I have been to another town that got its start as a company town and I just bet you all have heard of it. . . Hershey, Pennsylvania. Believe me, that town does smell like chocolate!!
I also attended the last few years of my public education at a new high school complex built on the south side of Saxonburg, Pennsylvania. Here is a quote I found on Wikipedia.org "Founded in 1832 by John A. Roebling, who is known for the design of the Brooklyn Bridge in New York and for innovation in producing wire rope, the community was initially called "Germania", which was soon changed to "Sachsenburg" and eventually anglicized to Saxonburg." Perhaps you remember from my old blogs or from history that the first commercial radio station, KDKA, had its transmitter set up there. But the town that bears his name is Roebling, N.J. There was also a town named after a musical instrument, Steinway village, N.Y. Surely you have heard of Steinway pianos.
It is amazing, but a lot of towns and cities got their start as company towns. Remember Ernie Fords song: "Sixteen tons of number nine coal. . . I owe my soul, to the company store?" Now, you all have a great day, you hear?
Interesting. I grew up in Cincinnati, and wonder if the naming of the town had anything to do with "Cincinnatus" - wasn't he a farmer who became a Roman soldier, and then returned to his farm?
ReplyDeleteYes, you are right, Gypsy. I had to search for the info to be sure.
DeleteANOTHER DAY OLDER AND DEEPER IN DEBT. I miss Tennessee Ernie Ford. I can be silent for so long, lost in my thoughts until Joe will ask "Whatcha thinkin'?" Yesterday this happened and I said "I'm just thinking about all those poor men who used to work in the coal mines." Honestly, these things just occur during the day. Off subject, I know. But that is just how my brain works.
ReplyDeleteBlack Lung disease was very prevalent in the coal mining areas. So, I ain't the only one who remembers old songs and old singers.
DeleteThere's a number of company towns in NH that have totally disappeared when the companies went bust. I've searched around some of them and only some of the foundations remain.
ReplyDeleteHowever, there was a mill town north of me where you can still see a row of company built houses. They used to be exactly the same, but many of them have been added to since. I'm told they were very cold and drafty houses.
Where I worked in PA. for over 17 years had a row of homes that were all exactly alike along the streets that where near it.
DeleteWe have visited a few company towns and they are interesting. Of course, I grew up near Rochester, NY and some might argue that it was a company (Kodak) town:)
ReplyDeleteThere has to be some source of employment for most towns to exist unless they are "retirement" towns.
DeleteI grew up in a company town in the UP of Michigan.... Of course the mines long ago closed, so the houses were then sold to anyone who wanted to buy one. The floor plans were all the same, but for a few changes here and there by adding a different porch or changing a window....
ReplyDeleteIf you are going to mass produced anything, products to homes, the most efficient and economical way it to make them all identical.
DeleteThere are a lot of company towns all over the west, usually built by a mine owner. Some of them became ghost towns when the mines closed but there are still some that live on. Just a few that I know of in AZ Douglas/Bisbee, Ajo, Jerome, Bagdad. Then there the two towns that built to house the workers that built the dams Boulder City, NV and Page, AZ.
ReplyDeleteAfter the original sponsor goes out of business or relocates, most of those towns have a hard time existing.
DeleteWe had gold, and a gold rush back in the mid 1800s, then for about another 100 years, quarried granite. Not a company town tho.
ReplyDeleteDang, maybe your house is sitting on a gold mine??
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