REVERE, PA

This coal mine, coke works, and "patch town" was founded by the W.J. Rainey Company in 1900. It's nice to feature a Connellsville coal and coke town that wasn't owned by Frick for a change. W.J. Rainey Company was probably the second largest producer in the Connellsville Coalfield in the early 1900s. The firm, which was a fierce opponent of organized labor, had operations at Acme, Allison, Chestnut Ridge, Mount Braddock, Fort Hill, Paul, Grace, Elm Grove, and other locations. Founder William J. Rainey of Ohio died in 1900, but his son Paul carried the company on. In addition to using beehive coke ovens, W.J. Rainey Company pioneered the use of "rectangular" coke ovens at their Mount Braddock works in 1906. Both types of ovens were present at Revere. The Revere operation closed in 1935.

1950s image by John Enman Revere in the 1950s.

Oct. 2004 image by author This is the top of a slope or drift portal into the Revere mine. The houses were still all painted the same color at the time.

Oct. 2004 image by author This ruined brick structure was part of a mine fan complex. There are several old foundations around it as well.

Oct. 2004 image by author There are a couple of different styles of company housing at Revere. Both single-family and multi-family homes are present, which is unusual in the Connellsville Coalfield where duplex housing was the rule.

Oct. 2004 image by author Company houses along Route 21.

Oct. 2004 image by author These coal company houses are very similar to ones that Rainey built at Mount Braddock. Note the rubble stone foundation.

Sources:

Pennsylvania Mine Map Atlas

Warren, Kenneth. Waste, Wealth, and Alienation - Growth and Decline in the Connellsville Coke Industry. University of Pittsburgh Press, 2001.

Mance, Mike. Revere No. 1 Coke Works - Revere, PA, 14 February 2015. http://coalandcoke.blogspot.com. Accessed Feb. 17, 2023.

Series MG-219-2: Photographs circa 1959-1965; Enman, John Collection, circa 1959-1965; Pennsylvania State Archives, Harrisburg, PA.