Wadesville
Wadesville, a mining village in the southeast part of New Castle township, was laid out about 1830, by Lewis Ellmaker, and named in honor of Captain John Wade, a coal operator.
Brief History of mining in Wadesville
Early History of Wadesville
In the early 1900's Wadesville had three churches, the Primitive Methodist, United Methodist (built 1868) and Seventh Day Adventist Church (built 1915). Today only the United Methodists exists, but not where it originally was built. In 1949, the P & R C & I moved the church and about a dozen homes from one section of Wadesville to another. The coal company did this to expand its strip mining. When expanding its mining in 1986 the company bought out - through sheriff sales and direct purchases - a handful of homes and the two remaining churches. All were demolished.
During the 1960's, Reading Anthracite Company (which took over the P&RC&I in 1961) tore down Wadesville's only school, a three room building that was not used for several years. Wadesville elementary school students began going to the St. Clair Elementary in the late 1950's.
The last of the three stores in Wadesville was closed in the mid-1950's. The store was owned by Marion and Paul Grabish and it was located in a corner of their home. They did not close it for economic reasons, since Mr. Grabish was a mechanic in the strip mine, but because it allowed them little time to help their children with their homework.
The future of Wadesville is still uncertain. Reading Anthracite owns the mineral rights to most of the patch and has tried and succeeded in the last several years to move the more homes to another location so the company can strip-mine the land. Jack Rich, the owner of Reading Anthracite has given the people notices to move and even wants the state to close a road passing through Wadesville to do mining to the South.
Meanwhile, the people in the homes remaining in Wadesville and Arnots Addition are feeling the vibrations from the coal being dynamited nearby.
WADESVILLE
"Wadesville, a mining village in the southeast part of New Castle township, was laid out about 1830, by Lewis Ellmaker, and named in honor of Captain John Wade, a coal operator. The place has been developed by the numerous collieries worked in and around it. George Phillips was probably the first who mined coal in the vicinity, commencing previous to 1828. In 1829 a Mr. Keverly commenced driving a tunnel on the Flowery Field Tract, northwest from Wadesville, and Mr. Boas finished it, cutting the Orchard vein. In 1835 Blakesly and Ashley worked this colliery for Asa Packer, the lessee, shipping 35 tons per day. Henry Saylor operated here in 1855. It was known as the Flowery Field Colliery. John Denning & Bro's., sons of Joseph Denning, are now using the old Monitor colliery breaker, and working the Holmes vein. They ship large quantities of coal. In 1828 Thomas Ritchway opened a drift on the Orchard vein, in the hill west from the creek. George Mason, who operated on this vein in 1856, west of Flowery Field Colliery, found it from 4 1/2to 5 feet thick, and shipped more than 18,000 tons per year. The vein on the east bank of the creek was operated by Christopher Frantz.
The Primrose vein was first opened on the Flowery Field Tract, by Burr & Wallace, in 1829. In 1845 Jonathan Wasley sunk two slopes on the north and south dips of this vein. One engine pumped water from both slopes, and another hoisted the coal from both. He also sunk a slope on the Seven-feet, tunneling to the Mammoth. He built a breaker, and shipped about 200 tons per day. He failed in 1852 and the colliery was abandoned in 1855. On the east side of the creek, John Reed, Daniel Edwards and Christopher Frantz operated successively on the Primrose, mining a large quality of coal. The workings were abandoned soon after 1864. In 1833 Thomas Ritchway drove a tunnel near the west end of the old Girard tunnel, cutting the four-feet, seven-feet and Mammoth veins. Robert Nealy and Commodore Stockton operated here, but abandoned the place in 1837.
Wadesville shaft was formerly known as the Hickory shaft; its workings being a continuation of the old Hickory water level and slopes. Excavations were commenced June 30th, 1864. When a depth of 666 feet was reached, the upper split of the Mammoth vein was struck, early in the year 1867. In May, 1871, the mine was found to be on fire, and in June it became necessary to turn in water and drown it. The property was sold September 25th, 1876, by the sheriff to the Philadelphia and Reading Coal and Iron Company. May 9th, 1877, an explosion of gas occurred, which resulted in the death of six men. In January, 1878, the authorities become convinced that the mine was again on fire, in the old workings, by reason of an explosion which had occurred. After laboring in vain until February 10th, it was decided to again drown it. Water was turned in from Mill Creek February 14th, and left to run during eighteen days, when it had reached a height of 368 feet in the shaft. The mine was then emptied and the first coal was shipped October 21st. It has been operated successfully since. About 500 men and boys are employed. Eight engines are used at this colliery; one runs the breaker, one hoists on the plane, one runs a saw-mill and machinery in the carpenter's and blacksmith shops, and one carries the fan, each of 30 horsepower; two 250 horse engines hoist water from the shaft, two 125 horse hoist coal. The capacity of the breaker is about 700 tons per day. The present daily production is more than 500 tons. ''
CHURCHES AT WADESVILLE
Primitive Methodist.-On the 29th of April, 1855, a class was formed consisting of Rev. James George, a local preacher, Charles Latham, Samuel Westwood, John Martin and George Gordon. Mr. George was chosen leader. Services were held in the public school building. The members were accepted by the Primitive Methodist church, and were attached to the St. Clair circuit. A church building was erected in 1871. It is of stone, 30 by 40 feet, situated on the Flowery Field tract, and its cost was about $2,000. It was dedicated December 29th, 1872; Revs. Benjamin Haywood, Francis Gray and Joseph W. Reed officiating. Mr. Haywood applied his sermon by slipping a $50 bill into the collection. The membership has at times numbered 40. The Sunday-school was established with the church, Rev. James George being its first superintendent. The number of scholars has increased from 30 to 120. It has a good library. On the 31st of June, 1868, there was organized, in connection with the school, a society known as the Primitive Methodist Sabbath School Temperance Roll of Honor and Burial Society. It was founded by Rev. James George. In 1876 fifteen other churches had organized similar societies. M. E. Church.-This church was organized as a branch of the M.E. church of St. Clair, in October, 1867. Among the original members were John Botham, George Milnes, John and Betsy Webb. Their church building which cost $2,000, was dedicated in January, 1868. Rev. S.G. Hare was the first pastor. This church is frequently supplied by local preachers. The Sunday-school was organized in 1865, two years before the organization of the church. The superintendent is Henry Shafer. The average attendance is about 90 scholars."
Newspaper Article from the Pottsville REPUBLICAN and Evening Herald - July 24, 2001
WADESVILLE - This patch town will soon be no more.
Five houses along High Road were crushed Monday at a rate of two per hour to make way for Reading Anthracite Co. to expand its Wadesville pit.
A similar destiny awaits houses with orange numbers painted on their front facades in the patch's lower end. Windowless shells and houses that show the signs of last year's multiple arson fires still stand, some taller than others, and await the same destruction.
April 13 marked the final arson in a string of seven "suspicious" fires in the patch in six months.
At the end of the project, more than 20 homes will be razed.
Until then, memories flood John R. Chambers, 70, who was sitting in a pickup watching as the houses cracked, crumbled and fell beneath the weight of the heavy trucks.
He is a longtime resident of the New Castle Township village and one of only three people living on High Street. He remembered his brother planting a waist-high maple tree that is now full grown.
After crews finished Monday's work, only two houses and a United Methodist church remained standing on the street.
The houses razed Monday had been moved there at one time from Georgetown patch, just south of High Road. Georgetown was leveled to make way for a stripping, which is what is happening here.
Reading Anthracite Co. plans to eventually expand its Wadesville pit to encompass High Road.
Negotiations between the company and Wadesville residents, many of whose homes were on leased land, had gone on for years.
At one point, Wadesville residents were to be offered a $5,000 plot of land on the former Loftus farm on Peach Mountain, but that deal fell apart.
At the time of the proposed deal, Reading Anthracite even offered $25,000 in initial funds to cover blasting damage incurred while the town was still inhabited.
Chambers said he refused to leave his land, and said he never will. He said his land is "public" property although he pays real estate taxes on it, and has slammed the door on any buyout offer from Reading Anthracite since fallout from the Peach Mountain project.
"They say they own everything they see," he said.
His house is now in its third generation and is the former schoolhouse in Wadesville.
"These people didn't want to leave," he said of his "good" neighbors. "They loved it here."
High Road was originally a dead-end, a "kids' paradise" where they could ride their bikes and play without worrying about traffic.
"You were lucky if you saw two cars a day," he remembered.
While he spoke, another loader truck was busy covering the houses' remains with fresh soil.
When the land was level, a heap of wood, insulation, shingles and various personal effects left behind - a player piano tumbled from one house - were pushed against a pine tree next to the white church.
Chambers' friend, John S. Gaul, Saint Clair, who returned from the military in 1974 and built a new home in Wadesville, said he's done with worrying after years of trying to save the community.
"I don't even care anymore," he said in frustration as a double-house - 564-566 High Road - crashed to the valuable earth.
"I was never forced out," Gaul said as crews departed for lunch. Reading Anthracite made him an offer, he said, and, after some debate, he accepted it and moved.