Windber, Pennsylvania
| Windber, Pennsylvania | |
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| Borough | |
Municipal building
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| Coordinates: 40°14′07″N 78°49′51″W / 40.23528°N 78.83083°WCoordinates: 40°14′07″N 78°49′51″W / 40.23528°N 78.83083°W | |
| Country | United States |
| State | Pennsylvania |
| County | Somerset |
| Settled | 1897 |
| Incorporated | July 3, 1900 |
| Government | |
| • Type | Borough Council |
| • Mayor | Scott Penrod |
| Area | |
| • Total | 2.1 sq mi (5 km2) |
| Population (2010) | |
| • Total | 4,138 |
| • Density | 2,118.8/sq mi (818.1/km2) |
| Time zone | Eastern (EST) (UTC-5) |
| • Summer (DST) | EDT (UTC-4) |
| Zip code | 15963 |
| Area code(s) | 814 Exchange: 467 |
| Website | Windber Borough |
Windber is a borough in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, eight miles (13 km) south of Johnstown. It was at one time a place of industrial activities which included coal mining, lumbering, and the manufacture of fire brick. In 1897, the community was founded by coal barons Charles and Edward Julius Berwind owners of the Berwind Corporation. 8,013 people lived in Windber in 1910 and 9,057 in 1940; the population was 4,138 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Johnstown, Pennsylvania Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Windber started as a company town for nearby coal mines. The Berwind-White Coal Mining Company imported workers from eastern and southern Europe and exploited ethnic divisions in the area (which had been settled by Germans and Irish in the 19th century). On Good Friday 1922, coal miners walked out of the mines in Windber and several nearby locations in Somerset County, attempting to force the mine owners to recognized their United Mine Workers union, as well as accurately weigh the coal they mined. The company employed legal tactics (the United States Supreme Court decided two lawsuits) as well as strike-breakers, but the miners received considerable favorable national publicity and local support and held out until the end of the following summer. However, the UMW successfully organized the mines during 1933, after the Great Depression led to the election of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
The Windber Historic District was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1991.
Frank Kush, all-American football lineman at Michigan State who achieved distinction (and later controversy) as head coach of the Arizona State college football team and Hamilton Tiger-Cats of the Canadian Football League was born and raised in Windber.
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Wikipedia