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| Urey No. 1 Mine (Bryson No. 1 Mine)
(ca.1889- ? ), located on the Pennsylvania Railroad,
Bryson, Urey, Banks Twp., Indiana Co., PA [Located on the U.S.G.S. 7 1/2 mine Burnside quad map.] [UTM: E. 17 E.683300 - N.4523500] [The coal patch town of Urey was first established as Bryson in ca.1889.] Owners: (ca.1889-1893), Passmore & Burns Coal Company, (ca.1893- ? ), Urey Ridge Coal Company, Altoona, PA (ca.1898- ? ), Urey Ridge Coal Company, Altoona, PA (ca.1903- ? ), Urey Ridge Coal Company, Burnside, PA (ca.1905- ? ), Urey Ridge Coal Company, Altoona, PA (ca.1916- ? ), Urey Ridge Coal Company, Altoona, PA (ca.1917- ? ), Urey Ridge Coal Company, Altoona, PA (ca.1919- ? ), Urey Ridge Coal Company, Altoona, PA (ca.1920- ? ), Urey Ridge Coal Company, Altoona, PA
Urey No. 2 Mine (Bryson No. 2 Mine) (ca.1890-
? ), located on the Pennsylvania Railroad, Bryson, Urey, Banks
Twp., Indiana Co., PA
Urey No. 3 Mine (ca.1898- ? ), located
on the Pennsylvania Railroad, Urey, Banks Twp., Indiana Co., PA
Urey No. 4 Mine (ca.1908- ? ), located
on the Pennsylvania Railroad, Urey, Banks Twp., Indiana Co., PA
Urey No. 5 Mine (ca.1908- ? ), located
on the Pennsylvania Railroad, Urey, Banks Twp., Indiana Co., PA
Urey No. 6 Mine (ca.1908- ? ), located
on the Pennsylvania Railroad, Urey, Banks Twp., Indiana Co., PA
Urey No. 7 Mine (ca.1917- ? ), located
on the Pennsylvania Railroad, Urey, Banks Twp., Indiana Co., PA
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| A portion of the U.S.Geological Survey, Punxsutawney,
PA 15min. quad Map 1906 ed. showing Urey and the Pennsylvania Railroad spure
line from Glen Campbell to Urey. (Courtesy of the U.S. G. S., Washington, D.C.) |
| DESCRIPTION: The small coal patch hamlet of Urey, located in eastern Banks Township north of Glen Campbell Borough, Indiana County, Pennsylvania, was first established as the village of "Bryson" in ca.1889, when coal mining started in the neighborhood. This rural coal patch settlement was never very large, and in ca.1993, only half a dozen or so houses remained in the vicinity. The least altered of these houses is a two-story shingled frame house topped by a side-gable composition roof, and joined at the side by a one-story gabled wing. Also, located in Urey is Saints Peter & Paul Russian Orthodox Church building, built ca.1916. |
| HISTORY: Coal mining in the Urey area began in ca.1889, when the Passmore & Burns Coal Company opened a mine exploiting the 4 foot to 8 foot thick "B," "C" and "C Prime" coal veins. The mine and small coal patch settlement were first called Bryson. The mine was served by a branch line of the Pennsylvania Railroad from Glen Campbell. The mine employed fifty-six men and boys and produced 60,000 tons of coal in 1889. A second mine was opened in ca.1890, and the two were then named Urey No. 1 Mine and Urey No. 2 Mine. By ca.1891, employment had increased to approximately 128 men and boys, production increased to 65,000 tons of coal. In ca.1893, the mine operations were being conducted by the Urey Ridge Coal Company. Urey Mines No. 1, No. 3 and No. 6 were being worked by 227 men and boys in ca.1908, and production had risen to 129,000 tons of coal. However, by ca.1914, only 133 men and boys were employed at the Urey Mines. No electric power was being provided at the mines as of ca.1914, and all the mining and haulage work was being done using men and mules. In ca.1917 Urey No. 1, No. 5, No. 6 and No. 7 Mines produced a total of 113,187 tons of coal and employed 123 men and boys in the mines. The mines power plant had two tubular boilers of 160 horse power, one steam engine of 125 horse power, and one electric dynamo that produced 80 kilo watts of power. The Urey Mines employed 12 mules and had 1 electric locomotive. Miners evidently included many Eastern Europeans, as the local church, buillt in ca.,1916, in Sts. Peter & Paul Russian Orthodox Church. Deep drift mining in the area has been over for many years, but some strip mining was still underway in the area ca.1993. |
| Sts. Peter and Paul Russian Orthodox
Church, Urey, PA
Sts. Peter and Paul Russian Orthodox Church was organized and founded in 1916 by a group of faithful who had originally been part of the membership of the Greek Catholic parish in Arcadia. During this time, the Arcadia parish was experiencing considerable dissent and turmoil over what is now termed the "Orthodox Movement". Several Greek Catholic parishes were leaving the Unia and returning to the true Orthodox Faith of their ancestors. This movement was propagated by St. Alexis Toth, a former Uniate Priest, who himself embraced Orthodoxy. When it seemed very certain that the Church in Arcadia would remain within the Greek Catholic Rite of the Roman Catholic Church, the original group of founders of SS Peter and Paul Church left to organize their own parish. The circle of faithful unanimously resolved at a parish meeting in June 1916 to petition Archbishop Evdokim of the Russian Orthodox Missionary Diocese of North America to appoint for them a resident priest. In response, the Archbishop appointed Fr Vasily Levdar, who began his assignment on July 2, 1916.
Through the years, the parish grew as long as the coal mines were operating in and near Urey. The closing of the mines, deaths, and mixed marriages with other faiths have all contributed to the decline in membership of the parish. SS Peter and Paul Church began to be serviced by the priest at St Nicholas Church, DuBois, in the early 1980s. By 1984 Bishop Kyrill of Pittsburgh took steps to stabilize the life of the parish by officially combining it administratively and spiritually with St. Nicholas Church. Since then the small parish has enjoyed a full Liturgical schedule and activities such as Church School & Adult Education classes, fund raising projects, and most recently, the renovation and renewal of the church building. (History and description of the Urey Mines, adapted from "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.) |
| "Coal
Miners Memorial, Urey Mines Urey, Banks Twp., Indiana County, Pennsylvania" |
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