One of the largest machine shops in Carbon and Schuylkill counties will close at year’s end, leaving the future of a historic railroad building and adjacent property in question.

Owner Ken Hill of Hill’s Machine Shop, Lansford, a 10,000-square-foot industrial complex located at the former Lehigh and New England Railroad Freight Station on Dock Street, said the time has come to retire.

“Dec. 31 will be the final work day following an excess of 65 years,” Hill said.

The industrial machine shop specializes in maintenance, repair and rebuilding of specialty parts and machines used by business and industry.

Hill, 80, said the closing will be impact three full-time employees, all of whom are special to him and his wife, the former Jeanie Kulhavy.

Those employees, same as Hill’s customers, have been a big part of life for the Hometown couple.

“We’ve developed deep and meaningful relationships throughout the years. The emotional roller coaster is overwhelming,” said Hill on Thursday.

Employees include Terra Bradford, a Jill-of-all-trades who even can operate a forklift, Ken and Rob Nevenglosky skilled machinists.

Ken Nevenglosky has been working at Hill’s side for 48 years.

“I was so young when I started that my dad used to drive me to work,” he said.

The shop once employed nine workers, but “others have passed away,” said Hill.

Service to industry

In a sense, Hill’s Machine Shop has been the backbone of industry in the Tamaqua-Panther Valley region for six decades.

The shop, featuring 61 machines, some computerized, has kept the region’s largest operations humming: Atlas Powder Company, Lehigh Coal and Navigation, Ametek, Silberline Manufacturing and many others.

“We used to do a lot of on-site work, rigging their machinery and testing.”

When corporations ran into major issues with their expensive equipment, they called Hill.

In fact, Hill’s Machine Shop became so indispensable that their unofficial slogan became: “Your problems are our problems.”

Hill recalls a major job for Atlas Powder Company.

“We built a machine for a sister plant in Quebec. It was so large that it occupied the inside of a tractor-trailer. When it was installed, they had to put a hole in the roof of the building and use a crane to lower it into place.”

Yet the shop also excelled at performing small, delicate jobs requiring exacting tolerances that few would know how to handle, such as replacing a balancing mechanism inside the front fork of a rare 1880s highwheel bicycle.

Both Hill and his wife are Lansford natives.

Hill graduated from Lansford High School in 1959 and from Williamson Trade School in 1962.

For a time he worked as a journeyman machinist for Dorr Oliver, Hazleton, and master machinist at Western Electric, Allentown.

In 1964, he established a part-time machine shop in the basement of his parent’s home at 213 E. Ridge St., going full time in 1966. He moved the shop to 508 E. Kline Ave. in 1971. But the biggest move came in 1976 when he purchased the former LNE Freight Depot at 1 Dock St. In 1989, he also bought the 9,000-square-foot former Zimmerman Warehouse at 2 Dock St.

Through the years, Hill fitted the LNE site with heavy-duty mills, presses, boring machines and inventory as his operation kept up with increasing demand.

Future uncertain

The closing of Hill’s Machine Shop puts the future of the historic former railroad complex in question.

The solid brick and steel Art Deco building features thick concrete floors designed to carry the weight of heavy freight and machinery shipped to Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company.

Adaptive reuse as the home of Hill’s Machine Shop, with its heavy drilling and boring machines, lathes and heavy mills, was a perfect fit.

Hill renovated the site but with an eye for preservation. For instance, when original doors were replaced with newer varieties to save on heating costs, Hill stashed away the originals in storage areas. They are still there.

Hill said he has no particular plans for all of the machines, equipment and buildings. His only hope is that a worthy new owner steps in.

“I’d like to see something that employs people.”

Comments or inquiries about the business, buildings or machinery can be directed to Hill at 570-668-5533.