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CAIRNBROOK, PA
A small portion of the company houses at Cairnbrook, owned and operated by Loyal Hanna Coal and Coke Company from 1912 until the mid 1950s.
These unusual one story double houses are right next to the mine site. They were probably reserved for
whatever group was at the bottom of the socio-economic ladder in Cairnbrook. The house in the background has been converted to a single family home.
Contrast the homes above with these residences on the "Bosses Row" in Cairnbrook.
The HABS/HAER project took this photograph of Cairnbrook coal miners' housing. Pennsylvania coal mining historian
Carmine DiCiccio helped place Cairnbrook on the National Register of Historic Places in 1994.
The coal mines were named Loyal Hanna No. 6 (in Lower Kittaning coal) and Loyal Hanna No. 7 (in the Upper Kittaning vein). As this picture
illustrates, many of the buildings associated with these mines are still in existence.
The cut stone building on the left was the machine shop/blacksmith shop/carpenter shop. To the right of this is the supply house. (Aug. 2004 image by author)
By 2004, after many attempts to repair the deteriorating roof by the property owner, the historic building was in ruins and was in the processed of
being demolished.
Sources:
Summers, Patrica, editor. Somerset County, Pennsylvania; An Inventory of Historic Engineering and Industrial Sites. 1994.
Interview with mine site owner, August 2004.
Aug. 2004 image by author
Aug. 2004 image by author
Aug. 2004 image by author
1992 Public domain image, Historic American Engineering Record
Aug. 2004 image by author
1992 Public Domain image, Historical American Engineering Record
The horse stable at Cairnbrook calls to mind the days when mules and horses worked in underground mines. This was phased out from the 1920s through the 1940s. The
HABS/HAER project photographed the stable as shown here.
Aug. 2004 image by author
Aug. 2004 image by author