The community of Dunbar is celebrating its 125th birthday on Saturday. Dunbar was settled in the 1790s and the borough was incorporated in 1883.
The borough was originally called Frogtown, then Dunbar City and at last, Dunbar, but the dates for these name changes have been forgotten. The borough was named for Col. Thomas Dunbar, who fought in the French and Indian War. Dunbar was in charge of the 48th Regiment of Foot. His encampment was located at what is now Jumonville. Like Gen. Edward Braddock, Dunbar came to America in 1755 to help regain Fort Duquesne, now Pittsburgh, from the French.
Dunbar played a vital part in the industrial revolution, beginning with an iron furnace built by Isaac Meason in 1793. The Dunbar Historical Society has recorded the following industries once located in Dunbar: Dunbar Furnace, Semet-Solvay By-Products plant, the Pennsylvania Wire Glass Company, Bluestone quarry, sand plant, brickworks, ice plant, woolen mill, Bo-West rail yards and several mines and coke oven sites including: Hill Farm, Ferguson, Atlas, Mahoning, Watt and Uniondale. Several of these oven sites still exist.
As Dunbar's iron industry prospered, iron was moved from the furnace to Dunbar Creek near the former Bo-West Railroad yard and Connellsville Street became the main artery through town.
The Dunbar Community Fest activities take place in this historic district. The Dunbar Historical Society has developed "A View From the Park," a brochure describing the borough's historic buildings as viewed from the society's Coke Oven Park. Society secretary Donna Myers wrote the brochure.
The park itself, which overlooks Dunbar Creek, was once home to several businesses: the Mahaney Hotel, Smith Meat Shop, Silverman's Dry Goods, Pasquallie Confectioners, Rose Ann's Candy Kitchen, Keffer Radio Repair and Smith Grocery. The Smith building burned down in 1970 and the property has since been vacant.
The Coke Oven Park will contain a replica coke oven. Tens of thousands of coke ovens once lit western Pennsylvania's night skies as they baked coal into coke which was shipped to Pittsburgh for steel making. Pallets of bricks for the oven sit in the park today. Myers said the bricks took two years to locate. Information about engineering specifications is being collected and construction will begin once the society raises sufficient funds. Donations are welcome.
Across the Fayette Central Railroad tracks from the park is the site of the former B&O Railroad station. The station was torn down in the 1960s. A second station, for the Pennsylvania Railroad, was located across Dunbar Creek from the park. It was also torn down in the 1950s or 1960s. Both stations operated simultaneously. The B&O had two tracks through town and the Pennsylvania had one.
Buildings have also disappeared from downtown due to fire. In 1902, eight buildings on Woodvale Street burned. A furniture store, a jewelry store, a drug store, Foltz's Undertaker's Parlor and the Methodist Episcopal Church were destroyed. The Dunbar Volunteer Fire Department began in 1918. Prior to that, firefighters had to come from Connellsville.
A fire at the Dunbar House, which burned from Dec. 31, 1917 until Jan. 1, 1918, only destroyed that one building on Connellsville Street because of the volunteers' efforts. That building was erected in 1897 and housed a hotel and a bar.
Next to the former Dunbar House, is the oldest house in Dunbar, referred to as the Annie Cicero House. Alexander Martin built it in 1850.
Dunbar has had at least three post offices. One, on East Railroad Street, was built in 1889. The second was built on Bridge Street in 1890 and houses the Dunbar Historical Society's Education Center and office. This building served as a post office from 1907 to 1982. Myers said the building was also reported to have a public bath in the basement in the early 1900s. From 1982, until being purchased by the Dunbar Historical Society in 2006, it was privately owned and maintained, but no businesses were located there. There was a residence upstairs. The new post office, built in 1983, is located on Church Street, between the Dunbar Presbyterian Church, built in 1874, and the Wesley United Methodist Church, built in 1902.
For more information on Dunbar's historic buildings and the history of the people who shaped the area, visit the Dunbar Historical Society's Education Center, which will be open throughout the Dunbar Community Fest. Historic photographs, post cards and other souvenirs are for sale.
For information on membership or to donate to the coke oven project, call 724-277-8448.
