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(These pages still Underconstruction)
| Marguerite Mine No. 1 ( Drift Mine) &
Coke Works (ca.1897-1945?), Located .4 miles east of PA SR 2017 & T 834, at Marguerite Reservoir, Marguerite, Unity Twp., Westmoreland Co., PA. Served by the Southwest Pennsylvania Railroad, Sewickley Branch, of the Pennsylvania Railroad. Owners: (ca.1897-1901) Standard Connellsville Coke Company, Connellsville, PA (ca.1901-1903) Continental Coke Company, Connellsville, PA (ca.1903-1929) H.C. Frick Coke Company, Scottdale, PA (ca.1930-1953) King Brothers Coal & Coke Company, Uniontown, PA |
| Marguerite Mine No. 2 (Slope Mine) &
Coke Works (ca.1900-1945?), Located .4 miles east of PA SR 2017 & T 834, at Marguerite Reservoir, Marguerite, Unity Twp., Westmoreland Co., PA. Served by the Southwest Pennsylvania Railroad, Sewickley Branch, of the Pennsylvania Railroad. Owners: (ca.1900-1901) Standard Connellsville Coke Company, Connellsville, PA (ca.1901-1903) Continental Coke Company, Connellsville, PA (ca.1903-1929) H.C. Frick Coke Company, Scottdale, PA (ca.1930-1953) King Brothers Coal & Coke Company, Uniontown, PA |
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H.C. Frick Coke Company Plat Map of
Marguerite H.C. Frick Coke Company Plat Map of the Village of Marguerite, Unity Township, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, showing houses standing (in black), company store, mine buildings, and coke oven batteries. Field checked ca.1959 by John Envan. (From the John Envan Collection, Connellsville Coke Plants, Works and Settlements, Plat Map courtesy of USX Corporation Resource Management, Uniontown, PA & The Coal & Coke Heritage Center, Penn State University, Fayette Campus, Uniontown, PA) |
| DESCRIPTION: The surviving structures from the Marguerite Mines and Coke Works include two batteries of bee-hive coke ovens and a number of concrete-block buildings. The coke ovens are south of the village of Marguerite, along a small tributary of Sewickley Creek; this includes one battery of bee-hive bloick ovens and one battery of bee-hive bank ovens. These coke ovens number about forty and they are in severly deteriorated condition, some with their fronts missing. The surviving mine buildings are post-1940's structures. (None of the original H.C. Frick Coke Company's mine buildings are extant.) The surviving buildings are constructed of concrete-block, contain one-story, and have gable roofs. Also surviving and associated with coke works and town are the remains of the Marguerite Reservoir, which supplied water to the coke works, located west of the town. The Marguerite water reservoir was drained several years ago. A large, rock-lined ditch was dug in the lower end (at the dam) and all of the water drained out. The creek that fed it now meanders through the weed-filled depression of what was the reservoir. |
| The Village of Marguerite is composed of the Company Store and three rows of approximately forty houses. The Company Store, now owned by a trucking concern, the former company store is a much altered one-story wood-frame building with a lightly ornamented wood parapet wall extending across the front, horizontal wood siding, and a rubble stone foundation. The storefront has been greatly altered with the installation of two sliding wood doors and the interior has been rearranged to serve as a garage. |
| The houses are primarily of two types: the first type is the standard two-story wood-frame double house with a gable roof, two brick chimneys, a full-length porch, a stone foundation, and the main entrances located parallel with the gable ridge. The second type is virtually identical with the exception of salt-box roofs. Modifications to the houses include the application of new siding materials over the original clapboard sliding, the enclosure of porches, the alteration of windows and doors, and the conversion of double houses into single-family houses. |
| HISTORY: The Standard Connellsville Coke Company developed a drift mine and the Company Village of Marguerite in 1897. That year the Connellsville based company constructed thirty-three workers houses, each with four rooms. In addition, Standard Connellsville built the Marguerite Coke Works containing some 200 bee-hive coke ovens. With the tops of the ovens at the same level as the drift mine opening, a tipple was not needed. Coal was transported by mine car to the oven tops and deposited directly into the bee-hive coke ovens. The Marguerite Mine was managed by superintendent and mine foreman Robert Gordon, of Greensburg. The Marguerite Coke Works and Mine were served by the Sewickley Branch of the Southwest Pennsylvania Railroad, later the Pennsylvania Railroad. During its first year of operation the miners at Marguerite Mine extracted 250 tons of coal each day, all of which was used in the Coke Ovens. In 1900 the Standard Connellsville Coke Company established a second mine, Marguerite No. 2 Mine and Coke Works at Marguerite. The company operated a total of 400 bee-hive coke ovens at the two Marguerite Mines. Marguerite No. 2 Mine, was a slope mine, and Marguerite No. 1 Mine, was a drift mine. The two mines produced over 240,000 tons of coal and the coke works produced 175,000 tons of coke in 1900. The company employed about 490 workers at its Marguerite operations, and was led in 1900 by Jared M. B. Ries of Uniontown. The following year, however, the Standard Connellsville Coke Company was reorganized as the Continental Coke Company. The H.C. Frick Coke Company took over the Marguerite operation in 1903 and acquired Continental Coke outright in 1904. By 1906 the Marguerite Mines were producing about 225,000 tons of coal, and 31,000 tons of coke, and employing 388 miners. Nearly 1,000 persons lived in Marguerite in 1906. In 1909 the Marguerite Mine had a slope opening and the mine was considered gaseous. Marguerite Mine employed 2 mining machines powered by compressed air in 1909. In 1910 the Frick Coke Company made the following improvements to the Marguerite Mine: 28 permanent stoppings were constructed. Added two twelve-room double dwellings, complete with bathroom and containing indoor plumbing and steam heat, for company officials employed at Marguerite Mines. Throughout the 1910's production remained fairly stable and a single steam locomotive was used to haul coal to the surface. Other equipment used at the Marguerite Mines in 1914 included eight return tubular boilers, three compressors, and three pumps. In 1929, the mine's last year of operation under the H.C. Frick Coke Company, over 98,000 tons of coal was produced, with a work force of 283 miners, working 126 days. Under the ownership of the King Brothers Coal & Coke Company, the Marguerite Mines and Coke Works were reopened and operated through the mid 1950's. The United Mine Workers of America, Local #7951, represented the coal miners at the Marguerite Mine. King Brothers main office was in Scottdale where Denis Byrne grew up.They shipped most of the coke to Hanna Steel in Lackawanna N.Y. King was one of the many small independent coal -coke operations in Westmoreland County at that time who leased from H. C. Frick and paid Frick a royalty per ton of coal mined. The mine ran three shifts during WWW II and the boom after the war. The business peaked around 1949 and I believe all activity ceased around 1953. Dennis Byrne writes, I am 60, and I can still hear the zing of the cable as the hoist began to pull the little cars from deep within the mine to the surface; and I remember the weary look on the miners faces, but somehow, still displaying great personal strength in those faces. |
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Marguerite ca.1903 Village of Marguerite ca.1903, looking north-west, showing the original company store to the right and the patch houses. (photo courtesy of USX Corporation Resource Management, Uniontown, PA & The Coal & Coke Heritage Center, Penn State University, Fayette Campus, Uniontown, PA) |
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Marguerite, ca.1903 Village of Marguerite ca.1903, looking south-east, showing the coke oven batteries beyond the patch houses. (photo courtesy of USX Corporation Resource Management, Uniontown, PA & The Coal & Coke Heritage Center, Penn State University, Fayette Campus, Uniontown, PA) |
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Marguerite, ca.1912 Village of Marguerite ca. 1912, with the mines and coke works in the background. (photo courtesy of USX Corporation Resource Management, Uniontown, PA & HABS/HAER, America's Industrial Heritage Project, National Park Service, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.) |
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Playground at Marguerite Village of Marguerite, Childrens Playground ca.1912, with the mine & coke works in the background to the left. (photo courtesy of USX Corporation Resource Management, Uniontown, PA & HABS/HAER, America's Industrial Heritage Project, National Park Service, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.) |
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The Company Store, Marguerite The original Company Store at Marguerite, and Village of Marguerite ca.1903 in background. (photo courtesy of USX Corporation Resource Management, Uniontown, PA & The Coal & Coke Heritage Center, Penn State University, Fayette Campus, Uniontown, PA) |
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Patch Houses, Marguerite ca.1993 Marguerite ca.1993, double company houses. (photo by Carmen DiCiccio, courtesy of HABS/HAER, America's Industrial Heritage Project, National Park Service, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.) |
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Charred remains of Patch House,
Marguerite The charred shell of a patch house on Second Street in the Village of Marguerite, is all that remains after a fire in January 1996 that killed 2 women. (Photo courtesy the Coal Archives of the Latrobe Area Historical Society, Latrobe, PA & the Latrobe Bulletin, Latrobe, PA) |
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The Remains of the Company Store The back side of the old Company Store building, Marguerite ca.2000. A great many alterations have been made to the building, including removal of the second story. (Photo captured from a video taken by Ray Washlaski, ca. Nov., 2000) |
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Main Street of Marguerite, ca.2000 The main street in the Village of Marguerite, ca.2000. (Photo captured from a video taken by Ray Washlaski, ca. Nov., 2000) |
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Another view up the main street, in the Village of Marguerite,
ca.2000. (Photo captured from a video taken by Ray Washlaski, ca. Nov., 2000) |
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A few of the large houses near the mine area of Marguerite,
ca.2000. (Photo captured from a video taken by Ray Washlaski, ca. Nov., 2000) |
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A house in Marguerite, ca.2000. (Photo captured from a video taken by Ray Washlaski, ca. Nov., 2000) |
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(Photo captured from a video taken by Ray Washlaski, ca. Nov., 2000) |
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Village of Marguerite, ca.2000 Village of Marguerite, from the area of the Marguerite Coke Works. Remains of a row of block type bee-hive coke ovens can be seen at the right. (Photo captured from a video taken by Ray Washlaski, ca. Nov., 2000) |
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Marguerite Coke Works, ca.2000 The Remains of the Marguerite Coke Works, with the Village of Marguerite in the background. (Photo captured from a video taken by Ray Washlaski, ca. Nov., 2000) |
| "Coal Miners
Memorial, Marguerite Mine & Coke Works, Marguerite, Unity Township, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania" |
| From: bbyrne@panetwork.com (bbyrne)
To: FIWAR@aol.com Ray: Good to hear from you. The last place I expected to find on the web was Marguerite and I am delighted to have found it. I think what you are doing is a real tribute to those men who worked in the most dangerous profession of all - coal mining. I remember hearing of the Hamarville mine and thought it was owned by one of the large steel or oil companies. Aside from that, I know little else. I put the Marguerite film on VHS about five years ago along with many family films and it won't be any problem to duplicate that part and send it to you in July. King Brothers main office was in Scottdale where I grew up.They shipped most of the coke to Hanna Steel in Lackawanna N.Y. King was one of the many small independent coal -coke operations in Westmoreland County at that time who leased from H. C. Frick and paid Frick a royalty per ton of coal mined. The mine ran three shifts during WWW II and the boom after the war. The business peaked around 1949 and I believe all activity ceased around 1953. Dennis Byrne writes, I am 60, and I can still hear the zing of the cable as the hoist began to pull the little cars from deep within the mine to the surface; and I remember the weary look on the miners faces, but somehow, still displaying great personal strength in those faces. I will put my Dad's, relatives and other miners names I remember on the memorial site.Thanks for reminding me. Best regards and thanks for keeping those names alive. Dennis Byrne |
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