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| Palmer Mine & Coal Docks
(ca.1908- ? ), Located on the Monongahela River, north of Masontown, Palmer Mine (Palmer), German Twp., Fayette Co., PA [Palmer Mine was named for W. P. Palmer, president of American Steel & Wire Company.] Owners: (ca.1908- ? ), H.C. Frick Coke Company, Scottdale, PA (ca.1919- ? ), H.C. Frick Coke Company, Scottdale, PA |
HISTORY: |
| Anna Lovrich Tuskan lived most of her
life in Palmer, PA. She belonged to the St. Albert Catholic Church
in Palmer. She was interviewed by the Catholic Accent, Greensburg,
PA in 2001.
Anna Tuskan, 82, was 11 years old when her parents, Thomas and Agnes Lovrich, moved to Fayette County from Indiana County after her dad got a job in the Palmer Mine. Their house wasn't far from St. Albert Catholic Church in Palmer. When she was 18, she got a job at the company store. The old Union Supply Company store, which was operated by the H.C. Frick Coke Company, was near the mine along the river, it still stands today adjacent to St. Albert church. "If you spent $50. at the store, it would be deducted from your paycheck. If you bought a load of coal, it to, would be deducted," recalls Tuskan. She could rattle off food prices from the 1920's. A can of pork and beans cost about 5 cents, a loaf of bread 9 cents. Her late husband, Michael Tuskan, worked in the mine for 25 years. The couple was married at St., Albert Catholic Church, in Palmer, and their three children were baptized there. She belonged to the Palmer Pioneers, a group of 40 senior citizens, who often talk about the two viable institutions inPalmer, the church and the post office. She's on the pastoral council, does parish accounting, organizes church envelopes, is a Christian Mother and treasurer of the Palmer Pioneers. Father Ronald J. Rutkowski, the paster of Madonna of Czestochowa Parish in Cardale and administrator of the neighboring St. Albert in Palmer, prides himself on being a country priest. He says the small coal patch towns in that area are comprised of other people like Tuskin. The church, she says, was and is, her life. Recalling her history in Palmer, Tuskan says she and her family lived in an eight-room compamy house they rented for $10.00 a month from the coal company. When she worked for the company store she would walk around the neighborhood of about 283 homes to take orders for groceries from miner's families.
The St. Albert's Church parking lot was once the site of the
Palmer Public School. |
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| Palmer Mine officals terrace houses ca.1920's, from left
to right they are the houses of the, payroll clerk, mine foreman, company
store manager, mine superintendent, Palmer, Fayette Co. (Photo courtesy of the Coal & Coke Heritage Center, Penn State University Fayette Campus, Uniontown, PA) |
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The Union Supply Company Store in Palmer, ca.2001, sits
boarded up and vacant, in the background is St. Albert Catholic Church of
Palmer. (Photo by Ed Zelachoski, photo courtesy of the Catholic Accent, Grteensburg, PA.) |
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| Undate photo of the Palmer Community Band, Palmer Mine,
Palmer, Adah, Fayette Co., PA (Photo courtesy of the Coal & Coke Heritage Center, Penn State University Fayette Campus, Uniontown, PA) |
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| Undated photo of the Palmer Mine Baseball Team, Palmer,
Fayette Co., PA (Photo courtesy of the Coal & Coke Heritage Center, Penn State University Fayette Campus, Uniontown, PA) |
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| The Stern Wheeler A.O. Ackard, of Pittsburgh, PA pushes
a tow of coal barges from the Palmer Mine coal docks on the Monongahela River,
Palmer, Fayette Co., PA (Photo courtesy of the Coal & Coke Heritage Center, Penn State University Fayette Campus, Uniontown, PA)
HISTORY: St. Albert, R. C. Church, Maxwell, PA was closed by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Greensburg, PA in Oct., 2008. |
| "Coal Miners
Memorial, Palmer Mine & Coal Docks, Palmer, Adah, German Twp., Fayette County, Pennsylvania" |
| 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 227 pages. 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 2009, 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 |
