Yellow Dog Village – Almost Forgotten
An almost forgotten village remains shattered along hillsides, tucked away in the quiet state of Pennsylvania. Since the late 1700s, Pennsylvania has hosted a heavy mining industry throughout the entire state. Mine operations for this particular, almost-forgotten town began in the late 1890s – when life was simpler and most of the country’s population would tend to worry and fear far less. This lack of worry may have been a large contributing factor to why this once beautiful town eventually fell apart, but let’s not point any fingers – thus was life, and life was good! However, it’s quite certain that very few – if any – could foresee this village’s eventual downfall until years later, when the simple, peaceful and close-knit town of Yellow Dog began to take a turn for the worst.
Yellow Dog Village is a small mining town, tucked away in the hills of Worthington, Pennsylvania. Contrary to what some believe, these mines were opened in the 1890s, not by U.S. Steel as many may say, but by a company under the name of Pittsburgh Limestone. As you may have already guessed by this point, the mines were used to gather limestone from quarries. It has been rumored for decades that the halting of mine operations might be due to a mine collapse during the 1930s, though this is undocumented and only brought about by hear-say. The story goes to tell that a miner had actually been killed during the collapse. The main reason this story seems to fall so far from the truth is simply due to the county of Worthington having such a small community. With such a close-knit community of less than 1,000 residents – still barely above 600 today – this news would have spread like wildfire, and been well-documented.
Yellow Dog is a term used to describe a person or thing that is contemptible or cowardly. The village was built during the late 1910s and early 1920s. Yellow Dog itself was built by the mine company to house workers, providing them with higher wages and better treatment as long as they promised not to unionize. The company workers accepted this, agreeing with anything the company wanted – hence the name “Yellow Dog” – and so the town was born.
After great fruition, mining of limestone came to an abrupt halt between the years 1930-33, due to the Great Depression. As stated earlier in this story, some still hold on to the belief that this was largely due to a mine collapse – but let’s not put any money on that. The mines were closed for long stretches of time, as workers were in and out until part of the old mines were leased to the future Moonlight Mushroom Company. Moonlight Mushroom began operations during 1935, holding heavy in operation all the way through WWII. 1952 rolled around and operations were brought to a final halt. What would this mean for the families who wished to remain?
When the village was originally built the town’s residents would use 4 springs on the hill to supply themselves with water, carrying bucket after bucket into their homes. They used dry sinks, and would handle laundry by using washboards. However, come the 1970s, as water usage began to rise to meet the needs of a society becoming more modern. The villagers tapped into ground water surrounding the areas, which was nowhere near as pure as the former springs, and thus begun sewage issues.
Many residents continued on to find other jobs, remaining in the village throughout much of their lives.
The last few remaining residents finally vacated the village in 2011, leaving the entire place an eerie, quiet ghost town. Over the next few years, teenagers would claim this as their new hangout space, running up and down the streets causing damage to structures – smashing windows and breaking in doors. It was not until December of 2014 – only four hours before the new years ball dropped – that two people would sign papers to become the new owners of this entire piece of forgotten land.
The new owners – Joseph Meyer and Amber Glaslow – plan to open it to the public as a historic “camp”, where guests will be able to live in a space for an entire week to learn the history of the mines, the town and more, immersing them in Yellow Dog’s unique past.
Series of poignant photos, beautifully shot, and good luck to the new owners.
Worthington County, PA? As a life-long resident of PA, I know of no county with that name. Washington County is in the greater Pittsburgh area.
Oops thanks for that! It’s just the town’s name I could have sworn my maps said county.
Armstrong County. I live three miles from Yellow Dog.
It’s located in Armstrong county
It’s in Armstrong county. Worthington, Pa
it’s in Armstrong County , JOHN . between Butler Pa. and Kittanning Pa. along Buffalo Creek .
It is in Armstrong County
The the town closes to yellow dog is called worthington. It is in west franklin county.
west franklin is the township
Brenda, lets not further the confusion here. Yellow Dog is a suburb of Worthington, PA and it is located in West Franklin Township and NOT county!!!
West Franklin township…Armstrong County.
What type of craftsman are you looking for?
Worthington ,west franklin township Armstrong county
Well I am here to testify, that there is a Worthington Pa, not county and I was raised in Yellowdog, left only to come back and raise my children there, growing up in Yellowdog was truly amazing!
Marie, I lived on top of the hill right above Yellow Dog until we moved to Butler when I was 10. Went to the little church and was in a few plays there also. Loved walking down and going to the store across the bridge. Great memories and many great families lived there!
John, this is in Worthington, PA -Armstrong County
It is not Worthington County. It is in Armstrong County. The city/town is called Worthington.
Worthington is in Armstrong County
It’s not Worthington county. It’s Worthington, PA in Armstrong County
Worthington is the town.
Armstrong County. Its a Worthington address
Worthington is in Armstrong Count, Pa.
Worthington is Boro in Armstrong County PA. Population 639 as of 2010 census.
Worthington is in armstrong county where it boarders butler county.
It’s near Worthington, PA which is in Armstrong County, just east of Butler Co.
Worthington, Armstrong County I believe.
Worthington, Pennsylvania I didnt see where it said Worthington County Worthington is pass Butler along 422
GOOD GRIEF! How many people are going say what county and city this is!!!!??? We don’t care! MOVE ON!
Lived in this area for years but just now figured that it is outside Kittanning in Armstrong County. The mushroom mines I believe are still there but a different name.
This is the town of Worthington,PA in Armstrong County. I live about 20 minutes from here now and gre up about a 10 minute drive from Worthington.
This is right, Yellow Dog is in Armstrong County, My grandparents, Albert and Bessie Shearer lived about a mile from there on a farm for many years. I have been to Yellow Dog many times. Great article. Joyce Cowan DeDi
I’ve gotta tell you, I feel VERY SPECIAL because my pic is on this posting 3 times! I LOVED living and growing up in Yellow Dog! It was safe and there was always an adventure to be found; everyone looked out for each other! I DO HOPE you succeed with your dream!!! Jackie Evans
I’m from a small town like 15 minutes from Worthington. I really hope they succeed at this project. Maybe it will create more jobs in the area that desperately needs it.
nice to see that yellowDog is not forgotten someone is saving her and still loves the past and is willing to and has the means to save it thank you
I think it is great what you are proposing to do out there. To Lear a forgot trade so many thing we as a race learned and forgot because of modern day wounders. If you decide on doing some fundraising to help with your cost I would like to help even if its my time that I can offer up. Please let me know. Thank you jenny Seidel
Having taught 14 years at the Worthington-West Franklin School, I had many students from Yellow Dog. I can say they were great and respected me as I respected them. Thank you students from Yellow Dog as well as Worthington and other surrounding areas for a wonderful time. I hope I made a difference in your lives.
Miss my teachers Mr and Mrs Shilling. We had the best school along with a great facility. I am honored to be a Worthington graduate. Thank you for being great teachers and being a inspiration to me. Marcia LaFisca Jackson
My aunt and uncle lived here for years. My grandfather and uncle both worked in the mine. My grandfather was a blaster for many years until he retired in the early fifties. Good luck on this project.
Too many of our small villages have disappeared and it is a shame that our heritage is being forgotten. I commend you for trying to save the past for the future.
Fished through here my whole life. The history lesson was great !
My grandparents lived in Worthington – raised my father and his sibs there – I used to visit with an uncle and find adventure in the area as a kid…. Buffalo Creek and Yellerdawg, great memories.
When I was a Child I would visit my Great Grandma Emma who lived in YellowDog!! It was always a great time there! The people all cared about one another and looked after each other! I can Remember The old YellowDog Store that had tons of penny candy! We woulg go in empty handed and come out with a brown sack full of candy,,,Ahhh wonderful memories!! I can remember My Great Grandma making tons of pies and she would cool them on the front porch! We would always go down to the little bridge and go play in the creek ! I Loved it there, Thank you for sharing this article!!
I grew up in this area in the 80’s. I would love to see Yellow Dog brought back to its original glory. I now live in San Diego but would definitely come back to be a part of this restoration.
hi how do i get in touch with this two wonderful people.My adopted mom and the Aunt who raised her and the Aunts husband ,They owned the park and cabins in yellow dog .they lost it when my adopted mom was 16. I recall my grama the Aunt who raised my adopted mom talking about the park and my adopted mom walking home from the school bus never knowing what cabin they were living in .god bless
Gonna have to stop down there and check this out. Glad to hear something is being done here.
I grew up in yellowdog as a kid. we lived there until our house burnt down. It was devistating.
charlene anthony little
It is my full intention to become a resident to Yellow Dog Village, during the spring of 2016. If it were not for Winter… I would have already moved. Unfortunately, I own a home and I can not just pick up and forget this home. It must remain to be heated. Or it too will begin to fall, in to decay, and I will not allow that to happen. Future wood worker/leather worker of Yellow Dog Village. ‘Our Future’
http://www.chriscrosscreations.com
Since my initial meeting with Joe, the owner of YDV, he has fallen of the face of the map. So, IMHO, I wont be following up, on any further correspondence with him. He seems to be a man, that runs hot and then cold!
Chris Haney,
I can assure you from someone that works very closely with their family that Joseph Meyer is not a man that runs hot and then cold. I see you posted that comment about being all excited about moving in and then 4 days later post that. Both him and his daughter have full time jobs as they do have a mortgage and taxes and their own expenses to pay until the village is up and running and paying for itself.. When they aren’t working they are working around the village. Its not like they are sitting on the couch twiddling their thumbs.
I’m so glad someone has come along with the means and vision to take on this project. I didn’t live in Yellow Dog, but had relatives who were miners. They lived and raised their families there as long as there was work. It was a pleasant little town with lots of kids, well-kept houses and yards, even when I was a child. How sad some of those who grew up there must have felt, to see the destruction that has occurred there.
One can only imagine the possibilities for this undertaking. I, for one, would love to experience a trip back in time to the village of Yellow Dog as it was in 1910! I wish you success and the best of luck!
beautiful tribute….be careful …I saw a lot of asbestos
Beautiful Tribute!…be careful out there; I saw a lot of asbestos
I was born and raised a mile south of Buffalo Valley (Yellow Dog). That was in 1940. I recall my uncle coming home from WW11 ’44 or ’45 and going to work in the limestone mines. I remember riding past the tipple while railroad cars were being loaded with limestone. It was approximately 1954 when the mines were closed to mining limestone. It was when several classmates left with their families to seek employment elsewhere. Several went to Bessemer and Youngstown.
I used to get water from their springs and it was so good not like city water. Does anyone know if you can still get the spring water? At the bottom of the hill going toward the old mushroom mine. Very nostalgic place.
I live 25 minutes west of yellow dog. Would love to go check it out
What remarkable people the new owners must be. I wish them much luck in making their vision a reality. A piece of American history saved.
I recently visited yellow dog with my grandmother who lived here in the 70s-80s. The owners were amazing and were more than happy to let us look around. You could tell they loved this place and really do have intentions for yellowdog. We live in NY but I can see that some of you live close, my question is would anyone go talk to them about setting up a gofundme account to help or maybe set up something for donations. I would dedicate my time to coming to help. Jessica Toy, Buffalo NY
Hi Jessica, they did set up an account and collected about $600 last I checked. Can’t remember now what it was set up under. ~Lori Frantz~ former Yellow Dog resident
Message from the new owners of Yellow Dog: Tours are every Sunday for $5/person. Tours start at 12 noon and go every 45 min until 3:30 or so. Call 724-297-3773
I shared this on facebook hopefully that can help.
Im restorationist and specialize in window restoration and stabilization. would love to talk to you on doing some workshop at your complexe. my number is 215-262-0729. my e-mail is prepit@netzero.net/www.sashmasterduffy.com. thank you Duffy Hoffman
Duffy, try calling them at 724-297-3773
All the best to the owners and their plans for re-development. Very nicely done piece by the website. I would like to visit if I ever get back to PA.
Hello,
I grew up on PA, Langhorn to be direct. I now live in FL but have owned a handyman business for 12 years. I am able to handle Plumbing, Electrical, Carpenter, Paint ect…As well i can repair almost anything.
After a recent funeral in Brady’s Bend I took my dad to visit the village again. He left in about 1951 before the mine closed. It was fascinating to listen to him recall his childhood. Recalling his friends, the shops up the road, ball fields, swimming holes and everything about his childhood. I wish the new owners the best in restoring this village as it played a huge part in many lives.
After returning to DC I shared this site with my aunt and she told me the day the mine closed and my grandfather returned home from work the last day. Made me feel like I was living there. She was a very young girl then, what the feelings must have been like in the village.
Wishing you all the best in this endeavor!!
Thank you for doing this!!
So it’s Aug 2017. Is it ready to have visitors??? Where do I call for reservations?
Bonjour,
je ne comprends pas pourquoi les gens qui ont quitté leur maison, ont laissés leurs photos, des vêtements, des pianos! et même des jouets !
I commend you on your try to make Yellow Dog into a 1910 interactive historical tour town, just like Beford Village is a 1700s interactive historical tour town. I think that is an fantastic idea, though you can almost add the history of West Winfield to this town too cause, this town came from the businesses that West Winfield provided and also has a historical connection too. Even though its town doesn’t remain, its furnace does, it would be nice to have a little museum or building to remember that town by since it too had a major historical role to play in the development of butler county and Pittsburgh. The link is the limestone mine that created Yellow dog itself, and the fact that Yellow dog was made to have its workers over the run and closer to the mine after its original owners sold it. It was originally owned by Webster Keasey and JA Ransom in 1890 who then disposed of it to the Houston Brothers of Pittsburgh who then after running it a few years sold it to AG Morris and Son of Tyrone in 1898, which could have named the company Pittsburg limestone, since that areas main purpose was shipping limestone to Pittsburgh, just as the FW McKee mine did as well but McKee also owned a sandstone co which shipped sand to Pittsburg for glass. The one of the mines FW McKee owned later turned into the Acne Limestone co, which later ended up with Dixie co, and finally with Armstrong cement and supplies co. My one book ends the yellow dog mine with AG Morris , but it seems to match that area that later turned into Moonlight Mushroom Co. when looking at when it stands. Also in a blog by Adam Hadbavny on Knochs website, on the Moonlight Mushroom Co. or at the time period it was call the Butler County Mushroom farm, he states from a book source that the mushroom mine was in West Winfield with a pic dated 1937 with workers picking the white mushrooms straight from the book. So…. connected history and it would be a way to preserve sister ghost towns, or is it more mother and daughter cause Yellow dog came around because of West Winfield endeavors and the latter is the older town. Thought to key in some info I found to be fascinating since I just discovered the link between the two. I’m doing some research to help my brother with a project that we’ll make a little documentary out of and let all our interested parties know what we found since they found out what ghost town we were working on. Who knows, you might have been on our list of people to inform or talk too since the mushroom mine being a limestone mine of the area became my little interest and a lady said to let the person who owns/ lives in yellowdog know what my brother and I were up too, since I sensed a connection here with the information I had. But from this site and some side research I found out that the original hunch was wrong on who owned it at first, I thought Mckee, but after lookin at this site and rechecking one of the research books i figured out it was the other big limestone mine and that hunch was so far proven correct, I just need confirmation.
We should probably get in touch, my mom talked to Gladis about West Winfield when my brother had it for projects, I still have all the sources and the pics and Documents, with a new addition since I found another source after the project was finished and turned in with mapping of the town houses and a pic of one of the mines. :} Though I still need more info on F.W. McKee, like whether a woman or man since i found separate sources saying one or the other but not which indefinitely. I once had a site on that person but the site quickly got an error and then i couldn’t find it again. But the McKee Mansion in Pittsburgh should have info on that person. And I may need to get a copy of the land track given to the Winfield Furnace, to give another view on where everything is located, since Brown and James McKee gave quite a bit of info and placement in terms of that land tract. And apparently Armstrong historical society is pulling out some info it has as well, that it just found in its archive attic. But I need to know if in or not, so Yellowdog can benefit from its elder sister ghost town, West Winfield, known beforehand as Rough Run. I think the link will be key to saving and making Yellowdog into what you dreamed it to be. My phone is 724-524-8859, and one of my emails is mill2cats@gmail.com, since the yahoo is a bit clogged. If can’t get ahold of me those ways, their aways contacting Gladis who still works with my mom and she can relay to me that way. I know Yellowdog needs some sort of major historical significance to get its approval and its lacking that, West winfield has multiple routes to get that and if Yellowdog can make a tribute to west winfield too, I think that is the round about way to get historical site clearance.
Try calling Joseph Meyers at 724-297-3773
Oh my Moonlight mushroom mine hunch was wrong, new source and going back to my other sources fixed that. Though, the though of Yellowdog and West Winfield having either similar mine owners or maybe even close rivals, is not out of the question. Another way to link the sister towns is possible there. Though here’s as amazing though, if the train tracks never went under from merging, if butler got a replacment industry to its lost train car company or never lost it, and if an interstate and bypass was placed in Butler and was never blocked by the store owning locals who kids are selling out now and wanting that bypass, and if West Winfield didn’t get out done by Michigan where gov had a ton of stock in their new mines, and the gov didn’t evict West Winfield and later Yellowdog due to splitting up of important areas for war as well as its stocks in moving and evicting old. Butler would have been huge city maybe even like new York or like Pittsburgh, and West Winfield and Yellowdog would have merged into one, becoming suburbs with Saxonburg and Cabot. Just a what if though.