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| Donohoe Mine & Coke Works
(ca.1898-Sept., 1923), Located on the New Alexandria Branch of the Pennsylvania Railroad, along Crabtree Creek, .5 mile east of Rt 119, on the Latrobe-Crabtree Road, Crabtree, at Greenwald, Unity Twp. (formerly called Deweytown, Unity Twp.) the coal company town was located in Unity Twp., & the Donohoe Mine & Coke Works were located in Salem Twp., Westmoreland Co., PA [Greenwald Station was the name of the Pennsylvania Railroad New Alexandria Branch station at Donohoe, PA.] [Donohoe Coke Works contained 193 bee-hive coke ovens ca.1917.] [Donohoe Mine & Coke Works were closed and abandoned in ca.1923.] Owners: (ca.1890-1919), Donohoe Coal & Coke Company, Greenwald, PA (ca.1919-Sept., 1923), Donohoe Coke Company, Greenwald , PA |
| DESCRIPTION: Only nineteen of the original company-built houses, the school and reservoir remain at [Deweyville] Greenwald, Unity Township. The store, post office, railroad station, and a number of other company buildings have been demolished, inpart due to recent strip-mining along Crabtree Creek, and reclaiming of the Donohoe Mine slate dump, across Crabtree Creek in Salem Township. The houses date from ca.1900 through the 1910's and form a single row along one street and in two rows along a parallel street. These dwellings are single-family houses and double-family [duplex] houses. The double houses are patterned after the standard miners' dwellings found in western Pennsylvania: two-story wood-frame buildings with the main entrances parallel to the gable ridge. They have gable roofs, two brick chimneys,and rubble-stone foundations. The single-family houses are also two-story wood-frame buildings each with a gable roof,a single brick chimney,and a stone foundation. Most of the residences have been altered with asphaltic or metal siding over the original clapboard siding. In addition, a number of houses have altered the original windows and porches. The school building is a one-and-a-half story wood-frame building with a gable roof and a coursed rubble stone foundation. It is abandoned and in disrepair ca.1990. The reservoir was formed by constructing a small dam across Crabtree Creek. Water impounded in the reservoir was used in the nearby coke works, as well as in the town of Greenwald. |
| HISTORY: In 1890 the Alexandria Coal Company, led by Thomas J. Donohoe of Greensburg, PA, built houses, the Alexandria Mine and Coke Works at Goff, a small rural community near the confluence of Crabtree Creek and Little Crabtree Creek, in Salem Township. The Alexandria Coal Company's property was served by the New Alexandria Branch of the Pennsylvania Railroad. About 1898 Donohoe and his son-in-law Arnott Wilson formed the Donohoe Coal & Coke Company. Donohoe apparently had divested himself from the Alexandria Coal Company, which sold its Alexandria Mine properties in Goff to the Jamison Coal & Coke Company. The Donohoe Coal & Coke Company then opened a coke works and drift mine, called the Donohoe Mine, along Crabtree Creek,and erected the copany town of Greenwald, the town was formerly called Deweytown, just east of Goff. By 1900 Donohoe Coal & Coke Company ranked twenty-eight among Westmoreland County's coal producers in the Second Bituminous District. John P. Donohoe served as the general superintendent and site superintendent for the company. The Donohoe Mine employed 140 miners and the coke works employed seventy-four coke workers. The miners produced over 100,000 tons of coal in 1900 and the coke works produced slightly more than 14,000 tons of coke. Equipment at the mine included three electric locomotives to haul coal, but the minig of the coal was done by hand. There were four boilers at the mine in 1914, with 193 bee-hive coke ovens in operation and 400 workers employed. During 1914, the Donohoe Mine constructed various improvements and building for the use of its employees. The Donohoe Mine built a concrete Swimming Pool or its employees and families. Also, a large building, 24 ft. by 60 ft., with two floors, has been erected for the free use of all employees who desire to take a pledge to abstain from the use of intoxicating liquors for a period of one year. The building is equipped with three pool and billiards tables, music, card and reading tables, hot and cold water, baths and showers, closets, etc. Bowling alleys and other amusements will be added in the near future. The Donohoe Mine was closed and abandoned in September of 1923 after striking miners sealed the mine's entrance. The Donohoe Coal & Coke Company never reopened the mine. (History and description of the Donohoe Mine & Coke Works, adapted from "Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania: An Inventory of Historic Engineering and Industrial Sites, 1994," America's Industrial Heitage Project, National Park Service, Historic American Buildings Survey / Historic American Engineering Record, U.S. Department of the Interior, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.) |
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| Donohoe Mine and Coke Works, along the New
Alexandria Branch of the Pennsylvania Railroad, at Greenwald Station. The
drift mine and coke works were located on the Salem Township side of Crabtree
Creek. (Photo courtesy of Gene Yanity and "The Crabtree Story." from the collections of Harry T. Bortz, railroading historian, New Alexandria, PA.) |
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| The town of Greenwald, Unity Township, is
located across the Crabtree Creek from the Donohoe Mine & Coke Works,
which was in Salem Twp. (Photo by Paul Peirce, courtesy of "The Tribune-Review", Greensburg, PA, from the collections of Harry T. Brotz, railroading historian, New Alexandria, PA.) |
| Coal
Miners Memorial Donohoe Mine & Coke Works, Salem Township & Greenwald Unity Township, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania " |
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