Mill: (
Satellite)
B&O Depot: (
Satellite)
I've read about quite a few steel mills that disappeared in the 1980s. But I think this is the first one I've seen that disappeared in the 19th Century.
Rj Mowery
posted two photos with the comment:
This is the Columbia Rolling (steel) Mill on the east side of N. Beeson Ave uniontown pa. This picture is from the collection of the late Jack Gates II, local historian, author, and photographer. The mill opened in September 1887. J.V. Thompson was responsible for getting them to open in Uniontown. Bell Telephone opened an office in town in January 1889 because of this mill's need for phone service. For a while, they were the only subscriber. By January 8, Columbia Iron and Steel had received orders for 600 tons of 12-inch steel beams to be completed by February 1. Seventy-five cars of the best Bessemer steel arrived the two days preceding. Each car contained about 22 tons. That was the most iron received there during a two-day period. Two converters were working at full capacity turning 110 to 115 tons of iron into steel every day. The beams were being shipped to many principal cities around the country. Robert Hogsett was elected president in 1893. In 1899, the mill was dismantled and was leaving town piece by piece. It was completely gone by 1901. P.J. and John Reagan and Thomas J. Lynch, of Reagan, Lynch, and Co. purchased 11 acres of ground at the old Columbia Rolling Mill across the B.&O. tracks from the McCrum-Howell Radiator Plant on June 9. Engineers began laying out the plot in residential lots. The land had been given by the residents of Uniontown to the Columbia Iron and Steel Co. It was later sold at sheriff’s sale for $60,000 to the Safe Deposit and Trust Co. of Pittsburgh. Later, J.W. Wicks of Chicago bought the land and then sold it to the National Steel Co. who in turn sold it to Reagan and Lynch. The Columbia Iron and Steel Addition was added in 1913 between the Baltimore and Ohio railroad right of way and N. Gallatin Avenue. It had 118 lots and included Florence and Columbia avenues and Magnolia and Kerr streets. This lot would become the Reagan-Lynch lot where many circuses, carnivals, and fireworks displays were held. You can see the lot behind Gallatin School in the aerial photo. Dr. Jack Gates III shared the first picture from his dad's collection. The information here comes from James Hadden's "History of Uniontown" and many old newspapers.
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Of the avenues and streets listed, Kerr Street is the only one I could find today.
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| 1900 Uniontown Quad @ 1:62,500 |
UniontownCity and
Youghiogheny River Valley History have the same text. They both seem to have copied from
Wikipedia-uniontown without acknowledgement. From that text we learn: "The Columbia Rolling Mill, an iron and steel works, was located in Uniontown from 1887 to 1895. The mill was the town's top industry at that time. During the Coal Boom of the early part of the 20th century, Uniontown was home to at least 13 millionaires, the most (per capita) of any city in the United States." That would explain the coke ovens I found on this map while I was looking for labels of the two railroads on the south side of town. (They were labeled north of town and the eastern one was B&O and the western one that ran through town was the Pennsy.)
But I have to use
wikipedia-columbia to learn why the largest employer in town closed in 1995. Andrew Carnegie bought it to get rid of the competition and to move the equipment to his
Homestead Works!
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Chris Valentovich posted
B&O Railroad Station, Uniontown, PA between North Beeson Avenue and Gallatin Avenue. This was located on the B&O line from Connellsville, PA to Fairmont, WV. Date uncertain. |
The depot is the building along the curve of the track in the lower-right corner. The steel mill is the vacant land in the top half between the Pennsy on the left and the B&O tracks on the right.
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