After industrialist James Ellsworth built the model coal company town of Ellsworth, Pa., he then began to construct another patch town and coal & coke colliery a few miles away. Ellsworth Coal Co. called this Ellsworth No. 3, but we now know it as Cokeburg. In 1902 the first coal was shipped from Cokeburg. Lackawanna Steel Co. purchased the Cokeburg and Ellsworth mines in 1907. Then in 1922 Lackawanna Steel and Bethlehem Steel merged, and Bethlehem operated the mines under some of their mining subsidiaries like Bethlehem Mines Corp. and Industrial Collieries. (Bethlehem also owned Marianna No. 58 and, later, Somerset No. 60 coal mines in the vicinity.) Bethlehem designated Cokeburg their No. 53 mine, and they closed it in 1953. By then Cokeburg had become one of the few coal company towns in Western PA to become a borough. Like all the other patches Cokeburg was an immigrant magnet, and, as recently as the 1990s, had many Croatian-American families (second or third generation).
Image taken from a plane by Chris H.
Aerial photo of Cokeburg shows the "progressive" layout of the model patch town, as opposed to the grid layout of most other patches.
Image courtesy of Jon Dawson
Great view of Cokeburg from an adjacent hillside.
Nov. 2002 image by author
As this picture illustrates, Cokeburg is the quintessential Western Pennsylvania "patch town."
Nov. 2002 image by author
A large slate dump once stood in the foreground until it was removed in the 1960s.
Nov. 2002 image by author
The former coal company houses in various stages of alterations.
Nov. 2003 image by author
These deteriorated coke ovens are all that remain at Cokeburg to remind us where the town got its name. Note the ladder made out of round bar.
Nov. 2003 image by author
James Ellsworth built more conventional coal company housing at Cokeburg than he did with the brick miners' cottages at nearby Ellsworth, Pa.
Nov. 2003 image by author
This structure on the left was the Cokeburg company store. At the time of this photo it was the home of Royal Hydraulics. The building on the right once housed the mine office, a barber shop, and a meat market.
1939 image courtesy Penn State Digital Collections, T.R. Johns Collection
View of Cokeburg from a long, long time ago. The beehive coke ovens, seen in the center of the picture, appear to have been idled by then.
1939 image courtesy Penn State Digital Collections, T.R. Johns Collection
Coal tipple complex at Cokeburg, with the company store in the background at left.
Image courtesy of Tim Jansante of Bentleyville, Pa.
An early 20th Century picture of the Cokeburg tipple and related mine buildings. Note that there are two shafts. In the background are a slate dump, coke ovens, rail siding, and coal company housing. For a larger image click here.
