Darragh is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

in Hempfield Township, Westmoreland County,

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

, United States. Originally a

coal town A coal town, also known as a coal camp or patch, is a type of company town or mining community established by the employer, a mining company, which imports workers to the site to work the mineral find. The company develops it and provides reside ...

, the community is located along

Pennsylvania Route 136 Pennsylvania Route 136 (PA 136) is a state highway located in Washington, Allegheny, and Westmoreland counties in Pennsylvania. The western terminus is at US 40 and PA 18 in Washington. The eastern terminus is at US 30 in Greensburg. PA&n ...

, west of Arona. Darragh has a

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letter (message), letters and parcel (package), parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post o ...

, with ZIP code 15625, which opened on July 21, 1892.

History

The Madison Coal Gas Company of Greensburg, Pennsylvania established Darragh in 1890 to support the nearby Madison coal mine. Darragh eventually became the center of operations for the Keystone Coal and Coke Company's operations in the area of Little Sewickley Creek. These included the Madison, Arona, Sewickley and Keystone Shaft mines, which employed about 1,000 people. Darragh's population peaked near the end of the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, when the four Keystone mines reached their highest production levels. By 1925, the Madison, Arona and Sewickley mines had ceased operations. The Keystone Shaft mine closed in the mid-1930s. By 1938, Keystone Coal and Coke had withdrawn from Darragh.

References

{{authority control Unincorporated communities in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania Unincorporated communities in Pennsylvania