Dec. 2002 image by authorContinental No. 2 is a good representative of the typical Connellsville Coke Region patch town. It, along with nearby Continental No. 1 and No. 3, was opened by Continental Coke Company, a subsidiary of National Steel Co., in 1901. The surface and mineral properties were purchased from H.C. Frick personally, as well as another tract from local industrial baron J.V. Thompson in 1899. Maybe Frick thought that he would let them develop it, then he would later purchase the already-purchased property. Which is exactly what happened in 1903, when Continental Coke merged with H.C. Frick Coke Company.Dec. 2002 image by authorAbandoned company-built house at Continental No. 2, shown here to illustrate the original building materials of these houses, such as the rubble stone foundation. One of the two original chimneys is missing, since this was a two family home. There were once additional "patch" houses for single families at Continental No. 2, but they are long-gone.Dec. 2002 image by authorMost of the hundreds of beehive coke ovens I found at Continental No. 2 were in poor condition like these.Dec. 2002 image by authorHowever, this oven is still in okay condition. There were at over 300 ovens there at one time.Dec. 2002 image by authorExtant foundations in the coal and coke yard at Continental No. 2. The coal mine was a shaft mine down into the Pittsburgh seam. I assume that all of the coal went into the ovens, except for what was used for heating and cooking by the inhabitants. Also, coal would have been used to fire boiler and other equipment at the colliery. The Continental No. 2 coal mine and coke works closed in 1926.Dec. 2002 image by authorThe superintendent's house at Continental No. 2 looks over the patch town and what's left of the coke yard. The super's residence was usually built on a hill or bluff so that he could "look down" on coal and coke workers (hierachy), and also so he could generally keep an eye on things.Image courtesy Coal and Coke Heritage Center, Penn State EberlySomeone thought to take this snapshot of the company-built houses at Continental No. 2 in 1980.Image courtesy Coal and Coke Heritage Center, Penn State EberlyAnother picture of Continental No. 2 in 1980, this one showing the double outhouses in the back yards of the two-family patch houses, as well as the diamond-patterned siding that can still be found in old coal and coke towns.Dec. 2002 image by author
Sources:
The Iron Age, 18 May 1899, p. 6.
Heald, Sarah, editor. Fayette County, Pennsylvania - An Inventory of Historic Engineering and Industrial Sites. National Park Service, 1990.
