Windber Historic District
Why it's listed
Windber is a planned coal company town in the narrow Paint Creek valley of Somerset County, Pennsylvania, laid out by the Berwind-White Coal Mining Company in 1897 and built out largely by 1930. The district holds 945 contributing resources, including worker housing of frame construction with weatherboard siding, a hillside enclave of management houses in Queen Anne and Colonial Revival styles, and a central business district on Graham Avenue. Notable commercial buildings include the Colonial Revival company headquarters completed in 1903, the Classical Revival Windber Trust Building of 1910, and the Eureka Department Store. Its significance rests on the way the layout and housing expressed company control over workers, and on its contrast with the surrounding patch towns. Immigrant communities organized around churches and fraternal groups, and strikes in 1906 and 1922 are documented as part of the town's labor history.
Significance in brief: The nomination argues the district is significant for its association with the Berwind-White Coal Mining Company and the bituminous coal industry, for its hierarchical company-planned layout that reflected company control, and for its architecture, including high-style buildings and unusually substantial worker housing. It also cites the role of immigrant ethnic communities and the labor unrest of 1906 and 1922 in shaping the town's social history.
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 91001705, listed November 14, 1991. Summary generated October 2026 (model claude-haiku-5-5, prompt v1.1-2026-10-29, confidence medium).
Key facts
| Address | Roughly bounded by the borough line, Cambria Ave., 28th St. and the Big Paint Cr., Windber |
|---|---|
| County | Somerset County |
| Listed | November 14, 1991 |
| Reference number | 91001705 |
| Resource type | District |
| Period of significance | 1897-1940 |
| Architect / builder | Berwind-White Coal Mining Company (town planning); Henry Reinhold (architect, Arcadia Theatre) |
| Architectural style | Late Victorian: Queen Anne; Late 19th & 20th Century Revivals: Colonial Revival |
| Criteria |
|
| Areas of significance | Industry, Community Planning and Development, European, Architecture, Social History |
| Level of significance | Local |
| Status (as stated in the nomination) | The Eureka Department Store is presently vacant and the company store is vacant; most commercial buildings have been adaptively reused. |
| Acreage | 299 |
| Coordinates | 40.23702, -78.83192 (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 91001705.
- Nomination form (PDF, National Archives) — catalog entry
- Wikipedia article (used for cross-checking only; text not reproduced here)
- Wikidata Q8024073
- This listing as JSON
Last updated October 2026. Found an error? See the editorial policy for how to report it.