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Subject: [PAWESTMO-L] 24- The Southwest Branch
Date: Sat, 22 Feb 2003 08:22:19 -0800 (PST)
This is # 24 in a series of posts dealing with the
industrial past of the Greensburg Area. They are done
to share allready-collected information, and to
encourage list members to pass along stories,
information, etc, relating to Greensburg's industrial
past.
__________________________________ jim miller
24- The Southwest Branch
The journey down [going South] the Southwest Branch
following the 5 Star Hiking Trail now moves across the
steel bridge crossing Mt. Pleasant St. It is a really
hefty chunk of riveted steel dating from some time in
the late teens or early twenties of the 20th century.
All that I know for sure is that it was in place here
by 1925. As we come off the bridge, just to the right
here was, once upon a time, Bierer Station. I noticed
it on an 1890 map. This was one of those whistle-stop
kind of places, that probably didnt have much more
than a platform. There was a little track shanty here
too. Passenger traffic on the S.W. Branch continued
on until 1940.
Lets pretend we were standing here in 1925. Off to
our right, on the town side, the first noticeable thing
would be what is No. 4 on the map on page two of my
website
http://james-miller.org
This building has had an interesting history; part of
it remains today [2003]. It is a brick structure;
these seem to have a better chance for survival.
Morris L. Painter built it here in 1891. In the next
year, it went online producing electric power, being
the towns 2nd electric generating station. It had no
less that five boilers, needed to keep it able to
produce power day and night. Old views show five metal
stacks paralleling the RR tracks here and belching
forth considerable amounts of smoke and soot. As early
as the 1st decade of the 20th cen., electric power
began to be purchased from elsewhere, allowing this
particular facility to take a rest.
Sanborn mapping from 1915 shows the place to be vacant.
The back part [to the south] was in ruins having
probably been damaged by a fire. The next view of it
that we get is from 1925. Considerable alterations
have been made, and the boilers have been removed. It
was being used by a building products company to
manufacture concrete blocks. We dont get another look
at it until right after the 2nd World War. The year
was 1946 and a wholesale distributor of industrial
supplies was moving in. This outfit called
Westmoreland Hardware Co. had previously been located
on S. Pennsylvania Av. since 1929. [Greater Greensburg
Profile, p.288]. According to their advertising, they
specialized in mill, mine, and electrical supplies for
industry. They also made a point to mention that they
liked to market locally-produced products whenever
possible. I am not aware of the fate of this
operation, but they can no longer be found in the phone
book. This building today is part of the Pennzoil oil
depot fronting on S. Main St. This depot is a
fair-sized facility sporting a number of large,
above-ground tanks. The old brick building itself is
kept in good repair, and I have no idea if the people
working there now have any knowledge of the time when
it kept the town lit up at night.
Surprises do show up here and there. Looking at this
section of town today, there is no clue given that
there was once a mineshaft here. This was just to the
south of the building we were just looking at and is
mapped as No. 5 on the map. The 1925 Sanborn map gives
all indications that it was a working mine in that
year. Just about 700 feet away from this mine, to the
east, another mine shaft was mapped in 1925 by Sanborn
& Perris as being abandoned. No such indication
attached to the mine that sat beside the tracks here.
The mine was not a large operation. It looked to be
part of the building products co. that was making
concrete blocks at No. 4 on our map. Such companies
often marketed coal. In all, the little mine consisted
of a headframe directly over the shaft, a hoist motor,
and a small tipple. Source of power for the hoist
motor was stated to be electricity. However, the
symbol for an upright boiler is shown in the
northernmost building. This suggests that the hoist
originally had a steam engine. A few comments about a
headframe might be in order. A mine shaft is, after
all, just a hole in the ground. What makes it useful
is some way to bring men in [and hopefully out] to dig
coal, and a way to get the coal out too. This is
accomplished by making an elevator of sorts of the
shaft. A metal framework, the headframe, is placed
over the shaft. This will have one or several large
pulleys on top. The pulleys carry cable that is moved
by the hoist motor. The other end of the cable is attached
to a cage, or cages, that are lowered into the shaft
and lifted back out. The cage, or cages, carry the men
and coal, transforming the hole in the ground into a
mine.
Another building, off to our right here, deserves
comment. It is the building shown at No. 3 on our map.
It is no longer standing, but I recently located a
photo of it at the Westmoreland Co. Historical Society.
A copy of that photo appears on page 3 of the website
http://james-miller.org ]. The view in the photo
is approximately looking East. The photo date was
1916, a bit before the period we are looking at. The
building in the foreground, an electric sub station, is
No 3 on our map. The building off to the right, and
only partially-visible, is No. 4 on our map. This was
the towns 2nd electric generating station, that we
have already looked at. And, as we have seen, was
already vacant by 1915.
Since our little journey is taking us back to 1925,
Ill comment on what was happening here in that year.
The Sanborn map for that year notes that the building
in the foreground in the photo, No. 3 on the map, was
being used by West Penn Railway [trolley] Company,
later West Penn Power. It was indicated as a sub
station, and it was noted that it ran day and night.
The brick building was constructed in two separate
sections. There was a two story part toward the road
and a back part of three stories. The two story
section was said to house generators. Now, this is
something of a curiosity. At this period of time,
electric generators around here would have been turned
by steam power. This would have necessitated a big
smoke stack somewhere. None of the maps, or various
photos show this. These generators were probably being
turned by alternating current motors. AC current was
being purchased from out of town by 1925. The hitch
was that AC current would not run a trolley; most
trolley cars ran on direct current, DC. West Penn was
in the transportation and electric utility business
both. In the generator section of the building, they
could use AC motors turning DC generators to keep their
trolleys going. The back section of the building
housed transformers; these could step down the
high-voltage AC for use throughout the town. I have
contacted Allegheny Power, successor to West Penn, to
try to verify this. Thus far, they have not been
willing to share any information with me. We may have
to let a few things remain in the realm of mystery for
a while.
Lets take a look on the other side of the tracks now,
to the East. This was the part of town once known as
Paradise, and South East Greensburg Borough. The first
thing that impresses me here is how much dirt had to be
removed to take Mt. Pleasant St. under the tracks here.
After that was removed and hauled away, a large
concrete retaining wall had to be built to keep things
in place. That retaining wall sits where the old road
had run. Parts of the old road can still be seen
there, in brick, to the north of the retaining wall.
Also prominent in this section of town is a building
now known as Natures Way. It appears at No.9 on our
map. One of the original proprietors of this place
was also a prominent citizen in town, John S. Sell.
Mr. Sell was at various times a merchant, banker and
mayor. His father, Eli Sell, moved here from New
Stanton and began a business in 1875 or 1876. You can
take your pick, Ive seen both dates. The 1876 Atlas
of Westmoreland locates Sells store just down the
road from here. It was in that year just out what is
now Mt. Pleasant St. about four buildings, to the
south. Someone told me that the building that houses
Natures Way had been moved to its present location.
Although that is possible, I can see the story of the
business having been moved here being morphed into a
story that the building was moved here. From old
mapping, it can be seen that, in fact, the business was
moved to this location. Whether the building itself
was moved is yet another question. I am indebted to
Robt. Van Atta for comments on the Sell family. Oscar
Rask also made comments on the Sell family in the
Greensburg sesqui-centennial book. At page 231 he
mentions: Brick for most of the buildings [of the
town] was made at Parks brick yard below S. Main St.
and by Eli Sell in Sells Lane. The Sell farm was
out where Sells Lane now runs. The Directory in the
1876 Atlas of Westmoreland does not mention that aspect
of the Sell family enterprises: Dealer in dry goods,
groceries, boots & shoes. The 1897 Sanborn map for
Greensburg shows Sells business to have been where
Natures Way now sits. It is described as a general
store. Robt. Van Atta on pages 188 and 279 of his
bicentennial book mentions the store:
. . . by 1898 his stock ranged from dry goods to
groceries, and included wagons and carriages.
After Sells death, it served as Frank Reamers general
store for more than 20 years, into the 1930s. A feed
store at the time of WW II. . . John D. Karle operated
a farm, lawn, and garden
business for more than 30 years."
http://james-miller.org/
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