Village History

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" rowspan="2" width=175 BGCOLOR="#FFFBF0" TEXT="#080000"> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> <B>Menu of Other Pages</B></div> <div> <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Alverton, Pennsylvania"><U><B><IMG SRC="03375130.gif" border=0 width="117" height="19" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id5.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The Alverton Cemetery"><U><B><IMG SRC="03975130.gif" border=0 width="117" height="19" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id7.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Burials ABCD"><U><B><IMG SRC="03775130.gif" border=0 width="117" height="19" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id2.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Village History"><U><B><IMG SRC="03875130.gif" border=0 width="117" height="19" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id3.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Civic Association"><U><B><IMG SRC="03575130.gif" border=0 width="117" height="19" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id4.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The Alverton Churches"><U><B><IMG SRC="03675130.gif" border=0 width="117" height="19" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A></div> <bR> </td> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=111 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="00b00720egerdp.jpg"> <div> <B>Alverton, Pennsylvania</B><B>  </B><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Times New Roman" ><B> </B></FONT></div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" height=369 colspan=2 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <I>Village History</I></div> <bR> <div> The first settlers to Alverton, located in <A HREF="http://www.livingplaces.com/PA/Westmoreland_County/East_Huntingdon_Township.html" TARGET="_blank" TITLE="http://www.livingplaces.com/PA/Westmorel"><U>East Huntingdon township</U></A> (organized in 1798), were Scotch-Irish who came from the eastern part of Pennsylvania; many of which were of German descent belonging to the Mennonite church.  Among the leading names were Overholt, Funk, Stauffer, Welty, Dillinger, Strohm, Ruth, Shupe, Sherrick, Loucks, Mumaw, Stoner, Fretts, Fox, etc., many of whose descendants are yet residents of this community.  The village was originally named Stonersville but due to other PA villages with the same name, in the late 1800s the US Post Office renamed the village as Alverton (<A HREF="http://www.akpm.org.uk/" TARGET="_blank" TITLE="http://www.akpm.org.uk/"><U>a small village near Nottingham, England</U></A>).</div> <div> Pictures of the old  <A HREF="id19_loucks.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Some old pictures"><U>Loucks Farm</U></A>  and   <A HREF="id19_stoner.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Some old pictures"><U>Stoner Farm</U></A></div> <div> Circa 1800 a Mennonite Meeting House was established at Stonersville and in the middle 1800's a new protestant denomination, Church of God, from the Harrisburg area established a congregation at the same location <A HREF="http://www.cbcog.org" TARGET="_blank" TITLE="http://www.cbcog.org"><U>(see www.cbcog.org)</U></A>.</div> <div> The Railroad Station was removed in the early 1900s but a <A HREF="id19_hotel.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Some old pictures"><U>Hotel</U></A> built in 1900 adjacent to the railroad is still in use as an apartment building.  Most of the stores and blacksmith shop that lined the main street have been torn down or destroyed by fire.</div> <div> In 1899 the area's <A HREF="id19_old_ehhs.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Some old pictures"><U>first  high school</U></A> was built in Alverton.  A four room, two story brick building with a central bell tower served in this capacity until a new <A HREF="id19_ehhs.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Some old pictures"><U>East Huntingdon High School</U></A><A HREF="id19_ehhs.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Some old pictures"><U> </U></A>was built in 1927.  The old high school was converted to an elementry school, grades 1 through 6 and the Elementary School converted to <A HREF="id19_old_ehes.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Some old pictures"><U>Industrial Arts/Home Ec building</U></A>.  Later in the 1950s a new Elementary School was built and soon thereafter a jointure with the Scottdale School District resulted the present <A HREF="http://www.southmoreland.net/" TARGET="_blank" TITLE="http://www.southmoreland.net/"><U>Southmoreland School District</U></A>, thus a <A HREF="id19_smhs_1.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Some old pictures"><U>new building</U></A><A HREF="id19_smhs_1.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Some old pictures"><U> </U></A>was erected across the road from the old building.</div> <bR> <div> In the 1900s many coal mines and a series of behive type coke ovens were established nearby.</div> <div> <B>Click here for link to</B><A HREF="http://patheoldminer.rootsweb.com/alverton.html" TARGET="_blank" TITLE="http://patheoldminer.rootsweb.com/alvert"><U><B> Alverton Mines</B></U></A><B> or </B><A HREF="http://www.coalcampusa.com/westpa/connellsville/alverton/alverton.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.coalcampusa.com/westpa/connel"><U><B>Alverton Coke Works</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="http://www.livingplaces.com/PA/Westmoreland_County/East_Huntingdon_Township.html" TARGET="_blank" TITLE="http://www.livingplaces.com/PA/Westmorel"><U><B>Click here for additional history of East Huntingdon Twp</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id19.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Some old pictures"><U><B>Click here for old </B></U></A><A HREF="id19.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Some old pictures"><U><B>pictures</B></U></A><B> of the</B><A HREF="id19.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Some old pictures"><U><B> village </B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <B><U> <A NAME="alverton_cemetery_history"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></U></B><B><U>ALVERTON CEMETERY HISTORY</U></B></div> <div> In the early 1800s a burial site at Stonersville was established adjacent to the Mennonite Meeting House - The Mennonite Cemetery Association.   The Cemetery Association was incorporated in 1878 and while the official corporate name has not changed the cemetery is presently more commonly known as the Alverton Cemetery Association <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >(DBA)</FONT>.</div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="http://www.alverton.info/Incorp.pdf" TARGET="_blank" TITLE="http://www.alverton.info/Incorp.pdf"><U>Click here to see original Articles of Incorporation from 1878.</U></A></div> <bR> <div> Pictured below is the largest monument in the cemetery - <B>The Dillinger Obelisk.</B></div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="788" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP ROWSPAN=2 HEIGHT= 236 WIDTH="249"><div> <IMG SRC="0fced3c0.jpg" border=0 width="237" height="316" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="4" VSPACE="0"></div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> The Dillinger Obelisk, Mennonite Cemetery, Alverton, PA.</div> <div> Photograph by Sam Komlenic, © 4-16-05</div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="528"><div> <IMG SRC="0e66ca70.jpg" border=0 width="108" height="167" ALIGN="LEFT" HSPACE="8" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> SAMUEL DILLINGER, a leading man of affairs in the early development of Westmoreland county, was a native of Pennsylvania, born in East Huntingdon township, Westmoreland county, October 28, 1810. He was of German descent in both parental lines and along with his sons, an active businessman of the area. </div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >   </FONT> <A HREF="http://www.geocities.com/kroverholtcritchfield/OverholtDillinger/OverholtDillinger.html" TARGET="_blank" TITLE="http://www.geocities.com/kroverholtcritc"><U>Click here for more info on Samuel Dillinger and his business enterprises</U></A></div> <bR> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="528"><bR> <div> It has been reported that it took 16 horses to pull the monument up the hill to its location</div> <bR> <bR> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>