Cairnbrook Historic District
Why it's listed
Cairnbrook is a coal mining village and extractive site in central Shade Township, Somerset County, laid out in 1912 by S.E. Dickey & Company of Johnstown for the Loyal Hanna Coal and Coke Company of Philadelphia. The company built about 200 houses on a 45-degree grid, along with a company store, office, school, church and water plant, and separated managers' housing on First Street from workers' housing elsewhere. Loyal Hanna Mine Number 6, a double drift entry worked from 1914 in the 50-inch Lower Kittanning seam, sits nearby, and its surviving mule barn, motor barn, supply house, substation and oil house are built of fieldstone, brick and hollow tile. Production ran until March 1958, when exhaustion of the coal closed the mine. The district is valued for preserving the layout and buildings of a planned coal town, and for the archaeological remains that may document mining technology and miners' working lives.
Machine-generated summary. This summary was generated by a language model from the official nomination document and has not been reviewed line by line by an editor. It may contain errors. Check the source document before relying on any detail. Source: nomination document (PDF) · catalog entry. Generated October 2026 (model claude-haiku-5-5, prompt v1.1-2026-10-29).
| Period of significance | 1912-1943 |
|---|---|
| Styles | Prairie School |
| Areas of significance | Historic - Non-Aboriginal, Architecture, Community Planning and Development, Industry |
| Acreage | 50 |
| Boundary source | NPS cultural-resource GIS polygon |
| Full listing page | Cairnbrook Historic District (property record) |
What listing means for this property
This is a historic district. Buildings within its boundary are either contributing (they add to the district's significance) or non-contributing. Owners of contributing income-producing buildings can claim the 20% federal rehabilitation tax credit; homeowners should look at state credits. National Register districts impose no design review by themselves; a local historic district ordinance, if one exists, does (the difference explained).
General information, not legal or tax advice. Rules change; confirm with your State Historic Preservation Office or a qualified adviser.