Wehrum, Pennsylvania
Encyclopedia
Buffington Township, Pennsylvania
Buffington Township is a township in Indiana County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 1,275 at the 2000 census.-Geography:According to the United States Census Bureau, the township has a total area of , of which, of it is land and of it is water.-Demographics:As of the census of...
, Indiana County
Indiana County, Pennsylvania
-Government and politics:As of November 2008, there are 58,077 registered voters in Indiana County .* Democratic: 26,653 * Republican: 24,159 * Other Parties: 7,265 -County commissioners:*Rodney Ruddock, Chairman, Republican...
, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
that thrived for a time during the early 20th Century. The mine upon which it was entirely dependent closed in 1929, and the last known inhabitants left in 1934. Essentially all that remains of Wehrum today are shadowy remnants of some of the streets and various building foundations hidden in the woods. Wehrum is considered to be one of Pennsylvania's ghost towns.
Wehrum was founded as a non-union company town in 1901 by Judge A. V. Barker and Warren Delano, maternal uncle of Franklin Roosevelt. It was named after Henry Wehrum, general manager of the Lackawanna Iron and Steel Company
Lackawanna Steel Company
The Lackawanna Steel Company was an American steel manufacturing company that existed as an independent company from 1840 to 1922, and as a subsidiary of the Bethlehem Steel company from 1922 to 1983. Founded by the Scranton family, it was once the second-largest steel company in the world ....
. The town plan had six north-south streets, all 60 feet wide, along with five cross streets and several alleys, and the town consisted of 250 houses, a bank, jail, hotel, company store, post office, school and two churches.
In what was perhaps a playful reference to New York City, several of the small town's street names were evocative of lower Manhattan. (e,g, "Broadway" and "The Bowery") In addition to the town site, the company purchased a large amount of coal land from the Blacklick Land and Improvement Company.
The Lackawanna No. 4 mine was opened in 1902 at the site, and Lackawanna No. 3 was opened a short distance away at a small settlement known only as Lackawanna No. 3. In 1903, the Pennsylvania Railroad
Pennsylvania Railroad
The Pennsylvania Railroad was an American Class I railroad, founded in 1846. Commonly referred to as the "Pennsy", the PRR was headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania....
extended passenger service on its Ebensburg & Blacklick Branch from Vintondale
Vintondale, Pennsylvania
Vintondale is a borough in Cambria County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is part of the Johnstown, Pennsylvania Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 528 at the 2000 census.-Geography:...
past Wehrum.
The company invested over a million dollars in Wehrum and the town quickly developed. Coal from the Wehrum mines was shipped to Buffalo
Buffalo, New York
Buffalo is the second most populous city in the state of New York, after New York City. Located in Western New York on the eastern shores of Lake Erie and at the head of the Niagara River across from Fort Erie, Ontario, Buffalo is the seat of Erie County and the principal city of the...
, Rochester
Rochester, New York
Rochester is a city in Monroe County, New York, south of Lake Ontario in the United States. Known as The World's Image Centre, it was also once known as The Flour City, and more recently as The Flower City...
, and Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh is the second-largest city in the US Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Allegheny County. Regionally, it anchors the largest urban area of Appalachia and the Ohio River Valley, and nationally, it is the 22nd-largest urban area in the United States...
.
Operations in Wehrum experienced several accidents. In 1904, a gas explosion killed four miners. The coal washer
Coal preparation plant
A coal preparation plant is a facility that washes coal of soil and rock, preparing it for transport to market. A CPP may also be called a "coal handling and preparation plant" , "prep plant," "tipple," or "wash plant"....
burnt in 1906, leading to decreased activity until the washer was replaced the next year. In 1909, an explosion killed twenty-one miners. The mines were eventually sold to the Bethlehem Mines Corporation in 1922, which unexpectedly closed the mines in 1929. Many of the houses were stripped for lumber, and the mine buildings were sold for scrap. By 1934 only one house, the school, and the jail remained.
One of the few remnants of Wehrum is the Sts. Peter and Paul Russian Orthodox Church
Russian Orthodox Church
The Russian Orthodox Church or, alternatively, the Moscow Patriarchate The ROC is often said to be the largest of the Eastern Orthodox churches in the world; including all the autocephalous churches under its umbrella, its adherents number over 150 million worldwide—about half of the 300 million...
cemetery, built between 1902 and 1904 on land purchased by Saint Tikhon of Moscow
Tikhon of Moscow
Saint Tikhon of Moscow , born Vasily Ivanovich Bellavin , was the 11th Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia of the Russian Orthodox Church during the early years of the Soviet Union, 1917 through 1925.-Early life:...
. The church acquired more property in Vintondale, Pennsylvania
Vintondale, Pennsylvania
Vintondale is a borough in Cambria County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is part of the Johnstown, Pennsylvania Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 528 at the 2000 census.-Geography:...
, where a new building was constructed in 1907. Records indicate that many of the residents were from Máramaros
Máramaros
Máramaros is the name of a historic administrative county of the Kingdom of Hungary. Its territory is presently in north-western Romania and western Ukraine...
in the Kingdom of Hungary
Kingdom of Hungary
The Kingdom of Hungary comprised present-day Hungary, Slovakia and Croatia , Transylvania , Carpatho Ruthenia , Vojvodina , Burgenland , and other smaller territories surrounding present-day Hungary's borders...
. The last burials were in 1927.
The Wehrum Dam is another remnant of the old mining town. Its remains can still be found deep in the woods leading up the mountain from where the Allegheny Trail passes through the area. It's called the Wehrum Dam and had originally been used by the Bethlehem Mines Corporation. This dam was one of six that broke during two rainy days in July - the 19th & 20th - of 1977, contributing to the Johnstown Flood of that year. It is listed as "Unnamed Dam" in some places, but most who live in the area continue to refer to it as the Wehrum Dam, even to this day. The sides of the walls of the old dam still rest among the cliffs of the area, the basin of the former dam now a tangled and overgrown meadow.