between 50 and 200 tons, removed by cranes and other equipment.

Crews also have pulled down two absorber tanks, also used in pollution control, that each stood 150 feet high and weighed about 850 tons.