ERNEST, PENNSYLVANIA

Jefferson and Clearfield Coal & Iron Company, a subsidiary of Rochester and Pittsburgh Coal Company, opened the Ernest No. 1 coal mine in 1902, and the first coal was shipped in 1903. By 1907, 274 beehive coke ovens had been constructed next to the tipple. Eventually, mines numbered 2, 3, and 4 were opened. The Ernest mines produced Freeport seam coal until 1965.

March 2021 image by author Ernest coal company houses.
March 2021 image by author Most of these coal company houses have had their front porches enclosed, but the second one from the right still has its original porch.
March 2021 image by author A coal patch town surrounded by Western Pennsylvania mountains.
March 2021 image by author Looking down the yards in this former coal mining town.
March 2021 image by author Parish church and (probably former) rectory of what was, until 1995, Assumption Roman Catholic Church. This is now a mission known as Church of the Resurrection Parish.

There is also a Protestant church in Ernest, but there was not really a parking place where I could stop and photograph it.

March 2021 image by author Another view of Church of the Resurrection Parish in Ernest.
March 2021 image by author Most of the Ernest coal mine complex has been demolished. The structure shown here is a portion of what was a larger building containing the mine's machine shop, blacksmith shop, and carpenter shop.
March 2021 image by author Foundations of the Ernest mine boiler house.
March 2021 image by author Boiler house foundations and shop building.
March 2021 image by author Although there were beehive coke ovens at Ernest, I saw no sign of them. I did see this coke lying on the ground, however.

Sources:

Rose, Kenneth, editor. Indiana County, Pennsylvania; An Inventory of Historic Engineering and Industrial Sites. 1993.

http://patheoldminer.rootsweb.ancestry.com (now defunct) by Ray Washlaski. Accessed here through the Wayback Machine.

Pennsylvania Mine Map Atlas, 10 Apr. 2021, www.minemaps.psu.edu/.