The Leisenring No. 2 coal mine, coke works, and patch town were constructed by the Connellsville Coke and Iron Company in 1882. H.C. Frick Coke Company purchased the Leisenring mines in 1890. H.C. Frick Coke Co. was a subsidiary of U.S. Steel, and these mines were later operated under the U.S. Steel Frick District. Leisenring No. 2 coal mine and coke works faded away in the late 1920s. They were brought back on line during World War 2. The mine produced more coal than the beehive ovens could use, so the excess coal was shipped via the long underground conveyor named Colonial Beltine that went from central Fayette County to the Monongahela River. The coke ovens were allowed to go cold in 1957, two years after coal mining had ceased.
Oct. 2004 image by author"Salt Box" coal company houses.Oct. 2004 image by authorThis brick structure looks like an industrial shop building from the mine, but was actually an amusement and community hall. It was constructed in 1925, and once contained a gymnasium, barber shop, roller skating rink, and bowling alley.Mar. 2003 image by authorFoundations and ruins of the Leisenring No. 2 mine are strewn about the site.Oct. 2004 image by authorThis large refuse pile is the result of nearly 70 years of coal mining and coke manufacturing at Leisenring No. 2.Oct. 2004 image by authorOld coal processing equipment lying around at the edge of town.Oct. 2004 image by authorVisable behind this conveyor are the smaller company built cottages at the upper end of the patch.Mar. 2003 image by authorSome of the coke ovens at Leisenring No.2 are still in fair condition. This is probably because this is the last coke works that U.S. Steel operated in the Connellsville Coke Field.Image from John Enman papers, 1876-2013, Coal and Coke Heritage Center at Penn State Fayette, the Eberly CampusThe coke ovens when they were active in the mid-20th Century. U.S. Steel Frick Division kept this beehive coke plant open longer than most of their other coke plants.Circa 1950s mage from John Enman papers, 1876-2013, Coal and Coke Heritage Center at Penn State Fayette, the Eberly CampusLeisenring No. 2 coke ovens during the evening. The tipple is in the background.Circa 1950s mage from John Enman papers, 1876-2013, Coal and Coke Heritage Center at Penn State Fayette, the Eberly CampusWestern Pennsylvania hills surround beehive coke ovens at night at Leisenring No. 2.Circa 1950s mage from John Enman papers, 1876-2013, Coal and Coke Heritage Center at Penn State Fayette, the Eberly CampusLeisenring No. 2 colliery (tipple, shop buildings, slate dump).Circa 1950s image from John Enman papers, 1876-2013, Coal and Coke Heritage Center at Penn State Fayette, the Eberly CampusCoke ovens and mine shaft head frame.Aug. 2003 image by authorWhen the Leisenring No. 2 mine closed U.S. Steel moved the head frame for the shaft (constructed in 1943) to Washington County, where they were opening a new mine called Maple Creek. US Steel operated this coal mine until 1995, after which it was operated by Murray Energy before closing in 2002 due to exhaustion of the coal reserves. Then, this shaft frame sat along the side of the Mon-Fay Expressway for a few years before being removed and scrapped.Aug. 2003 image by authorA closer look at the arrangement of the sheaves at the top of the shaft frame.
Sources:
Heald, Sarah, editor. Fayette County, Pennsylvania - An Inventory of Historic Engineering and Industrial Sites. National Park Service, 1990.
Rosendale, Ralph and Hroblak, Tim. A Coal Vein In Our Veins. Stefano's Printing, 1998.
