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| Greenwich No. 2 Mine
(ca.1905- ? ), Located on the Cherry Tree & Dixonville Railroad, near Lovejoy, Green Twp., Indiana Co., PA Owners: (ca.1905- ? ), Greenwich Coal & Coke Company, Latrobe, PA (ca.1917- ? ), Inland Coal Company, Gallitzin, PA (ca.1919- ? ), Inland Coal Company, Greensburg, PA
Greenwich No. 3 Mine (ca.1905-
? ),
Greenwich No. 4 Mine (ca.1905-
? ),
Greenwich No. 5 Mine (ca.1905-
? ),
Greenwich No. 8 Mine (ca.1905-
? ),
Lancashire No. 18 Mine (ca.1914-
? ), |
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| A portion of the 7 1/2 min quad map of Green Township,
Indiana County showing Starford, Lovejoy and the sourrounding
area. (Courtesy of the U.S.Geological Survey, Washington, D.C.) |
| DESCRIPTION: Starford, or Shanktown as it was first called, and Lovejoy in central Green Township, Indiana County, Pennsylvania were tied to the coal mining operations which began here in the first decade of the twentirth centruy. In both communities are examples of what appear to have been coal company miners housing still existing. Most of the houses are single family houses, of frame construction. The most common type is a two-story balloon-frame house with the gable front facing the street. These houses have stone foudations, shed porches across the front and at the rear, central chimneys, and 2/2-light double-hung windows. Some other houses are built on the same general plan but are somewhat larger. On "City Street" in the southern part of Starford are several small very primitive one-story houses. These L-plan houses of about four rooms have concrete block foundations, shed porches on the front, and inside corner, a brick chimney on the side-gable roof section, and 4/4-light windows. All were in poor condition ca.1993, and all but one have been abandoned. The typical double family house is two stories in height, with the long axis facing the street. Doors are located to either side of the center behind shed porches on front and back. A brick chimney, shared by both units, is located at the center ridge of the side-gable roof. Ruins of the James Coal Company's tipple and conveyor, dating from the late 1930's and modernixed in 1951, were still in evident ca.1993, just south of Starford. The landscape ca.1993 was dominated by immense boney piles. |
| HISTORY: The present community of Starford was built near the site of an earlier coal patch town known as Andorra. Andorra was founded in ca.1904 on the A. L. Buterbaugh farm after the Greenwich Coal & Coke Company and other coal companies began operations along the North Branch of Two Lick Creek. Buterbaugh laid out and sold a number of house lots in the area with a total value exceeding $6,000. The new town of Andorra was established which supposedly also contained three stores. Twenty-five houses were under construction by December, 1904. Andorra was not established as a coal company owned town, as most of the houses and lots were privately owned at that time. Some of the existing houses in presentday Starford may date from this early period. The Greenwich Coal & Coke Company operated the coal mines under a contract to supply steam coal for the Pennsylvania Railroad. The mines were served by the Cherry Tree & Dixonville Railroad. The Cherry Tree & Dixonville Railroad was a joint venture of the New York Central Railroad and the Pennsylvania Railroad, to tap the lucrative coal fields of Indiana County. By ca.1905 the two railroads were interconnected at Cherry Tree, Indiana County, with the new joint railroad. The Cherry Tree & Dixonville Railroad served several coal company patch towns along its route, including Commodore, Shanktown, Starford, Lovejoy, Clymer, Dixonville and Heilwood. |
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| A undated photo of the Village of Starford. (Photo courtesy of the Genealogical & Historical Society of Indiana County, Indiana, PA.) |
| Lovejoy, located just north of Starford,
was another Greenwich Coal & Coke Company town, established in ca.1903.
Greenwich No. 4 Mine was located at Lovejoy. Greenwich No. 4
Mine was shut down in ca.1911, at which time only four coal company owned
houses were occupied, and the other houses were in a deteriorating condition.
The coal market apparently improved and propects for the town were
looking up by ca.1913, as at that time there were 100 coal company owned
houses at Lovejoy.
The mining village of Starford was first know as Shanktown. A name that has totally disappeared from all maps, and listings. By ca.1913, Greenwich Coal & Coke Company had two mines working the "B" coal seam in the Shanktown area, with a daily output of 1,200 tons of coal. The coal was shipped on the Cherry Tree & Dixonville Railroad to Cherry Tree, and then interchanged with the Pennsylvania Railroad, and shipped to Cresson and beyond for use on the railroad. The Shanktown mines produced a coal that was considered a high-grade steam coal. By the 1910's many of the houses in the Shanktown and Andorra area had been brought up by the Greenwich Coal & Coke Company and Shanktown became a coal company owned and controlled Company patch town. In ca.1914, 163 men and boys were employed in the Greenwich Mines. The two mines, Greenwich No. 2 Mine, a drift mine, and Greenwich No. 3 Mine, a slope mine, utilized steam power for haulage of the coal out of the mines. The mines were ventilated by both Brazil fans and Scirocco fans. Barnes & Tucker Coal Company was operating the various mines by the 1920's. On January 24, 1924 a violent gas explosion rocked their Lancashire No. 18 Mine at Starford, killing thirty-seven men. The mines were all but shut down in the early 1930's. Later in the 1930's a new drift mine was opened just south of Starford by the James Coal Mining Company, and a new tipple and plant were erected. The James Coal Company Mine building were largely replaced in the 1950's, and mining was continued in the area. Barnes & Tucker Coal Company were planning to open two new mines in the Starford area in ca.1967. Barnes & Tucker Coal Company was eventually closed by its parent company, Alco Standard Corporation of Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. All operation in the Starford area had ceased by this time. (History and description of the Shanktown Mines, Starford, Green Twp., Indiana Co., PA, adapted from with additional data and pictures added: "Indiana County, Pennsylvania: An Inventory of Historic Engineering and Industrial Sites, 1993," 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.) Today's old photograph is an aerial view of Shanktown, located below Starford, from November 1964. It was submitted by John Busovicki of Clymer, who received it from Joe Tomechko. Today's old photograph was taken around 1923. Margaret and Peter Prick's Confectionery Store is located on the left, and Grand Theater, owned by John and Mary Yevchak, is on the right. Knupp and Bee Construction built this theater, which ran silent films, staged vaudeville acts and provided a stage for plays. The building became the Starford Inn, and when Prohibition was over in 1933, it was granted the first liquor license in Green Township. Today's old photo from the private collection of John Busovicki of Clymer pictures the lower end of Starford, where Harve Hetrick owned houses and privies circa 1930. Located just below these homes was Hetrick's mine and tipple, and his mine employees rented Hetrick's bungalows. Today's old photo of the Starford train station comes from the private collection of John Busovicki of Clymer.
Starford was a mining town, originally named Andorra, developed around 1904 by the Pioneer Coal Co., which was an affiliate of the Clearfield Bituminous Coal Corp. Starford was said to have been named for John P. Starford, a company official. Today's old photograph of Mary Plafko, left, and her daughter, Helen, was taken circa 1930 at the Shanktown Railroad Station, which was located between Wandin and Starford. The station wasn't so much a station as a three-sided building with a bench. Today's photo comes from the private collection of John Busovicki of Clymer. |
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