As one of the last beehive coke yards in the nation to close, Shoaf, PA has been well documented. Basically what happened is that the Menallen Coke Company was still operating these ovens at a profit in 1972, but the state closed them down
because they couldn't comply with new clean air standards. In this snapshot, the tipple that was brought over from the Anthracite fields is on the left, a piece of vintage strip mining equipment is in front of it, a machine shop is behind it, and the coke ovens are to the right.
Larry cars still sitting on top of the Shoaf coke ovens were probably left there the day the coke works shut down. Shoaf was named after the family that Frick purchased the land from. An email from Gail reads, "[I] have been to Uniontown several times ([my]father`s birth place). Also went to see Shoaf -land once owned by my grandparents. Met a very nice lady there who was very informative."
A coke extractor sits in ruins at Shoaf, PA. Menallen Coke Co. bought the Shoaf mines from H.C. Frick Coke Co., who built the operation and patch town in 1904. This is one of the few patch/coal mine/coke works that Frick actually built, as he usually just took over existing operations.
The coal mine at Shoaf closed in 1951, but the coke ovens operated much longer. As this photo illustrates, the coke ovens at Shoaf are probably the best preserved in all of western Pennsylvania. There is one bank of ovens and one block (2 sided) of ovens there. The larry car track is still on the block ovens.
This is the "baghouse" that Menallen Coke Co. installed in the early 1970s in a vain attempt to meet clean air standards. According to Max Nobel, when Harrisburg saw that this baghouse actually worked, they then came out with stricter clean air laws. Nobel then threw in the towel. Fayette County still lists the owner of the property as Menallen Coke Co.
Coke that was never shipped still lying around at Shoaf in 1993 (Courtesy Coal and Coke Heritage Center, Penn State Fayette)
Some of the coal patch housing at Shoaf. Noreen writes, "I was
born in ... 1943 in Shoaf, Pa. My father was an electrician at the Shoaf
facility. We lived in a 3-room house (owned by Frick) just a short walk
through the woods from the power house. The power house was within 50
feet of the stable where 2 horses were kept. I remember them for a
short time then they were gone. Guess new technology came into being.
In the summer, my brother, sister and I, we would walk through the woods
and take my father's lunch to him. He would paint faces on burned out
light bulbs and push them into the dirt hill across from the power house
for us to find. I must have been 3 or 4 years old. That was a lot of
fun for us. The tipple was down over the hill and several times my
father took us down there.
There wasn't a super's house in Shoaf but there was one in Smiley. Just
a short distance from the Shoaf company store. It was on a knoll and of
course, the nicest house in the patch.
I have many fond childhood memories of Shoaf and Smiley. When I speak
of going to sleep at night watching the light from the coke ovens, my
friends have no idea what I am talking about. And that makes me feel
privileged."
Noreen contributes this vinatage photo taken in the Shoaf patch and writes, "Here is my great
grandmother, Annie, and my father. Dad was born in August 1904 so he was
8 in this picture. Behind them, you can see the Shoaf houses. This house may be still standing -
I'm not sure."
Noreen also contributed all of the following photographs. The captions are her comments.
"These are the Shoaf coke ovens ... I don't know why they are idle. The picture was taken probably mid 1930s."
"This is a generator house [fan house] that was located at the bottom of the dirt road I lived on and was within 500 feet
off of the road that ran between the company store and mine. I believe this may still be standing."
"This is our house and where myself, brother, and sister were born. The picture was taken about Summer of 1942...This was a 3-room house. This house and the
other bungalows were located on the same road as the generator house...Mom had told me they paid $7.00 a month rent. There were about 4 of them on our road. Most of the houses in Shoaf were tyhpical of the ones on the Main
Street that are still standing. There was a hand pump in the kitchen and a coal/wood burning cook stove. There was no bathroom, of course, but you can see the outdoor toilet in the back. We took our bath in a galvanized
rub and in the summer it was a great treat to get our bath on the back porch. Also easy for Mom to dump the dirty bath water. We moved from Shoaf in the summer of 1950..."
"This is my father before becoming an electrician. This picture is about mid 1930s. This was taken in a mine-either Shoaf, Bumblebee, or Hope."
A view of the Shoaf coal and coke plant, probably from the 1940s. Note the large stock of mine timbers. (Courtesy Coal and Coke Heritage Center, Penn State Fayette)