Hoover, PA

Hoover mine and coke works

James Hoover opened Hoover coke works and coal mine in 1908. This operation closed in the 1920s, presumably when the Pittsburgh seam coal reserves in Hoover's lease were exhausted. A resident of the Hoover patch told me that the ovens were later operated by Max Nobel and closed down around 1958. (Nobel also operated coke works in Shamrock and Shoaf in the 1950s, 60s, and 70s.)

Oct. 2002 image by author These bee-hive coke ovens are at Hoover, PA. They are bank ovens, and the row of block ovens has been demolished there. The elevated section in front of the ovens that the coke workers stood on has been excavated to make room for trucks that reclaimed the slate dump.
Oct. 2002 image by author In this picture a latter day repair to the ovens is visable where the block meets the cut stone. Many of the ovens in Fayette County that had been cold since the 1920s were refurbished for war time coke production during the 1940s.
Oct. 2002 image by author This room at the end of the bank of coke ovens at Hoover was where supplies like oil were stored.
Oct. 2002 image by author Some of the Hoover "patch" in the Klondike Coke Field. A resident of Hoover said that the patch was never very big and there wasn't even a company store. He was even nice enough to walk the coke ovens with me.
Oct. 2002 image by author