The state’s only municipal district-heating system had plenty of customers, and plans to build a new plant on S. Main Street to produce both heat and electricity. Ten years ago, Concord Steam was on a roll. RH White manager John Kelley looks over the new steam piping that will connect to the temporary steam production system when the Concord Steam plant stops on May 31.Ĭoncord Steam co-owner Mark Saltsman leans over to show workers a steam valve where the conversion pipes are being connected when the plant switches from Concord Steam to the temporary steam producing equipment on May 31. White Construction works on the temporary steam generator at the State Hospital grounds near the Concord Steam plant off of Pleasant Street in Concord. Photos by GEOFF FORESTER / Monitor staffĪ worker from R.H. But shifting market forces hit the company hard.

“The future was bright,” Peter Bloomfield (left) recalled recently, looking back on Concord Steam’s history as he and co-owner Mark Saltsman sorted through paperwork in the Concord offices that will soon shut down. This shows the original Concord Steam boiler plant, just off Bridge Street it was torn down in the early 1980s and is now a parking lot. The installation of the original underground steam pipes in 1938 or 1939. The picture was taken looking east toward Main Street the State House is off to the right. The State House is within the rectangular pattern of pipes. That plant was torn down decades ago, but these steam pipes are still operating. This 1939 blueprint shows the steam pipes connected to Concord Steam's original heating plant, located near what is now Bridge Street. The 2008 financial crisis killed the financing, and the work was never done. This 2007 drawing shows a proposal for a new Concord Steam plant in the former Boston & Main railroad yard on South Main Street.

Steam powered down