Coal Mining in Monroeville
While coal was discovered in western Pennsylvania in colonial times, because of limited markets and poor transportation, it took a while to develop as a commercial enterprise. But by the middle of the 19th century the rapidly growing iron and steel industry was creating a vast new market for coal, and mining expanded— particularly to the north and east of Pittsburgh— to exploit the richness of the vast Pittsburgh seam.
In 1870, Andrew Carnegie purchased tracts of coal lands in Patton and Plum townships and began forming the New York and Cleveland Gas and Coal Company, which was to become one of the largest mining operations in Western Pennsylvania. In 1914, the company began mining the area.
And with the advent of the First World War, the need for coal to support the war effort was becoming critical, so trenches were being dug in local cow pastures to get at the thick, rich coal of the Pittsburgh seam.
Since the seam was easily accessible, running about 50 feet below the surface, shallow underground mines could be dug to exploit it while surface strip mining techniques could also be used in some places. Strip mining used large mechanical shovels to strip away the surface coal and truck it to the nearest railroad sidings.
In 1918, R. H. Cunningham began strip mining at McMasters Grove. The grove was situated near the center of the farming village of Monroeville at the southern side of Route 22 near the intersection with modern Route 48. In the latter part of the 1800s, this centrally located wooded area— originally part of the McMasters farm— had been serving as the community’ s picnic park. Family picnics and community events like concerts and festivals were frequently held there.
Like much of today’ s commercial corridor, the area would soon show the devastating effects of strip mining.
One local resident writing in the 1950s recalled:“ After the coal was taken out, this naturally left these coal pits in their destructive state, besides great heaps of soil, rock, slate, red dog, slack and other refuse remaining. These great heaps of refuse are still found in our borough, destroying its natural beauty … Wherever you may be living, chances are there are one or more of these slag heaps in sight of your home.”
Mining continued in the area well into the 20th century, but even as the older underground mines were being depleted, new methods of strip mining were being developed and employed.
By the 1950s, the results of the poorly regulated mining activity were apparent. Great heaps of surface soil, rocks, debris, mine tailings, slag, and other refuse littered the landscape, left behind as the mines began to close. McMasters Grove had been left scarred by coal mining operations. The land was devastated with the results of surface mining.
When the land had been reclaimed, Patton Township officials laid plans for a new high school to be built on the site. But increased traffic forced them to look for another location for the school, and the land was sold to developers.
Eventually, the property was to be used as a drive-in theater( in 2005, the site of Lowe’ s Home Improvement Center), while the adjacent land became the site of the Miracle Mile Shopping Center.
Still another pile of debris and a massive slag heap marked the site of the mule barn for the old New York and Cleveland Gas and Coal mine, later part of Harper’ s strip mine. This was the parcel of land that, once reclaimed, would become the future home of the Monroeville Mall.
Over time, the strip mines were abandoned and the land reclaimed; today there are few traces of Monroeville’ s surface mines. However, underground mining continued in the area into more modern times.
From the 1960s to the 1980s, efforts were made to exploit the Freeport seam, which ran about 600 feet below the surface in northern Monroeville. This lode of high-grade metallurgical coal could be up to 7-feet thick in places under parts of Garden City, and the Logans Ferry Road area.
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