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.
Significance in brief: The nomination argues the district is a nearly complete, minimally altered planned coal mining community with its surviving extractive plant, and that its roughly 200 company houses, six housing types and mine buildings illustrate how coal companies planned towns and segregated managers from workers. It also contends the archaeological remains may yield information about mining technology and the daily lives of miners.
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) · National Archives catalog entry. NRHP reference 94000523, listed June 3, 1994. Summary generated October 2026 (model claude-haiku-5-5, prompt v1.1-2026-10-29, confidence medium).
Key facts
| Address | Roughly bounded by the Penn Central RR tracks, McGregor Ave., Windber Ave. and John St., Shade Township, Cairnbrook |
|---|---|
| County | Somerset County |
| Listed | June 3, 1994 |
| Reference number | 94000523 |
| Resource type | District |
| Period of significance | 1912-1943 |
| Architect / builder | Dickey, S.E., and Company (civil and mining engineers, Johnstown) |
| Architectural style | Prairie School |
| Criteria |
|
| Areas of significance | Historic - Non-Aboriginal, Architecture, Community Planning and Development, Industry |
| Level of significance | State |
| Status (as stated in the nomination) | The mine ceased production in 1958 and the extractive buildings were later used by a lumber company; the document states that several resources were razed and some non-contributing buildings were added. |
| Acreage | 50 |
| Coordinates | 40.12158, -78.81667 (NPS GIS) |
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.
Sources and further reading
- National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places database (snapshot May 2026), reference 94000523.
- Nomination form (PDF, National Archives) — catalog entry
- Wikipedia article (used for cross-checking only; text not reproduced here)
- Wikidata Q5017678
- This listing as JSON
Last updated October 2026. Found an error? See the editorial policy for how to report it.