R. Paul Smith Power Plant
15952 Lockwood Rd, Williamsport, MD 21795
-Abandoned September 1st, 2012
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History of the R. Paul Smith Power Plant
The R. Paul Smith Power Plant was built in 1922 and was the first power plant of Williamsport MD. It functioned off coal supplied to the plant via the Western Maryland Railroad. The plant is named after the first president of the Potomac Edison Energy Company. The plant later switched to rail and truck coal deliveries and later to exclusively trucks in late 1974. The plant used a dam system adjacent to the plant. The Potomac River helped cooling systems located inside the plant. In 2012, the plant closed due to stricter regulations of the Clean Air Act originally enacted in 1963. Due to the age of the plant, it was closed permanently on September 1st, 2012.
Recollection from the author
Though we never were able to get inside this iconic building of the eastern panhandle region of WV, we did get to see the components of the building. Inside the complex, many parts made up this building, From the Coal Chute to the underground basement area. The overgrown grass was a thing to traverse though especially on the rainy day we explored this location
