2023

Yellow Dog Mining Village

Located seven miles west of Kittanning, Pennsylvania, Yellow Dog Village is a semi-abandoned ghost town that offers a fascinating look into the industrial history of western Pennsylvania.

Throughout Pennsylvania, small communities were built as company towns for workers at nearby factories and mines. The Pittsburgh Limestone Company owned approximately 150 miles of limestone mines outside of Worthington, Pennsylvania, but the roads of the early 20th century and the distance from town made it difficult for workers to get to and from the mines on the banks of Buffalo Creek.

Wanting to improve productivity at the mines and prevent a union from forming, the mining company agreed to raise wages and build a community near the mines for their workers. Since a contract made between a company and its workers to ensure a union isn’t formed is known as a yellow dog contract, the village became known as Yellow Dog Village.

The homes at Yellow Dog Village were built in the 1910s and 1920s to provide housing for those that worked at the mine. Atop the hill, a large home was built for the mine’s manager, and the others were home to workers in the mines.

Since the property was a company town, the current owner, Joe Meyer, was able to purchase the entire village in late 2014. During his time owning the property, he lived in the mine manager’s house and worked to maintain the homes in their current condition and find funding to restore them to their past glory. In 2022, Meyer sold the village to another owner, who is also planning to fix up the village, though his long-term plans differ slightly from Meyer’s.

The property currently features 19 duplexes and single-family homes, the large manager’s home, and a boarding house.

When the limestone mines closed in the 1950s, it was the beginning of the end of Yellow Dog Village. Nevertheless, the village was still home to families, and it wasn’t until around 2010 that the last family moved out.

The final catalyst for the abandonment of Yellow Dog Village was the housing boom, which led to bad financial decisions, and ultimately the water being shut off at the property. To make money, anything of value was stripped from the homes, leaving them a sad shell of what they once were.

Between 2010 and 2014, the village sat abandoned and was heavily vandalized. Surprisingly, the vandalism did not include a significant amount of graffiti, which helped to preserve the historic charm of the village.

Even if the work required to fix up the homes is primarily cosmetic, there is a significant amount of cosmetic work that needs to be done to the homes to make them livable again.

While some homes are in better condition than others, most have an incredible amount of peeling paint, damaged flooring, and even smashed bathrooms.

While a few of the homes were obviously well cared for and the former residents removed all of their personal belongings, other homes look almost like someone walked out and didn’t take anything with them.

Fortunately, despite how bleak things look today, the current owner has a plan to bring life back to Yellow Dog Village.

The previous owner, who was a retired history teacher, bought the village with the goal of restoring it to its historic charm and providing a place for people to visit and experience what life was like in the 1920s. However, until funding comes through for this grand idea, Yellow Dog Village sits abandoned as a testament to life both in the 1920s and in the first decade of the 20th century. This unique combination makes it an incredibly fascinating place to explore.

I stayed at a Quality Inn in Kittaring, PA, which was about 15 minutes from the Yellow Dog Mining Village. For a motel, it was actually quite clean and nice. They even made an attempt at sausage gravy and biscuits - but the biscuit was as hard as a hockey puck.

The weather was decent, but I found myself wishing it had been cloudy because the sun caused a lot of exposure issues. I ended up bracketing some shots and combining them in Photoshop in order to reflect the full tonal range.

There were sheep walking around the property. One followed me for a bit yelling "Baaaah!" at me. I talked back to him. The sheep are clearly very used to being around random humans photographing the property.

It was a great location and I enjoyed it.