Boswell, Pennsylvania facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Boswell, Pennsylvania
Borough
Southbound PA 601 (Atkinson Way) in Boswell
Location of Boswell in Somerset County, Pennsylvania.
Boswell, Pennsylvania Location in Pennsylvania
Country	United States
State	Pennsylvania
County	Somerset
Settled	1901
Incorporated	February 22, 1904
Government
• Type	Borough Council
Area
• Total	0.74 sq mi (1.91 km2)
• Land	0.74 sq mi (1.91 km2)
• Water	0.00 sq mi (0.00 km2)
Population  (2020)
• Total	1,224
• Density	1,656.29/sq mi (639.27/km2)
Time zone	UTC-5 (Eastern (EST))
• Summer (DST)	UTC-4 (EDT)
Zip code	15531
Area code(s)	814
FIPS code	42-07712

Boswell is a small town, called a borough, located in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, United States. It's part of the larger Johnstown, Pennsylvania area. In 2020, about 1,221 people lived there.

Where is Boswell Located?

Boswell is found at coordinates 40°9′37″N 79°1′40″W. It's about 60 miles (97 km) southwest of Altoona. The town covers an area of about 0.7 square miles (1.9 km2), and all of it is land.

How Has Boswell's Population Changed?

In 2000, there were 1,364 people living in Boswell. Most residents were White (99.27%). The average age of people in Boswell was 39 years old.

The Story of Boswell

Aerial view of Boswell and vicinity, May 12, 1939. This photo was taken shortly after the mine closed. You can see the coal tipple, which was later taken down.

Boswell was started in 1901 and officially became a borough on February 22, 1904. It was founded by Thomas Taylor Boswell. He was the first president of the Merchants Coal Company. His company bought a lot of land and planned 1,600 building lots for homes. These homes were for the miners who would work in the new deep coal mine nearby.

Houses and a church on Quemahoning Street.

Merchants Coal wanted Boswell to be better than other coal towns. They planned a main business area, a high school, and built homes from brick. Brick homes helped stop fires from spreading. Many of these original brick homes are still standing today. A train line, part of the Baltimore & Ohio railroad, served Boswell and its coal mine.

At its busiest time, after World War II, Boswell had many businesses. It had two movie theaters, three department stores, a bank, and many other shops and restaurants.

How Boswell's Streets Got Their Names

Boswell's streets are laid out in a grid pattern. Many avenues are named after important coal company officials. For example:

• Hower Avenue was named after Charles E. Hower, a surveyor.
• Morris Avenue was named after W.H. Morris, a builder.
• Atkinson Way was named after W.G. Atkinson, a Vice President of Merchants Coal Company.

The street names also teach a geography lesson! They follow the path of water from Boswell to the oceans. From north to south, the street names are: Quemahoning, Stonycreek, Center, Main, Allegheny, Ohio, Mississippi, Mexico (for the Gulf of Mexico), Atlantic, and Pacific.

The Coal Mine and Its History

The mine in Boswell, called Orenda Mine #1, dug up high-quality coal. A large machine called a steam engine lifted the coal to the surface. This machine pulled coal cars up a huge structure called a coal tipple. In 1920, this tipple was the largest in the world! It was 1,080 feet (329 m) long and 92 feet (28 m) high.

At its peak, 900 men worked at the mine. They mined over 3,000 tons of coal every day. The company changed names over time, becoming the United Coal Company and then the Davis Coal Company.

For most of its history, the mine in Boswell did not have a union to represent the workers. There were struggles for workers to form a union. A big strike for unionization started in nearby towns in April 1922 and spread to Boswell. This strike lasted for sixteen months.

A view of Boswell's mining operation when it was busy. You can see the coal tipple on the left. The steam engine is near the center-left, and the power plant with its smokestacks is in the middle. The railroad tracks run through the center.

Mining Challenges and Closure

Aerial view of Boswell and the surrounding area in 1967.

The Merchants Coal Company powerhouse in Boswell (1992 photo).

There were two serious accidents at the Boswell mines. In 1909, a gas explosion killed five miners. Another explosion in 1915 killed 22 miners.

Mining in Boswell faced many problems. It seems the company made some mistakes when choosing the mine's location. They had big plans for Boswell, including building the world's largest coal tipple. However, miners found a large underground rock formation, called the "Stone Wall," between Boswell and a nearby mine in Jerome. This made it very hard and expensive to connect the two mines. Because of this, Boswell's mine was not as productive as the one in Jerome.

The Boswell mine closed on March 29, 1939. This was because it cost too much to bring the coal to the surface. The large coal tipple was taken down in 1940. After the mine closed, the town slowly saw fewer businesses. Today, Boswell is mostly a place where people live and travel to other towns for work.

In 1970, the local high school was renamed North Star High School. It serves Boswell and several nearby townships and boroughs.

Orenda Park, a community park with picnic areas, has been created where the old coal tipple used to be. The Boswell Historic District was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1994, recognizing its important history.

Cleaning Up the Environment

Mining can sometimes cause pollution. Water flowing from the Boswell mine was a major source of pollution for Quemahoning Creek, which is north of Boswell.

A special project was finished in 2005 to clean up the creek. Many groups worked together to make this happen. They even had to carefully move a rare flower, the purple fringeless orchid, to a safe area nearby.

The cleanup system works well. It treats a lot of water every minute, removing about 80 tons of iron from the water each day. In 2005, about 3,000 trout were put back into a section of the creek. This was the first time in almost 100 years that fish could live in that part of the creek!

Churches in Boswell

• All Saints Roman Catholic Church, 325 Quemahoning Street.
• Church of God, Boswell, 623 Main Street.
• Covenant Presbyterian Church, 327 Allegheny Street.
• New Life Church of the Nazarene, 878 Main Street.
• St Andrew Evangelical Lutheran Church, 500 Main Street.
• Saints Peter and Paul Russian Orthodox Church, 308 Quemahoning Street.

Images for kids

• 

  Merchants Coal Company powerhouse at Boswell (1992 photo)

See also

In Spanish: Boswell (Pensilvania) para niños