HISTORY

History Of Dunbar

Settled in the 1790's, Dunbar was incorporated in 1883. Originally called Frogtown, the name was changed to Dunbar City and finally Dunbar, but no one remembers when this happened.


The town was named for Colonel Thomas Dunbar, who was in charge of the 48th Regiment of Foot during the undeclared French and Indian War. Along with General Edward Braddock, Dunbar came to America in 1755 to help regain Fort Duquesne. His camp was located at present-day Jumonville.


It was toward the end of these turbulent times that Isaac Meason started his Union Furnace #1 circa 1793. This marked the beginnings of what would become Dunbar’s lifeblood over the next century or so. Drawn to Dunbar by the prospect of work, the fabric of the community was and still is an ethnic-rich and financially diverse town.


As the iron was moved from the furnace to the creek near the former Bowest Railroad yard, Connellsville Street became the main road through town. It was along this road that many of Dunbar’s businesses sprang up. The remaining buildings stand as a testament to a more prosperous time.


Dunbar was once a rich industrial area which at one time had five banks operating at the same time. The area has been home to a wealth of industry from its earliest days. Between the time of Meason’s first iron furnace through the 1950s, Dunbar has been home to the following industries: Dunbar Furnace, Semet-Solvay By-Products plant, the Pennsylvania Wire Glass Company, Bluestone quarry, sand plant, brickworks, ice plant, woolen mill, Bowest 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.

A quote from Dunbar: the Furnace Town book sums up the significance of the Dunbar industry as it relates to the Pittsburgh area. "For years, Dunbar's iron industry must have been an amazement to Pittsburgh industrialists. Here, iron was made with coke on a continuous basis since 1854. Pittsburgh did not have a successful iron furnace until 1859; for they had no local iron and they encountered problems with their large capacity furnace, which Dunbar had seemingly solved."


Dunbar, as part of the Connellsville Coke Region, which extended from Latrobe to the south of Fairchance, was vital to the development of steel in Pittsburgh. In addition, at the height of the coke era in 1899, there were over 19,900 coke ovens in Fayette County. All but fifty of these ovens were the beehive-type coke oven. Those other fifty were the Semet-Solvay byproduct ovens located in Dunbar. These byproduct ovens were the first ones in the United States!


While the industry is gone and the population has decreased, Dunbar continues to exist along the banks of the nationally known Dunbar Creek trout stream, a testament to the proud residents who still call Dunbar home. Through the efforts of the Dunbar Historical Society, the history of Dunbar will continue to be shared with present and future generations.

Visit A Beehive Coke Oven

Beginning in 2006, the Dunbar Historical Society had a vision to build an authentic coke oven to honor those who worked in the coal and coke industry in this area. That vision was realized on May 1, 2010, when the coke oven was dedicated. The newly constructed coke oven was built from original unused bricks and materials found at the Shamrock and Shoaf Coke Works located right here in Fayette County. The coke oven was constructed by society members and volunteers, including mason Barry Pritchard of the Salient Angle in Masonry. Pritchard volunteered to oversee the project and completed much of the building process.


The beehive coke oven is a marvel to see and sits proudly in the park area across from the Dunbar Historical Society Center at the center of town. At the DHS center, visitors can view a coke oven schematic and display the materials used to build the oven, see a documentary slide show, and a photo album of the building process. The society also has dozens of albums containing Dunbar area photos and memorabilia. Included this year are materials from the Dunbar Township areas of Morrell and Leisenring. The “Dunbar Coal and Coke” program is available for local groups to see how coke is made and includes vintage pictures of the Dunbar coke ovens. Contact us if you are interested in bringing a group to the program. Cost is minimal.

Bike The Sheepskin Trail

The Sheepskin Trail officially opened in May 2008. The 2.1 mile Sheepskin Trail connects to the Great Allegheny Passage at Wheeler Bottom near Connellsville and enters Dunbar Borough next to the Dunbar Historical Society. There is a comfort station on Railroad Street and trail parking one block from the Historical Society and exercise equipment across the trail from the comfort station.


This part of the Sheepskin Trail is the first leg of the 32-mile long trail, which will continue through the center of Fayette County to Point Marion. It will connect to the West Virginia Rail-Trail System at the state line.



Riding the Sheepskin Trail will give visitors the opportunity to visit the Dunbar Historical Society's Education Center on Saturdays and see a beehive coke oven at the DHS Park across the street from the trail entrance. Dunbar walking route brochures are available at the center for those interested in learning about Dunbar’s historic buildings.

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