DAVIDSON, PA

Davidson, beyond the edge of Connellsville, was opened for coke making in 1856 in an area along the Youghiogheny River that was ground zero for the Connellsville Coal and Coke Field. Like many Western Pennsylvania coke works, it was named after the farmer who sold the land. The first operators - Norton, Faber, and Midskimmer - mined coal and made coke in ricks, which was basically a pile of coal set alight and covered with soil to limit combustion. In 1860 or 1862 (sources differ) a more serious coal and coke operation commenced with the sinking of a shaft and construction of beehive ovens by the Connellsville Gas, Coal and Coke Co. By the end of that decade an actual "patch town" had developed at the site with company houses and a company store. This predated Henry Clay Frick's pioneering operations down the river by a few years. Frick himself acquired the Davidson coal and coke plant and town in 1888. Over the years more and more coke ovens were constructed until they totalled 333. Davidson continued to produce coal and coke until the reserves were depleted during World War 2.