Patch towns were special places
When people realize that I no longer live in Ohiopyle, they look at me funny, as if they can not imagine my living anywhere else. Actually, I have only resided in Ohiopyle nine months out of the past nine years. In 2002, I moved to St. Michaels, Md., for five years. When my mother asked me to come home, I lived in Chalk Hill for a year and a half until moving in to enable her to enjoy her beloved Ohiopyle a little longer, while Alzheimer and Parkinson diseases took their toll.
I spent over four months in Florida in early 2010, before moving to a Fayette County patch town along the Monongahela River. The Mon is different from the Youghiogheny River or Yough as it’s commonly called and a patch is different from Ohiopyle borough, but similar to what Ohiopyle once was.
Over 150 patch towns were built in Fayette County during the coal and coke boom. Company duplex homes were constructed close to mines, railroad tracks and streams, housing families of workers. Although Ohiopyle was never a coal patch, the Ohiopyle of my youth shares similarities to the tiny community where I reside today. Andrew Stewart built the houses in his Falls City for workers at his grist mill which sat adjacent to the falls. Henry Clay Frick built his coal patches to house thousands of his mine workers.
The patch concept was simple. Similar wooden, two-story, double-dwelling houses were lined in rows. This made it easy for men to walk to the mines. Shared, two-family outhouse/coal bins sat in backyards along the allies. Company officers lived in larger homes adjacent to the mines, so they could be on-call when needed.
One example of a patch town in German Township is Edenborn. H.C. Frick constructed 100 duplexes, five single-family homes, a company store, two boarding houses, and a barbershop there from 1903 – 1913. He then made major improvements to the mine and constructed 20 more duplexes, 10 single homes and a few garages. In 1930, he again upgraded the mine, built a five-family house, 30 more duplexes, 40 garages and an office. Frick built a company store in every patch and that’s where his workers shopped. They had no choice. Frick ruled his patches with an iron fist, literally. Edenborn thrived as one of Frick’s patches until approximately 1940.
Ohiopyle was not plagued by Frick’s rules. In his day, it was lucky to be a remote mountain village. Today, it has livened up, but the patches are now quiet. Tugs still push barges of coal up and down the Mon River. Houses still stand in rows, but the company stores are deserted, and the coal mines are gone.
There are still about 80 patches in Fayette County. Many are nice, tiny communities and neighborhoods. We are lucky that way.
Since my last column, I have been interviewing local race car drivers and auto industry professionals for my new book and film. L.J. Dennis, Bobby Lake, Garry Sisson, Mel Minnick, Jimmy and Josh Bendishaw, Gregg Dahl and many more speedway kings will be included in a full-color section to depict 100 years of racing history in southwestern Pennsylvania.
I appreciate their cooperation in assisting me in recording their great stories about the daring lives they have lived. I must admit that I am enjoying this immensely.
In addition to the new book and feature film projects, I will be creating a documentary DVD based on the book. This will include at least 100 of the 200 photographs in my Uniontown Speedway board track collection, later photos of drivers and tracks and any clips of films we can find on later tracks like Bryson’s, Guseman’s, the Morgantown and Latrobe speedways, Jennerstown and Roaring Knob. You get the picture…and film.
On Friday, Aug. 12, I will be storytelling at 7 p.m. at the Christian Klay Winery in Chalk Hill after a wine tasting with Sharon Klay and will be showing my Speedway Kings Power Point presentation to the Kiwanis at the Fayette Chamber office at 12:30 on Aug. 18, and will be appearing at the Italian Heritage Festival in Uniontown on Saturday, Aug. 27.
Marci Lynn McGuinness is the author of 25 books. She is presently writing “Speedway Kings of SW PA & Region, 100 Years of Racing History (1912 -2011).” Questions/stories or requests for book order forms or to schedule her for speaking/Power Point presentations to: Shore Publications, 145 River Street, Adah, Pa., 15410, 724-710-7801, or marci@ohiopyle.info. Web orders/details: www.ohiopyle.info and www.uniontownspeedway.com.