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Salemville, Salem Township, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania History of Salemville, Salem Township, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania and the Carpatho-Rusyn Miners who worked the Coal Mines: Salem No. 1 Mine, Salem No. 2 Mine, and Huron Mines. by Ryan P. Washlaski, Web Master, Raymond A. Washlaski & Peter E. Starry, Jr. "The Old Miner." Web design by Raymond A. Washlaski & Ryan P.Washlaski A Publication of the 20th Century Society Updated October 23, 1999 |
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The music on this page is "Tancuj,
Tancuj" |
| History of Salemville |
| The Salem Coal Company of Greensburg, led by A. D. Harmon, established the Salem No.1 Mine in 1900. This company also built a number of houses in its company town of Salemville and operated a company store. The town was served by the Alexandria Branch of the Pennsylvania Railroad from a spur at the New Alexandria Station and the Wye at Frogtown. |
 Salemville was
a company-owned village which was enclosed by a fence, one of a few in
Westmoreland County. The fence was a symbol of the company's authority
and hold on each man and his family. Their freedoms were curtailed
in many ways and yet it was a better life than many of them had left behind
in the "Old Country". If a man went to Greensburg and happened to see
something cheap and purchased it to save money, his parcels were searched
when he got off the train; and he was told to report to the super at the
office the next day instead of going straight to work as usual. Then
he was sent home and lost a days work as punishment for purchasing something
the company store had on its shelves. Even though he had saved some
money, in the end he would lose. The fence was torn down by the Company
around 1927-1929. |
| Left to right: Sam Monico, Tony Dott, Joe Ross. (photo courtesy of Mary Gabrial and the New Alexandria Bicentennial History Committee). |
| Salemville consisted of various ethnic groups, Carpatho-Rusyn, Polish, Italian, Ukrainian, and a few other Nationalities, who took great pride in their work, homes and gardens. Each year the Company had a team of judges come in and judge the homes, gardens, and yards for the best and neatest. Prizes were then awarded. |
| A nurse, Miss Ford, was paid by the Company. She was easily recognized by her starched white uniform and black medical bag as she accompanied Dr. J. D. Greaves on his morning visits. |
| During the earlier years, there was no running water in the town. Four or five families would share a single pump, located out at the street, near the sidewalks. There was no indoor plumbing or bathrooms in the company houses; outhouses were in the back of every house. |
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| Salemville Patch ca. 1935, showing the bosses' row in the foreground, two rows of workers' houses in the background. The bare spots on the street going up the hill are the foundations of the Sunday school building. The upper row of houses had just been torn down so that an entry could be put in to mine the coal that was under them. |
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Each family had its own bake oven and smoke house; and during the winter, each family cured its own bacon, ham, and sausage. There were only about seven electric poles in the town with a single bare electric light bulb, which lit the area for night walking and for the children to play under them until the curfew sounded at 9 P.M.. There was also a playground and a Sunday School building for the children. |
| The bake oven Pete Starry built for his family in the backyard of their Salemville patch house. (Photo courtesy of Peter E. Starry, Jr.) |
| Salemville had its own Chapel or Sunday School Building. Miss Dena Wagner was the Missionary and home economist. Her job was to teach the girls to cook, sew, and embroider. She also taught the Sunday School classes as well as English classes. |  |
Miss Dena Wagner, was employed by Keystone Coal and Coke Company as the Home Economist , Missionary & Sunday School Teacher in Salemville. (photo courtesy of the New Alexandria Bicentennial History Committee). |
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| Above are some of Pete Starry's Sunday School cards that Miss Dena used to teach him English and the Sunday School lessons. |
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| Salemville patch ca. 1947, looking east, with the coal tipple and bony dump (slate dump) in the background. |
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| Hempfield Supply Company No. 4, The Company
Store at Salemville. Left to right: Sarah Barnhart Simpson, Fannie Conner,
Robert Hanna, Ira Fennell, Dory Clawson, Mary Sigafoes, Eva
Barnhart. (photo courtesy of Sarah Simpson and the New Alexandria Bicentennial History Committee) |
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| Stanley Starry and Mother Mary (Barkus) Starry and father Peter Starry, Sr. | Peter Starry, Sr. helping dig a water line in Salemville. |
| Description of the Town Today |
| The town of Salemville contains about thirty company-built houses. About twenty-four of these are workers' homes. Situated along a small road (Quality Road) off new US Route 22, these dwellings are two-story wood-frame double houses on rubble foundations. To the East, along Township Road T854, is Bosses' Row. This contains five two-story wood-frame double houses built on rubble foundations. These houses are across the street from the abandoned coke works and reclaimed bony pile (slate dump). |
| The Company Store at Salemville is located on Township Road T854, just off new US Route 22. Originally this was the "Hempfield Supply and Company No. 4" and was located on the old US Route 22; asphalt siding covers the original clapboard exterior. The building contains two-and-a-half stories and measures 75' x 43'. It features a gable roof with new asphalt shingles, a rubble foundation, two-over-two double-hung sash windows, wooden shingles at the gable on the facade, and a large six-light storefront. Its off-center entrance features a paneled door with transom. The company store most recently functioned as an auction house. |
| The company housing is now privately owned. Most houses are currently single family homes and have had many improvements made to them. |
| During the coal-mining era, the town was surrounded by a fence, which was torn down ca. 1927-1929. |
| More Links to Salemville, Pennsylvania
History & The Carpatho-Rusyn Miners of Salemville Patch
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Visit these sites, for more local history
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