STANDARD and STANDARD SHAFT, PA
The coal "patch town" of Standard is next to the borough of Mt. Pleasant, and was built in 1878 by the A. A. Hutchinson & Brothers Company. There was originally both slope
and shaft portals. Standard featured one of the largest beehive
coke yards in the world. There were eventually 905 beehive coke ovens. Standard probably held the record for town with the worst air quality, too. In 1883 the mine and coke ovens at Standard were purchased by, you
guessed it, H.C. Frick Coke Co. Frick purchased Standard from Hutchinson while they were travelling abroad together. Frick opened an additional entry - Shaft No. 2 - and constructed additional houses for
employees of that portal. These additional houses comprised Standard Shaft. Standard became the crown jewel in Frick's coal and
coke empire. The mine didn't close until 1931.
Sources:
Vivian, Cassandra. Henry Clay Frick and the Golden Age of Coal and Coke, 1870-1920. McFarland & Company, Inc.
Fitzsimons, Gray, editor. Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania - An Inventory of Historic Engineering and Industrial Sites. National Park Service, 1994.
Image courtesy USX Resources, scanned by author
This tipple and hoist house for Standard Shaft No. 2 mine are no longer existing. The dormer windows are a nice touch. This mine was a huge producer for
Frick. In 1918 790,000 tons of Connellsville Nine Foot seam (actually part of the Pittsburgh seam) coal was mined.
Circa 1912 American Iron and Steel Institute image via Google Books
Miners' families' gardens at Standard.
Image courtesy Coal and Coke Heritage Center, Penn State Eberly Campus
The Standard coke yard is idle on this day in 1929. Note the huge ash pile behind the ovens.
1950s image, MG-377 Enman, John Collection, Pennsylvania State Archives, Harrisburg
By the time this picture was taken in the 1950s the ash pile / bony dump had grown even larger. The tipple and No. 1 shaft are in the background.
1950s image, MG-377 Enman, John Collection, Pennsylvania State Archives, Harrisburg
H.C. Frick Coke / U.S. Steel had closed Standard many years before this photo was taken. However, it looks like the ovens were possibly still
being used by someone here as evidenced by the coke-pulling machine, bricked up oven doors, and presence of rail cars.
1950s image, MG-377 Enman, John Collection, Pennsylvania State Archives, Harrisburg
The Union Supply Company store at Standard had been recycled into Oppman Auto Parts by the 1950s. When this was a coal company store, it served
both Standard and Standard Shaft residents.
Dec. 2002 image by author
When I photographed the former company store in the early 21st century, it was still Oppman Auto Parts. Part of the company housing is to the left.
Aug. 2002 image by author
"Patch" housing at Standard.
Aug. 2002 image by author
More of the Standard coal company town.
Dec. 2002 image by author
Company houses at Standard Shaft.
May 2018 image by author
Nice, large house at Standard Shaft may have been a boarding house for single miners. It is not shown on a 1902 map
of Standard Shaft, but does show up on later (probably circa 1920) maps.
May 2018 image by author
This brick building used to be the compressor house at Standard Shaft No. 2.
May 2018 image by author
Remains of No. 2 Shaft.
July 2014 image courtesy of coalandcoke.blogspot.com
This was once a boiler house for Shaft No. 2.
