Wehrum -Indiana County -Pennsylvania
Posted by: 
ted28285
N 40° 28.265 W 078° 56.898
17T E 673929 N 4482066
The mining town of Wehrum was short lived, from 1901-1934. It is one of several ghost towns along the Ghost Town Rail to Trail in Cambria /Indiana Counties.
Waymark Code: WM15K6Q
Location: Pennsylvania, United States
Date Posted: 01/16/2022
Views: 4
There are signs of what used to be here, foundations, old concrete and brick posts, remnants of a mining operation. All of these things are on private ground and hard to gain access to.
"Wehrum is an abandoned coal mining company town in Buffington Township, Indiana County, Pennsylvania that thrived for a time during the early 20th Century. The mine upon which it was entirely dependent closed in 1929, and the last known inhabitants left in 1934. Essentially all that remains of Wehrum today are shadowy remnants of some of the streets and various building foundations hidden in the woods. Wehrum is now one of the ghost towns included in Pennsylvania's Ghost Town Trail.
Wehrum was founded as a non-union company town in 1901 by Judge A. V. Barker and Warren Delano, maternal uncle of Franklin Roosevelt. It was named after Henry Wehrum, general manager of the Lackawanna Iron and Steel Company. The town was operated by a subsidiary, the Lackawanna Coal & Coke Company. The town plan had six north–south streets, all 60 feet wide, along with five cross streets and several alleys, and the town consisted of 250 houses, a bank, jail, hotel, company store, post office, school and two churches
The Lackawanna No. 4 mine was opened in 1902 at the site, and Lackawanna No. 3 was opened a short distance away at a small settlement known only as Lackawanna No. 3. In 1903, the Pennsylvania Railroad extended passenger service on its Ebensburg & Blacklick Branch from Vintondale past Wehrum.
The company invested over a million dollars in Wehrum and the town quickly developed. Coal from the Wehrum mines was shipped to Buffalo, Rochester, and Pittsburgh.
Operations in Wehrum experienced several accidents. In 1904, a gas explosion killed four miners. The coal washer burnt in 1906, leading to decreased activity until the washer was replaced the next year. In 1909, an explosion killed twenty-one miners.[2] The mines were eventually sold to the Bethlehem Mines Corporation in 1922, which unexpectedly closed the mines in 1929. Many of the houses were stripped for lumber, and the mine buildings were sold for scrap. By 1934 only one house, the school, and the jail remained."
from Wikipedia