A group of Blair County volunteers is asking for help to restore Glen White, an abandoned coal mining town near the Horseshoe Curve, and turn it into a historical attraction.
Kevin Stiver is leading the restoration effort. He's an Altoona historian, and the author of “Glen White, PA: The Town that was Forgotten in the Allegheny Mountains.” He’s also the town’s self-proclaimed unofficial mayor.
“I gave myself the title in a unanimous vote of one, that one vote being my grandfather," Stiver said. His grandfather did not live in Glen White, but knows people who did.
Stiver says Glen White was a coal mining town about two miles from the Horseshoe Curve.
“They had coal mines and coke ovens, which they built in the 1890s," Stiver said. "And the product that was coming from the coke ovens was used in the Pittsburgh and Johnstown steel mills for the steel forging process.”
Stiver said the town’s original owners sold it to the Altoona Water Authority in the 1940s because of money mismanagement. The water authority gave residents a year to leave, and has continued to manage the property since.
Today, nature has mostly reclaimed Glen White. Some of its coke ovens still exist, but they’re in bad shape. Stiver hopes to change that. The Altoona Water Authority recently gave its permission to cut down the overgrowth, repair the coke ovens and place historical signs.
"So many people called that place home and lived and worked there," Stiver said. "And it really has a rich history of building America. The products coming from that really helped aid a lot of the industry movements that were going on at the time.”
Stiver said he’s talked to living descendants from the town who are happy to have its story told.
He hopes to have the first volunteer day sometime in March. So far, about a dozen people have signed up to help restore Glen White.
