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| Buffington: Coal Company Patch
Town. Located along Dunbar Creek, north of PA Rt. SR 4006, about 6 1/2 miles southeast of Brownsville, Buffington, Menallen Twp., Fayette Co., PA
Buffington Mine & Coke
Works (ca.1900-1946), |
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| Coal Patch House No. 95 front yard, Buffington Mine,
ca.1912 H.C. Frick Coke Company's Buffington Mine, House No. 95 won 1st. Prize for Lawn & Flower Garden at Buffington in 1912. (Photo courtesy of the USX Resource Managment Division, Uniontown, PA, & John K. Gates' Book, "The Beehive Coke Years.") |
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| Coal Patch House No. 95 side yard, Buffington Mine,
ca.1913 H.C. Frick Coke Company's Buffington Mine, House No. 95 won 2nd Prize for Lawn & Flower Garden at Buffington in 1913. The large loafs of bread on the brench must have just come out of the bake oven, also located in the back yard. (Photo courtesy of the USX Resource Managment Division, Uniontown, PA, & John K. Gates' Book, "The Beehive Coke Years.") |
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| The coal patch town of Buffington, with
it's rows of double family houses with double outhouses out back and
white-washed fences and gardens as it appeared in an early photo.
The Buffington Mine & Coke Works and slate and ash dump are at
the bottom of the photo. (Photo courtesy of the Clark Dearth Funeral Home, New Salem, PA) |
| DESCRIPTION: COAL COMPANY PATCH TOWN of BUFFINGTON: This description was written ca.1990 for the Industrial Heritage Survey and some of the details may have changed since then. The town of Buffington contained about 100 houses ca.1990, which comprises virtually all of its original coal company owned housing. The town was laid out along five parallel and two intersecting streets. Situated north of the former Buffington Mine & Coke Works site, the houses along the northwest side of Buffington were built on a particularly steep hillside. Buffington's semi-detached double family dwellings are of the type most common in the region. They are four-bay, two-story, side-gabled structures, and have shed-roofed full front porches and single-story rear additions. Some of the houses have been altered and are now only two-bay on the second floor. The coal company store was built around ca.1900 and was in good condition, ca.1990. Located about one-eight of a mile southeast of the town, the building is two stories high and the exterior material is brick. Rectangular in plan, it has a flat roof, a main facade with three bays, each with sets of three arched windows on the second story. The glazing has been removed. The main offset entrance on the first floor has been altered. |
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| A row of the single family coal patch houses
along a street in Buffington, ca.2003. Most of the houses have been
altered to some extent, with new siding, windows, porches, etc. (Photo by Chris Dellamea, courtesy of Chris Dellamea, Mt. Pleasant, PA) |
| HISTORY: COAL COMPANY PATCH TOWN of BUFFINGTON: Construction of the coal company patch town of Buffington was begun on February 1, 1900, by the Eureka Fuel Company, the original owners of the Buffington Mine & Coke Works. The Buffington Mine opened in October, 1900. In the town of Buffington there are 90 double blocks of residences, 20 single, and three of the better class for the miners and their families. The Company Store building at Buffington was constructed of brick produced at the Leckrone Brick yard for the mines and towns of the Eureka Fuel Company. The store building was 40 feet by 100 feet. The Company Store was run by the Mount Pleasant Supply Company. The Southwest Connellsville Coke Company acquired the Buffington Mine property and the coal patch town of Buffington ca.1901. Southwest Connellsville Coke Company operated the Buffington Mine & Coke Works from July 1901 to March 1903 and additional miners patch houses were constructed under its ownership. More houses were constructed in 1902, when the Southwest Connellsville Coke Company built eighty-nine double family houses and sixteen single family houses. In March, 1903 the H.C. Frick Coke Company acquired the Buffington Mine & Coke Works property and the coal company patch town of Buffington. At this time the operation of the Buffington company store was turned over to the Union Supply Company, the retail store operating subsidiary company owned by the H.C. Frick Coke Company. (History and description of Buffington, adapted with additional data and pictures from "Fayette County, Pennsylvania: An Inventory of Historic Engineering and Industrial Sites, 1990," 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.) |
| Support the Coal & Coke Heritage
Center, a non-profit research center and museum. Want to know more about the women who lived in the coal patch towns? You need this book. One of the few studies done on the women of the coal & coke era. Common lives of Uncommon Strength: The Women of the Coal & Coke Era of Southwestern Pennsylvania 1880-1970 Complied, written and edited by: Evelyn A. Hovanec, PhD Voices of the women tell unique stores of the coal and coke era, plus vintage photographs, documents, maps, and newspaper articles. Hardcover $35.00 Soft cover $25.00 Add $5.00 shipping / handling. Send Check or money order to: Coal & Coke Heritage Center, Penn State University Fayette Campus P.O. Box 519, Uniontown, PA 15401 |
| To Select another Index to Fayette County Coal Mines Click on the Larry cars for Index Page or on a Letter below |
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| Select another Index to the Coal Mines
of Fayette County, Pennsylvania [Click on a letter to take you to that Index]
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Mines of Fayette 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 |
