Editing Rockwood, Pennsylvania (section)

==History==
[[File:Map of Mineral Point, Pennsylvania, from 1860 Somerset County Map by Edward L Walker.jpg|thumb|left|Mineral Point, Somerset County, Pennsylvania, 1860]]
[[File:Casselman River Bridge Construction Rockwood Pennsylvania from Baltimore & Ohio Employes Magazine June 1914 Vol 2 No 09 Page 06.jpg|thumb|left|Construction of Casselman River Bridge, Rockwood, PA, circa 1914]]
Rockwood was initially known as Shaff's Bridge and then Mineral Point.<ref name="WatermanWatkins">{{cite book|title=History of Bedford, Somerset and Fulton Counties, Pennsylvania|url=https://archive.org/details/pa-bedford-somerset-fulton-1884-waterman/page/n719/|year=1884|publisher=Waterman, Watkins & Co.|location=Chicago|page=542}}</ref> Philip Wolfersberger built a house in what is now Rockwood in 1856, and he laid out the town in 1857 with Martin Meyers serving as the primary surveyor.<ref name="WatermanWatkins" /> John Poister built a hotel in 1860.<ref name="WatermanWatkins" /> 1868 saw the development of a post office, Henry Werner built a tannery in 1869, and a railroad depot was built in 1871.<ref name="WatermanWatkins" />  J.D. Miller and E.D. Miller opened a mercantile, Miller & Bro., and in 1874 they expanded the business to take in Samuel A. Haines as a partner, forming Miller Bros. & Haines.<ref name="MillerBrosHaines">{{cite news |title=Copartnership Notice |url=https://panewsarchive.psu.edu/lccn/sn84026409/1874-04-01/ed-1/seq-3.pdf |access-date=21 October 2023 |work=Somerset Herald |date=1 April 1874}}</ref>

Philip Stauffer Wolfersberger, a son of the above Philip Wolfersberger, was a ticket agent of the [[Baltimore and Ohio Railroad|Baltimore & Ohio Railroad]] (B&O) and was instrumental in getting the current name of Rockwood to take hold.<ref name="WatermanWatkins" /> A view of Mineral Point / Rockwood appeared in a collection of photographs from along the B&O's lines that was published in book form in 1872 and digitized by the DeGolyer Library, [[Southern Methodist University]].<ref>{{cite book|title=Photographic Views of the Baltimore and Ohio Rail Road and Its Branches, From the Lakes to the Sea. First Series.|url=http://digitalcollections.smu.edu/cdm/singleitem/collection/nam/id/295/rec/63|year=1872|publisher=Cushings & Bailey|location=Baltimore}}</ref>

A collision between two trains on the Pittsburgh & Connellsville Railroad, occurring about three miles east of Rockwood, claimed six lives in November 1894.<ref name="SomersetHerald1894">{{cite news |title=A Terrible Collision |url=https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84026409/1894-11-14/ed-1/seq-3.pdf |newspaper=Somerset Herald |date=14 November 1894 |access-date=17 October 2020}}</ref> Eleven individuals were injured when two trains collided on the P&C line just outside of Rockwood on Dec. 29, 1898.<ref name="1898WreckNYT">{{cite news |title=Eleven Hurt in a Wreck |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1898/12/30/102530105.html?pageNumber=1 |access-date=28 October 2023 |work=[[The New York Times|New York Times]] |date=30 December 1898}}</ref> Another collision between two trains near Rockwood injured 24 people on February 16, 1912.<ref name="1912WreckNYT">{{cite news |title=24 Hurt in B&O Wreck |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1912/02/17/100518436.html?pageNumber=1 |access-date=28 October 2023 |work=[[The New York Times|New York Times]] |date=17 February 1912}}</ref>

The B&O Railroad was a major east-west transportation artery in the region, with many people using it to pass over the [[Appalachian Mountains]].  One exciting event occurred in 1907, when [[Theodore Roosevelt|President Theodore Roosevelt]] made a brief stop in Rockwood during his trip to [[Ohio]] to attend the funeral of [[Ida Saxton McKinley|Ida McKinley]], the wife of former [[William McKinley|U.S. President William McKinley]].<ref name="SomersetCountyStar1907">{{cite news |title=President Roosevelt in Rockwood |url=https://panewsarchive.psu.edu/lccn/sn86083421/1907-06-13/ed-1/seq-4.pdf |newspaper=Somerset County Star |date=13 June 1907 |access-date=21 October 2023}}</ref>  As the Rockwood community grew and prospered, the bustling town became the home of numerous Christian congregations.  As of 1914, at least five denominations had churches in Rockwood and the immediate vicinity: Lutheran, Methodist, Reformed, United Brethren, and United Evangelical.<ref name="RockwoodChurches1914">{{cite news |title=Sunday School Convention |url=https://panewsarchive.psu.edu/lccn/sn86082050/1914-08-27/ed-1/seq-4.pdf |access-date=16 October 2023 |work=Meyersdale Commercial |date=27 August 1914}}</ref>

The [[Baltimore and Ohio Railroad|Baltimore & Ohio Railroad]] passes through Rockwood as it bends northerly in a long bow about the roots of Mount Davis, and it is now owned and operated by [[CSX Transportation|CSX]], with daily Amtrak express trains between [[Pittsburgh]] and [[Cumberland, MD]] passing through the town and the nearby [[Cumberland Narrows]]. It is situated near and below the West slope-side summit-point of both the [[Nemacolin Trail]] and [[Braddock's Road]], as well as the railway as each ascended past the crest up through the [[Cumberland Narrows]] pass from the forks of the Potomac at [[Harper's Ferry]]. The town was thus an important stop over point in the post-American Revolution westward migration into the [[Ohio Country]] and via the river boats built in [[Brownsville, Pennsylvania|Brownsville]]. The [[Penrose Wolf Building]] was added to the [[National Register of Historic Places]] in 2002.<ref name="nris">{{NRISref|version=2010a}}</ref>

===Somerset & Mineral Point Railroad / Somerset & Cambria Branch / Rockwood & Johnstown Line===
[[File:Map of Rockwood, Pennsylvania, area from 1915 Somerset County Public Road Map by Ralph C Benedict and Gustave P Strum.jpg|thumb|left|Rockwood, Somerset County, Pennsylvania, 1915]]
The Somerset & Mineral Point Railroad connected the town of [[Somerset, Pennsylvania|Somerset]] with the Pittsburgh & Connellsville Railroad (owned by the B&O) as it passed through Mineral Point / Rockwood.<ref name="WatermanWatkins2">{{cite book|title=History of Bedford, Somerset and Fulton Counties, Pennsylvania|url=https://archive.org/details/pa-bedford-somerset-fulton-1884-waterman/page/n180/|year=1884|publisher=Waterman, Watkins & Co.|location=Chicago|page=180}}</ref> (The Somerset & Mineral Point Railroad is labelled as the Rockwood & Johnstown Line on the accompanying section of Benedict & Strum's 1915 Somerset County public road map). Both the Somerset & Mineral Point Railroad and the Pittsburgh & Connellsville Railroad were completed in 1871;<ref name="PATrailHistory">{{cite book|last=Treese|first=Lorett|title=Somerset Historical Center: Pennsylvania Trail of History Guide|year=2004|publisher=Stackpole Books|location=Mechanicsburg, PA|page=15}}</ref> the final section of the line between Pittsburgh & Cumberland was completed on the afternoon of April 10, 1871,<ref name="BaerChristopherT">{{cite web |last1=Baer |first1=Christopher T. |title=A General Chronology of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, Its Predecessors and Successors, and Its Historical Context: 1871 |url=http://www.prrths.com/newprr_files/Hagley/PRR1871.pdf |publisher=Pennsylvania Railroad Technical & Historical Society |access-date=January 23, 2021}}</ref> with the final rail being laid near Forge Bridge, about 3 miles to the west of Mineral Point.<ref name="WatermanWatkins2" /><ref>{{cite news | title=Pittsburgh Secures Direct Railroad Communication with Baltimore | newspaper=[[Chicago Tribune]] | date=April 11, 1871 | access-date=October 16, 2020 | url=https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn82014064/1871-04-11/ed-1/seq-1.pdf }}</ref> There were eight stations located along the Somerset & Mineral Point line as it ran northeast along Coxes Creek: Mineral Point, Sames, Baker's, Milford, Mud Pike Crossing, Roberts, Cantner, and Somerset.<ref name="SecondGeologicalSurvey">{{cite book|last=Platt & Platt|first=Franklin & W.G.|title=Report of Progress in the Cambria and Somerset District of the Bituminous Coal-Fields of Western Pennsylvania. Part II: Somerset|url=https://archive.org/details/reportofprogress00plat_3/page/n23/|year=1877|publisher=Board of Commissioners, Second Geological Survey of Pennsylvania|location=Harrisburg, PA|page=xvi}}</ref> Two individuals who were involved in the founding of [[Ursina, Pennsylvania|Ursina]], which had its own small branch railroad further south in Somerset County, were officers of the Somerset & Mineral Point Railroad in 1873: William J. Baer was President and H.L. Baer was Secretary.<ref>{{cite book|last=Poor|first=Henry V.|title=Manual of the Railroads of the United States for 1873-74|year=1873|publisher=H.V. & H.W. Poor|location=New York|page=506}}</ref> The B&O bought the 10-mile Somerset & Mineral Point Railroad in 1879 for $60,000, knowing that an extension of the line to [[Johnstown, Pennsylvania]], in [[Cambria County, Pennsylvania|Cambria County]], was quite possible;<ref name="CommercialFinancial">{{cite news|title=Baltimore & Ohio|url=https://fraser.stlouisfed.org/title/1339/item/528455/content/pdf/cfc_18790906_1|newspaper=[[Commercial & Financial Chronicle]], Vol. 29, No. 741|date=September 6, 1879|access-date=May 17, 2020}}</ref> this extension had already received legislative approval with session law no. 321 on Aug. 12, 1873.<ref name="ConstitutionLaws">{{cite book|title=Constitution of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania: Also Laws of the General Assembly of Said Commonwealth Passed at the Session of 1874, in the Ninety-Eighth Year of Independence|url=https://archive.org/details/lawsenactedinge30unkngoog/page/n434/|year=1874|publisher=Benjamin Singerly|location=Harrisburg, PA|pages=432–433}}</ref> The Johnstown & Somerset Railroad followed the [[Stonycreek River|Stonycreek valley]] north-by-northeast from Somerset through [[Stoystown, Pennsylvania|Stoystown]] to Johnstown;<ref name="WatermanWatkins2" /> it was built in 1881.<ref name="PATrailHistory" /> The result was a rail line known as the Somerset & Cambria Branch Railroad stretching between the Pittsburgh & Connellsville Railroad at Rockwood and the [[Pennsylvania Railroad]] at Johnstown.<ref name="WatermanWatkins2" /> The Somerset & Cambria Branch later became known as the [[S&C Subdivision]].

===Company Branch Railroad Lines===
In 1891 the Somerset Stone Company built a branch line from the Somerset & Cambria railroad's station at Milford east to its operation at Bare Rocks,<ref name="SomersetHerald1891">{{cite news |title=Thinks the Boom Is Booming |url=https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84026409/1891-06-10/ed-1/seq-3.pdf |newspaper=Somerset Herald |date=10 June 1891 |access-date=18 October 2020}}</ref> and the Bare Rock Rail Road Company was incorporated by John Murdock, J.M. Murdock, W.F. Murdock, J.C. Duncan, Samuel Fox, Josiah Woy, E.B. McColly, and S.F. Gill in 1892.<ref name="BareRockRRIncorporated">{{cite news |title=[Messrs. John, J.M. and W.F. Murdock] |url=https://panewsarchive.psu.edu/lccn/sn86083421/1892-12-01/ed-1/seq-8.pdf |access-date=29 October 2023 |work=Somerset County Star |date=1 December 1892}}</ref> This connecting Milford Station was also known as Woy Station, where Harry Neff was the telegraph operator and Jacob Neff was the engineer of the Bare Rock line in 1893.<ref name="WoyStation">{{cite news |title=[The officials of the B&O] |url=https://panewsarchive.psu.edu/lccn/sn86083421/1893-01-12/ed-1/seq-8.pdf |access-date=29 October 2023 |work=Somerset County Star |date=12 January 1893}}</ref> A tragic accident occurred along this company line on the evening of April 25, 1893, killing several people.<ref name="SomersetHerald1893">{{cite news |title=Frightful Accident |url=https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84026409/1893-04-26/ed-1/seq-3.pdf |newspaper=Somerset Herald |date=26 April 1893 |access-date=18 October 2020}}</ref><ref name="SomersetCountyStar1893">{{cite news |title=Horrible Railroad Wreck Near Somerset |url=https://panewsarchive.psu.edu/lccn/sn86083421/1893-04-27/ed-1/seq-8.pdf |access-date=30 October 2023 |work=Somerset County Star |date=27 April 1893}}</ref> In 1900 the Wilson Creek Coal Company constructed another branch railroad off of the Somerset & Cambria; this company line ran from about one mile north of Rockwood to its mining property about three miles to the east, following the course of Wilson Creek.<ref name="SomersetHerald1900">{{cite news |title=A Charter Was Granted |url=https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84026409/1900-05-30/ed-1/seq-4.pdf |newspaper=Somerset Herald |date=30 May 1900 |access-date=17 October 2020}}</ref><ref name="WCCCRRCompleted">{{cite news |title=A Few from the Somerset Standard |url=https://panewsarchive.psu.edu/lccn/sn86083421/1900-09-06/ed-1/seq-4.pdf |access-date=29 October 2023 |work=Somerset County Star |date=6 September 1900}}</ref>