Such was the extent of the importance of Cowdenbeath to coal mining at the turn of the century (circa 1900) that several institutions essential to mining became established there. The headquarters of the Fife and Kinross Miners' Association were opened in Victoria Street on 8 October 1910, and the first mine rescue station opened at Cowdenbeath on 4 November 1910 on Stenhouse Street, opposite Beath High School. The Central Works, Cowdenbeath, (commonly referred to as "the Workshops") were built in 1924 by the Fife Coal Company Limited in order to centralise its supervisory staff and to cope with the greater amount of manufacturing and maintenance work caused by the intensive mechanisation programme which was being introduced in its mines.