|
|
|
|
| Greensburg No. 1 Mine (Keystone No. 1 Mine) (Haydenville Mine) & Coke Works (ca.1870's-1926), Located east of Keystone Avenue, west of old US Rt. 119, on the Southwest Branch of the Pennsylvania Railroad, Haydenville (Red Onion), Southwest Greensburg, Huff, Hempfield Twp., Westmoreland Co., PA [Also know after 1902, as Keystone No. 1 Mine.] [Greensburg No. 1 Coke Works contained 10 bee-hive coke ovens.] Owners: (ca.1892-1902), Greensburg Coal Company, Greensburg, PA (ca.1902-1926), Keystone Coal & Coke Company, Greensburg, PA
Greensburg No. 2 Mine
Radebuagh Mine
(ca.1890's-1901), |
 |
| Topographical map of the Greensburg area, ca.1904 |
| DESCRIPTION: The town of Haydenville adjoins South Greensburg and extends west off of US Route 119. It contains about forty houses that line two streets. Most of these dwellings are large double houses with wood-frames, some with wood siding, gable roofs, brick chimneys, and rubble stone foundations. These houses date from the early 1890's. By the early twentieth century the town was served by two privately run grocery and dry goods stores. These businesses have been closed for many years. Just south of the town is a one-story brick building, erected in the 1950's, housing the Franklin D. Roosevelt Club. |
 |
| Greensburg No. 1 Mine, ca.1901 No. 16 on the map are the works of the Greensburg No. 1 Mine, south of Greensburg, PA. (Map of Greensburg, 1901, by T.M.Fowler & James B. Moyer, Morristown, PA, ca.1901. Courtesy of the Prints Division of the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.) |
| HISTORY: The Greensburg Coal Company, owned by Coulter & Huff, established a mine on the then eastern outskirts of Greensburg, along the Southwest Branch of the Pennsylvania Railroad, in the 1870's. In ca.1880 the Greensburg Coal Company produced 21,800 tons of coal at its slope-entry mine. By ca.1886 the mine employed eighty-two persons and produced over 79,000 tons of coal. The company's coke works, containing just ten bee-hive coke ovens, produced slightly more than 5,000 tons of coke. The company was led by Frank I. Kimball of Greensburg. In addition to operating the mine and small coke works, the coal company constructed a number of double houses for its miners and named the mining community Haydenville. By ca.1900 the Greensburg Coal Company was led by A.D. Harmon. The company operated three mines: the original Greensburg No. 1 Mine [later Keystone No. 1 Mine], Greensburg No. 2 Mine [later Keystone No. 2 Mine], located near the Greensburg No. 1 Mine, and the Radebuagh Mine, locate west of Greensburg, near the Radebuagh tunnel on the mainline of the Pennsylvania Railroad. Henry Welty served as superintendent of the Greensburg No. 1 Mine, still with just ten coke ovens, employed ninety-one men and boys. The handful of men employed in the coke yard produced around 2,000 tons of coke. |
 |
| Greensburg No. 1 Mine: The Tipple and operating plant of the Greensburg No. 1 Mine (Keystone No. 1 Mine), looking north towards Greensburg. The mine entry is in the hillside towards the right of the picture. The mine was located just about were the PA Rt.30 by-pass crosses the valley at PA Rt, 119 at Greensburg. (Photo courtesy of the Book "Life of South Greensburg.") |
 |
| Greensburg No. 2 Mine: The tipple at the Greensburg No. 2 Mine (Keystone No. 2 Mine) and the Southwest Branch of the Pennsylvania Railroad. |
| In ca.1902 the Greensburg Coal Company was
bought out and absorbed by the Keystone Coal & Coke Company, also based
in Greensburg, PA, Keystone Coal & Coke acquired the Greensburg
No. 1 Mine & Coke Works along with the Greensburg No. 2 Mine and
company owned residential property at Haydenville. The coal company
patch town of Haydenville was also known by the name "Red Onion" and contained
about forty coal company-built houses. There are several stories concerning
the origin of the name "Red Onion." According to some, the town was
dubbed "Red Onion" because a number of its new immigrate residents hung braded
onions, grown in their gardens, on their front porches to dry in the fall,
and all one could smell were onions. It was also the trademark of the
Keystone Coal & Coke Company to paint its workers houses a bright barn
red color, mainly because the red oxide paint was cheap.
Despite a widespread coal miners strike in northern Westmoreland County in 1910-1911 that affected several of the Keystone Coal & Coke Company properties, the coal company continued to operate its Greensburg No. 1 Mine with imported "scab" labor, in an effort to break the coal miners strike. Keystone Coal & Coke Company also employed the dreaded "Coal and Iron Police" to protect its property, and also to badger and intimidate the striking coal miners. Those miners that went on strike were evicted by force from company housing, and their belongings thrown into the streets, and the miners and their families forced out of the coal company patch towns. That year Keystone Coal & Coke Company employed 129 men and boys at Greensburg No. 1 Mine and was run for 305 days. The miners at Greensburg No. 1 Mine produced over 363,000 tons of coal in 1910. The small coke works had been abandoned by this time and most of the coal extracted at Greensburg No. 1 Mine was shipped to market via the Southwest Branch of the Pennsylvania Railroad. The Keystone Coal & Coke Company had fully electrified the Greensburg No. 1 Mine and electirc powered mining machines were used to extract the coal. In addition, two electirc locomotives hauled coal from the mine to the tipple. The physical plant contained three return tubular boilers that produced a total of 325 horsepower. A 550-volt DC generator was housed in the power plant. |
 |
| Miners of Keystone Mines: A group of unidentified miners, Fire Bosses and Rescue Team from the Keystone Mines of Keystone Coal & Coke Company, ca.1912. |
| The Greensburg No. 1 Mine operated until
ca.1926 when Keystone Coal & Coke Company abandoned the mine. Many
of the miners at Haydenville found employment at the nearby factories of
the Walworth Company, Railway Engineering Company and the Hempfield Foundry.
A few of the miners were employed in Keystone Coal & Coke Company's
Greensburg No. 2 Mine. The Greensburg No. 2 Mine was closed after it
was flooded out in the disastrous flood of 1936. The water had not subsided
in this mine for a few years, so it was closed.
|
| To Select another Index to Westmoreland County Coal Mines Click on the Larry cars for Index Page or on a Letter below |
 |
| A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z |
| Local History
Sites Links to other coal mining sites |
Reference Sources for Southwestern Pennsylvania Coal Mines | The New Message Boards have not worked, Use our guestbook for questions | Have
information to add on Westmoreland County Coal Mines? E-Mail the Editor |
|
View the "Old Miner's" Guestbook |
Let the Old Miner know you've been here. Sign the "Old Miner's" Guestbook |
 FastCounter by LinkExchange |
If you have additional information or pictures on the Coal
Mines of Westmoreland County, PA Contact: Ray Washlaski, Editor Copyright 2008, All rights reserved, by Raymond A. Washlaski, Ryan P. Washlaski & The 20th Century Society of Western Pennsylvania. Web site Design by "Mercers, an Undertakers" Web Design Company |
