Bennington Cemetery - Blair County, PA
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Smoketr
N 40° 28.884 W 078° 31.386
17T E 709945 N 4484137
The town of Bennington was a railroad town during the late 1880's and early 1900's. It was abandoned in the early 1900's when the Red Arrow train jumped the tracks. The only remains are the cemetery.
Waymark Code: WM8EWT
Location: Pennsylvania, United States
Date Posted: 03/23/2010
Views: 25
Bennington a coal mining and railroad village was located one half mile east of the Gallitzin tunnels, on the Pennsylvania Railroads mainline. The village of Bennington was first erected during the construction of the Gallitzin tunnels. Bennington began as a shantytown. Irish and other immigrant labor erected these shelters in order to have a place to live near the tunnel project. These tunnels were hand dug by Irish laborers for a distance of 3,650 feet through the Allegheny Mountains. Bennington was also home to coal miners who dug coal across the valley from Bennington. The Pennsylvania Railroad at that time owned a coal mining operations in order to supply coal for the railroad. There was coke ovens located in Bennington and the iron ore was smelted in glowing coke ovens that line the country road running from Bennington to present day Gallitzin. You can still see them, in place, to this day. The winters are severe on the Allegheny Mountains of Central Pennsylvania. Particularly difficult to life in Bennington was the remoteness of the village. In the 1947s, the only way to Bennington and Gallitzin was by railroad. The old Sugar Run Road was impassable due to the severity of the winters in this region. On Feb.18, 1947. Twenty-four people lost their lives and 131 were injuring when the Red Arrow, a Pennsylvania Railroad express passenger train, jumped off the track on the Bennington Curve near Altoona, Pennsylvania and tumbled down a large hill.. After a brief inquire in to the accident there was no official explanation of the wreck. However, a doctor who examined the Red Arrow's 62-year-old Engineman F. B. Yentzler after the wreck reported that he was suffering from what appeared to be a cataract, and from all initial tests, was virtually blind in his right eye. He did see the Philadelphia-bound Pittsburgh Night Express—which was running 48 minutes late on the same track—had been stopped up ahead by a block signal near the station at Bryn Mawr. The town died out soon after this incident. Submitted by Kent and Julia.
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