{"nrhp_refnum":"94000519","name":"Boswell Historic District","other_names":[],"category":"district","location":{"address":"Roughly bounded by Hower Ave., Atkinson Way, Quemahoning Creek, Main St. and Juniata St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Boswell","county":"Somerset County","state":"PA","lat":40.162196547000065,"lon":-79.02803865551914,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1994-06-03","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Historic - Non-Aboriginal","Architecture","Social History","Community Planning and Development","Industry"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A planned coal town and extractive facility in Boswell Borough, Somerset County, Pennsylvania, covering 81 acres on the east side of the Quemahoning Creek in a valley at the base of Laurel Hill Mountain. It includes a five-block borough area laid out in 1901 and two surviving mine buildings in the northwest part of the district.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the district is a well-preserved example of a company-planned coal town built in southwestern Pennsylvania during the first four decades of the 20th century. It is significant for its link to the bituminous coal industry, for its company town planning and paternalism, for its connection to the 1922 UMWA strike, for its contributing industrial, vernacular and institutional architecture, and for archaeological remains of the mine.","narrative":"Boswell was laid out in 1901 by the Merchants Coal Company of Baltimore on a forty-five degree grid of 50 by 120 foot lots in Jenner Township, Somerset County. The company built miners' and managers' houses, a company store, an office and a bank, and donated land for churches and a school. Private investors bought many lots and built homes and businesses, so the town was only partly company-controlled. The district keeps two surviving mine buildings, the 1901 powerhouse and the pump house, along with archaeological remains of the mine's machine shop, blacksmith shop and mule barn. The mine, known for its Orenda coal, operated until 1939. Boswell miners joined the United Mine Workers strike of April 1, 1922, shutting down Orenda Mine No. 2. The district is noted for its integrity of setting and its illustration of coal town planning in the region.","period_of_significance":"1901-1939","architect_builder":"Hower, Charles E., Myton, Walter, Vickroy, William (listed as significant persons); Merchants Coal Company founded the town and Charles E. Hower and W.H. Morris laid out the mine.","architectural_style":"Late Victorian; Late 19th and 20th Century Revivals/Colonial Revival; vernacular with a few Italian Renaissance and Colonial Revival examples","criteria":["A","C","D"],"status_note":"The former powerhouse is occupied by an equipment repair and sales business, and the pump house is deteriorating and abandoned.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.1-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 17:11:36.267293-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_PA/94000519.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/94000519/fb7ba7334d-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/94000519/fb7ba7334d-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Jet Lowe","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sts._Peter_and_Paul_Russian_Orthodox_Greek_Catholic_Church,_Boswell.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Jet Lowe</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sts._Peter_and_Paul_Russian_Orthodox_Greek_Catholic_Church,_Boswell.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71993875","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boswell_Historic_District","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4948332"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/pennsylvania/somerset-county/boswell-historic-district-94000519/"}