Hidden History of the Laurel Highlands
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Published by The History Press

Charleston, SC 29403

www.historypress.net

Copyright © 2014 by Cassandra Vivian

All rights reserved

Front cover: Northern Italian men at the NIPA hall in Monessen. Courtesy of the author.

First published 2014

e-book edition 2014

ISBN 978.1.62585.222.9

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Vivian, Cassandra.

Hidden history of the Laurel Highlands / Cassandra Vivian.

pages cm.

Includes bibliographical references.

print edition ISBN 978-1-62619-677-3

1. Laurel Highlands (Pa.)--History. 2. Laurel Highlands (Pa.)--Social life and customs. 3.

Mines and mineral resources--Pennsylvania--Laurel Highlands. I. Title.

F157.L28V58 2014

974.8’84--dc23

2014035309

Notice: The information in this book is true and complete to the best of our knowledge. It is offered without guarantee on the part of the author or The History Press. The author and The History Press disclaim all liability in connection with the use of this book.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form whatsoever without prior written permission from the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

To the people of the Laurel Highlands: the Native Americans, the pioneers, the immigrants, the farmers, the coal miners, the steel workers, the river men and their storytellers. They were our ancestors. They built America. We do not honor them enough.

Contents

Preface

Acknowledgements

Introduction

I: AROUND THE HIGHLANDS

The Mysterious Braddock Road in Pennsylvania

The National Road is Not Route 40

No Banks! No Credit Cards! Lots of Need!

The Mine Disasters of the Laurel Highlands

Let’s Do Something About the Abandoned Coke Ovens

The H.C. Frick Coke Company at the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair

Glass: A Major Industry in the Laurel Highlands

Rye Whiskey, Rye Whiskey

A Stew for the Ages

Jacobs Creek

Crossin’ the Mountain

Fishing the Youghiogheny in the 1800s

The Hungarian Women of Morewood

A Halupki is Not Always a Halupki and There Is No Such Thing as Italian Tomato Sauce

II: INTO FAYETTE COUNTY

Broadford: Where It All Began

Adelaide Mine: A Long History

Brownsville’s Historic Districts

Camp Wesco

III: LOOKING INTO SOMERSET COUNTY

Flight 93: Written on the Walls of the Temporary Memorial

A Maple Tree is Not a Maple Tree is Not a Maple Tree

IV: AROUND WESTMORELAND COUNTY

A Frick Observatory and a Brashear Telescope

Finns in Monessen

Monessen and the Titanic

Monessen’s Italians: Fighting for the Dream

Could Rebuilding the Infrastructure of America Have Saved the Steel Industry?

A Mount Pleasant Hero

Bibliography

About the Author

Preface

Every author wonders what will happen to the dozens if not hundreds of short articles, magazine and newspaper commissions and other pieces of their work. They were published once. Now they languish, perhaps never to be read again. Some of them are among the best of their writing, but who will find them, enjoy them and share them after the author ...

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HHLH

About Hidden History of the Laurel Highlands

History lies almost forgotten among the low mountains and quaint towns of Pennsylvania's Laurel Highlands. Tales of Titanic survivors, brilliant inventors and forgotten heroes are all a part of the region's dim past. Since the 1790s, the highlands have been home to a booming glass industry that spun out early windows and flasks and, later, beautifully cut pieces of art. The wonder of the World's Fair of 1893 was none other than Westmoreland's H.C. Frick Coke Co.'s replica of a modern mine. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, lush fields and meadows produced the country's finest whiskey, Monongahela Rye. Author Cassandra Vivian travels off the beaten path to explore the hidden history of the Laurel Highlands.

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