years ago as West Deer Township was approaching this significant birthday, the Park and Recreation Board was given the task of planning this coming celebration. The first step was recruiting and organizing a group of people who would dedicate them to this goal.

committee had its beginning in 1984, and after several changes in membership and leadership, emerged as an organized group with definite goals in mind.

Park and Recreation Board no longer exists, leaving the Anniversary Committee as a somewhat independent organization with support from the Board of Supervisors.

McDonald is chairman, Gladys Hess is secretary, Roberta Spichty is treasurer, and John Graff was appointed Historian. James Catherwood was put in charge of an auction to raise funds necessary to begin various programs. John Graff was placed in charge of producing a comprehensive history of the township with the help of George and Dorothy Voeckel. Graff had previously written a Masters Thesis on parts of West Deer’s history and the Voeckels were researching a history of Culmerville Nike LeBron 12 as a personal project. This book is the result of much labor on the part of this committee.

major goals are to arouse public interest for suggestions and participation, to give local residents an opportunity to demonstrate their talents and abilities, to promote better unity in all parts of the township, and to stimulate interest in local history and record and preserve that history for future generations.

has been one hundred and fifty years since the name West Deer was first applied to this area. Some phases of its history have appeared in other publications at one time or another. It is our attempt here, during this sesquicentennial, to gather all we can find that has been written and some that has not, and to put it together well enough so that our future generations may have a better understanding of how West Deer Township came about. We know that there will be errors, omissions, and other mistakes and we do apologize for them. It is our best effort and we hope that it is something that you will want to read, keep, and pass on to your descendents. The committee is grateful Air Jordan 15s to all who contributed and extends many thanks for their help.

of the research on the development of the mining towns was done for my Masters’ Thesis in the late 1950’s and served as a background for part of this history. It required another year’s part time work to complete it.

Culmerville Area section was started several years ago by Mrs. George (Dorothy) Voeckel as a personal project and was completed for this publication.

organization in West Deer was invited to submit its history and most of them did. However, a few did not and therefore their history is not included.

Family Histories section includes most of the families whose history appeared in the 1903 publication, “Memoirs of Allegheny County”, and was expanded to include a number of others. These others were families who had been in West Deer over a hundred years and had enough information available to include them. In some cases complete histories were already written and were printed as such.

advertising was solicited only from those individuals whose businesses or residences were in West Deer Township. An effort was made to contact all but some may have been missed.

this point in our community’s history, when we have paused to look back, let us for a moment appreciate the toils and tribulations of those who proceeded us and who laid the foundations of our community as we have it today. Their life was hard but it was not unfruitful. What they have given us must not be forgotten. It is called heritage. Now, it is up to us to pass it to our children. This book will help.

the farmers and coal miners, the housewives and merchants, the teachers, the preachers, and the senior citizens of West Deer have come the facts, fancies, and stories, which have made this book possible. It is now yours to pass to your descendents. Perhaps by the year 2036 Air Jordan 2010 one of your children will improve and update this record.

credit and many thanks goes to Dave Mathewson for his excellent work with the photographs. From faded pictures and fragile negatives he has produced most of the fine pictures in this publication. Clarence Monnier has let us use the valuable glass plate negatives which his father, Leonard Monnier, took perhaps eighty years ago. The Bessemer and Lake Erie Railroad generously permitted me to search their extensive photographic files and loaned negatives and pictures dating back to 1912 but mostly from 1921 to 1937. Mary Leggins loaned us a number of 1920 Curtisville pictures. There were many people who loaned or gave us a few pictures or wrote a historical account of their family or organization. James Norris helped make the aerial photos possible. Clarence and Mary Etta Monnier were helpful in locating many of the older homesteads and places of historical interest. The staff at the Township Office was very helpful in obtaining information, sending solicitations for organizational histories and advertising, financing the publication, and in typing manuscripts. Lisa Tomsko did much of the typing. The Culmerville Area history was prepared by Dorothy Voeckel who spent many hours on this work. Her husband George, a retired printer, helped with the publication. Judy McKrell spent many hours proof reading the manuscript. Shelby Hill did the artwork on the cover. This design also appears on the T shirts and other articles, which we have Air Jordan 17s sold. Donna Gizienski, Zora Carroll, and George Voeckel helped with the advertising. Roberta Spichty, our treasurer, had much work to do with the advanced orders for this book and in the record keeping for all orders.

entire Anniversary Committee worked to generate funds, helped to obtain pictures and printed material, and was responsible for the distribution Air Jordan 1 and sale of this book. To all who helped. Thank you!

let me introduce myself. My name is Ken Lewetag son of Ernest Lee Lewetag (a miner) and Victoria Baron (worked at Palmers and delivered milk from the “Barons” in Superior). My Grandfathers (Ernest J Lewetag and Stanislaw “Stine” Baron) were both miners as was their fathers. I was born in 1954 and lived in Russellton until 1965 when I moved to Oregon. I have always called West Deer my home and have remembered it fondly. My mother received a copy of this book from a relative in West Deer. In 1999 I began to research my roots and found this book and read it cover to cover several times. In March 2004 after many attempts I finally was able to contact Mrs. Dorothy Voeckel and Mrs. I explained that I would like to republish this document in an electronic form and possible in a printed form, which received their blessing

reason for this republishing, reprinting and electronic publication is that so few copies of this book are available to libraries and schools to research and learn about the coal mining regions of Pennsylvania; specifically of my hometown Russellton and those of my family in Superior and Curtisville. My hope is that by publishing this book in electronic form in addition to the printed version more acknowledgements of our little part of the word will be more wildly known.

much of the text of the original book was scanned and optical recognized there will be some errors. I have tried to keep these errors to a minimum but inevitably there will be some. If any errors are found please feel free to contact me so that I can correct these mistakes.

the advent of computerized publication, and the ability to better manipulate content, I have taken the liberty of slight reorganization the pictures and some text to help the electronic and print reader. Also I have some personal knowledge of events that directly related to my families (Lewetag, Baron and Scully), I have taken the liberty to add some comments where appropriate.

addition I have added a picture index to help researches more easily find this items within this book and make them also searchable items. We have attempted to add more information on the mines and the miners although they were not the first to live in Wes Deer they had a remarkable effect on our Township.

conversation with Mrs. Graff she told me of an additional picture book of the 150 year celebration and additional older photos that did not appear in the original book. She sent me a copy of this book and its older photos are also included in this book.

the main reason for republishing this book is for the use of the educational use, research, and the general public and not for commercial gain: Free usage of this publication and it’s content is allowed with credit given to the Anniversary committee. However NO part of this publication may be used for ANY commercial purpose without the express written consent of the publisher, contributor and myself.

those not from the area, there are five towns that can be confusing Russellton 1, Russellton 2, Curtisville 1, Curtisville 2 and Curtisville 3 (aka Bairdford). Russellton and Curtisville used without a 1 or 2 normally mean Russellton 1 and Curtisville 1 respectively. Russellton 2, Curtisville 2 and Curtisville 3 normally have the 2 or 3 attached.

of the pictures are scanned from the original book (s) and due to the limitations of the printing process I was limited in what I could with what was given to me. I did try and correct levels and compensate for some problems within the pictures to make viewing easier. I did crop several of the pictures and straighten them to make the object level or at the correct angles.

I would like to thank Dan Angeloni for additional and original versions of pictures without the help of Dan this book would not be near as rich in pictures and history.

I would like to thank Kenneth White and the Arch Dioceses of Pittsburgh for the picture of Transfiguration Church.

I would also like to thank the family and friends that took their time and supplied their photos and history as well.

To the miners we have tired to add as many pictures of the mines and the miners we were unable to find pictures of Russellton 1, Superior, and Bairdford mines.