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CAIRNBROOK, PA


Aug. 2004 image by author

A small portion of the company houses at Cairnbrook, owned and operated by Loyal Hanna Coal and Coke Company from 1912 until the mid 1950s.


Aug. 2004 image by author

These unusual one story double houses are right next to the mine site. They were probably reserved for whatever group was at the bottom of the socio-economic ladder in Cairnbrook. The house in the background has been converted to a single family home.


Aug. 2004 image by author

Contrast the homes above with these residences on the "Bosses Row" in Cairnbrook.


1992 Public domain image, Historic American Engineering Record

The HABS/HAER project took this photograph of Cairnbrook coal miners' housing. Pennsylvania coal mining historian Carmine DiCiccio helped place Cairnbrook on the National Register of Historic Places in 1994.


Aug. 2004 image by author

The coal mines were named Loyal Hanna No. 6 (in Lower Kittaning coal) and Loyal Hanna No. 7 (in the Upper Kittaning vein). As this picture illustrates, many of the buildings associated with these mines are still in existence.


1992 Public Domain image, Historical American Engineering Record

The cut stone building on the left was the machine shop/blacksmith shop/carpenter shop. To the right of this is the supply house. (Aug. 2004 image by author)


The horse stable at Cairnbrook calls to mind the days when mules and horses worked in underground mines. This was phased out from the 1920s through the 1940s. The HABS/HAER project photographed the stable as shown here.


Aug. 2004 image by author

By 2004, after many attempts to repair the deteriorating roof by the property owner, the historic building was in ruins and was in the processed of being demolished.


Aug. 2004 image by author


Sources:

Summers, Patrica, editor. Somerset County, Pennsylvania; An Inventory of Historic Engineering and Industrial Sites. 1994.

Interview with mine site owner, August 2004.



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