What exactly is a "Patch" town? (homes, money)

[sheena12]

I think there might be a Slovak Patch Town or the remnants of one, not far from where I live. Near me is a Slovak Mans Club which seems like a bar, a grocery store with what appears to be a Slovak name and a few Slovak Churches.

[Clark Park]

A good example of a patch town - preserved the way it would look more than a hundred years ago - is Eckley Miner's Village (now a "living history museum"). Not far from Eckley - a real town now but once a company patch town is the village of Jeddo, just outside Hazleton. The cheaply built wooden houses now have aluminum siding and other improvements, but you can still see it's just two or three streets of identical houses.

In the nineteenth century, immigrant coal miners were indeed nothing more than slaves. The coal company owned your house - which was usually a crummy cheaply built four room shack with an outhouse, you had to buy stuff from the company store, as a miner you worked very long hours at a back-breaking job, there were no benefits. If a miner died in a mine accident his dead body would be deposited at the front door of his widow's house and she and the family were given one week to vacate the property.

See the other thread here on "Anthracite Coal Miners."

[sheena12]

I have seen the thread and posted there too.
We visited Eckley Miner's Village once. It was nice but all of the buildings were locked so it was not exactly a living village, it was closed - except for the gift shop. which was up and running.

Is it always that way or did I visit on an off day?

Well I bought the DVD about the Molly Maguiers, but I wished that there had been a tour and that all of the buildings were not locked.

[Riverside4ever]

Originally Posted by Clark Park

A good example of a patch town - preserved the way it would look more than a hundred years ago - is Eckley Miner's Village (now a "living history museum"). Not far from Eckley - a real town now but once a company patch town is the village of Jeddo, just outside Hazleton. The cheaply built wooden houses now have aluminum siding and other improvements, but you can still see it's just two or three streets of identical houses.

In the nineteenth century, immigrant coal miners were indeed nothing more than slaves. The coal company owned your house - which was usually a crummy cheaply built four room shack with an outhouse, you had to buy stuff from the company store, as a miner you worked very long hours at a back-breaking job, there were no benefits. If a miner died in a mine accident his dead body would be deposited at the front door of his widow's house and she and the family were given one week to vacate the property.

See the other thread here on "Anthracite Coal Miners."

Wow Thats kinda rough living ...

[pkrplr1]

Originally Posted by Riverside4ever

Wow Thats kinda rough living ...

hence the molly mcguires i guess

[Magritte25]

Originally Posted by sheena12

I have seen the thread and posted there too.
We visited Eckley Miner's Village once. It was nice but all of the buildings were locked so it was not exactly a living village, it was closed - except for the gift shop. which was up and running.

Is it always that way or did I visit on an off day?

Well I bought the DVD about the Molly Maguiers, but I wished that there had been a tour and that all of the buildings were not locked.

It was that way when we visited three years ago. Too bad they don't have the money to restore the miners' homes.

[Clark Park]

Listen, folks: you gotta visit Eckley on those special weekends during the warmer months when most of the houses are open and there are costumed "interpreters" describing life in a coal mining patch town. I was there in late August and there were even Civil War reenactors present. Some of the houses that were open illustrated the way a lowly laborer would live, another one how a recently arrived immigrant miner would live, still another one how a senior miner who was 10 years on the job. There was also a house furnished and decorated in the style of the 1940s showing the improvements made for unionized miners, the doctor's house and office, and lastly the mansion of the mine owner.

Next time you go make sure all the houses are open and the interpreters are on, it will make for a much better experience.

[nkotb]

In Scranton, just slang for 'the other side of the tracks' lower hill section - was always known as 'the patch'

[crys_tyle08]

A "patch town" is the local name for company town. Those who said that they were built by mining companies to house miners and their families are correct. I'm not sure about Wilkes Barre "patch towns" but to give a few examples, Hazleton's are:
Beaver Meadows, Stockton, Milnesville, Tresckow, Freeland, Eckley, West Hazleton, Weatherly, and Jeddo (among others)

If you're familiar with any of these areas, you'd know that Jeddo, for example, is very small in size compared to Weatherly, or West Hazleton. Each of these areas is very different from each other if you think of them as being entirely separate from each other. Some of these aren't even really recognized as being not-Hazleton, unless of course you're up on your local history and/or you live in the "patch town". For instance, I never heard of the name Milnesville until I met someone who lived there. I had always thought it was just Hazleton/Hazle Township.

[crys_tyle08]

Originally Posted by Clark Park

Listen, folks: you gotta visit Eckley on those special weekends during the warmer months when most of the houses are open and there are costumed "interpreters" describing life in a coal mining patch town. I was there in late August and there were even Civil War reenactors present. Some of the houses that were open illustrated the way a lowly laborer would live, another one how a recently arrived immigrant miner would live, still another one how a senior miner who was 10 years on the job. There was also a house furnished and decorated in the style of the 1940s showing the improvements made for unionized miners, the doctor's house and office, and lastly the mansion of the mine owner.

Next time you go make sure all the houses are open and the interpreters are on, it will make for a much better experience.

My great-grandparents lived in one of those houses. When I was a child my great-grandmother still lived there (in the early 80's). I'm glad they're able to keep the museum going. That's a little slice of NEPA history right there. Definitely worth a visit.