Continental No. 2 is a good representative of the typical Connellsville Coke Region patch town.
Company built house at Continental No. 2 probably dates to 1903, the year the coke town was built by the Continental Coke Co., a subsidiary of National Steel Co.
Most of the hundreds of coke ovens at Continental No. 2 today are in poor condition like these.
However, this oven is still in okay condition. There were at least 300 ovens there at one time.
Foundations in the coal and coke yard at Continental No. 2 are still extant. I am unsure what year Frick assumed ownership of the Continentals, but the Continental No. 2 coal mine closed in 1926.
The superintendent's house at Continental No. 2 looks over the patch town and what's left of the coke yard. The super's residence was usually built on a hill or bluff so that he could "look down" on coal and coke workers, and also so he could generally keep an eye on things.
Someone thought to take this snapshot of the company-built houses at Continental No. 2 in 1980. (Courtesy Coal and Coke Heritage Center, Penn State Fayette)
Another picture of Continental No. 2 in 1980, this one showing the double outhouses in the back yards of the two-family patch houses, as well as the diamond-patterned siding that is often still found in old coal and coke towns. (Courtesy Coal and Coke Heritage Center, Penn State Fayette)