Herminie, PA

Herminie (No. 1), Pennsylvania

Herminie, PA was a coal company town built by the Ocean Coal Company, a subsidiary of the mighty Berwind-White Coal Co, in 1893. The town was named for the wife of the company president Charles Berwind: Herminie Berwind. Berwind-White named their mine Ocean No. 1 (not to be confused with the Ocean mines of the Pittsburgh Coal Company in the Youghiogheny River area), and it is right in the heart of the Irwin Gas Coalfield. In the 1920s, Herminie experienced the same organized labor drama that most Western Pennsylvania coal operations were enduring. Toward the end of its life, Ocean No. 1 mine (as well as nearby Ocean No. 2 mine) were operated as Ocean Fuel Company, who closed the mines in 1938.


An artist's depiction of the Herminie No. 1 colliery.
Mar. 2003 image by author Typical Pennsylvania coal company houses.
Mar. 2003 image by author The large number of immigrants in the Pennsylvania coalfields built many polka palaces like the "Slovenian Ballroom" in Herminie.
Nov. 2004 image by author The yellow brick company store survives as "Bill's Dandy Dollar" grocery store. Another fact about Herminie is it is the birthplace of jazz pianist Sonny Clark.
Nov. 2004 image by author Although the Ocean No. 1 mine closed in 1938, several of the buildings related to the mine survived into the 21st century, including the mule barn, power house, lamp house, and the supply house pictured here.
Nov. 2004 image by author On the left is the former Ocean mine's power house, and on the right is the former supply house.
Nov. 2004 image by author I believe that this Herminie structure may have been the mine's lamp house or mule barn.
Mar. 2004 image by author St. Mary Byzantine Catholic Church.
Mar. 2004 image by author Stone plaque on the outside wall of St. Mary Church.

From a December 24, 1936 Associated Press article titled, "Reopen Coal Mine as Gift to Crew:"

Hermine, Pa. - "Merry Christmas" means just that to this western Pennsylvania coal town - the town will have a few more months of life instead of being condemned to abandonment. The Ocean Coal Company changed its mind about halting operations and gave the miners their jobs and homes for another three months as a Christmas present.

Sources:

Fitzsimons, Gray, editor. Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania - An Inventory of Historic Engineering and Industrial Sites. National Park Service, 1994.

http://patheoldminer.rootsweb.ancestry.com (now defunct) by Ray Washlaski. Accessed here through the Wayback Machine.