Site of Avondale Mine Disaster
Plymouth, PA, Sept. 6, 1869
The Avondale mine was typical of American coal mines of the 1860’s. It had only one shaft for entry and exit. The shaft was lined with timber and had a breaker built of timber directly on top of it. This type of mine design had been banned in England a decade prior for safety reasons.
On the morning of September 6, 1869 the breaker and timber shaft caught fire, leaving all miners underground without means of escape. Once the flames were put out rescue teams descended into the mine, only to find all 108 miners dead. The town of Avondale was now home to 72 widows and 158 fatherless children.
This was the greatest mine disaster in the United States at that point and led the state of Pennsylvania to pass the first mine safety regulations in the country.
