May 8, 2016 3 min read

It was not unusual for identical houses to be built in rows in “coal patches” – the villages that grew up around mines in Southwestern Pennsylvania in the early years of the 20th century. Some of those cookie-cutter houses are still standing today, but Observer-Reporter readers were unable to identify the sturdy, two-story clapboard buildings in this week’s Mystery Photo.

Some of our readers guessed the houses might have been built in Marianna or Vestaburg. One reader suggested the homes looked like those in Richeyville near the Vesta 4 Mine. Coon Island, just west of Claysville, was another guess.

Time did not allow us to visit all the places mentioned, but we were able to conduct a wild goose chase through Greene County.

We checked out some of the houses across from the entrance to the Emerald Mine south of Waynesburg. One of them was of similar construction and probable age, but there were certain architectural features of the house – like the location of the chimney – that eliminiated it as a possibility.

“I believe those houses are in Crucible,” wrote Vickie Wade in an email. “Bosses Row it was called.”

We found Bosses Road, which is just up the steep hill from Serbiantown along the Monongahela River. There are two rows of houses along the road, tightly spaced and similar in construction. But they are not the houses in the Mystery Photo. Not even close.

The houses in the photo appear to be substantial, and it would be surprising if none of them exists today. But it’s also possible a century of home-improvement projects might disguise them.

It’s also possible, according to one reader, they might not be where they were built.

“My dad was in the hauling business, first with horses and then with trucks,” said George Ashcraft of Monongahela. “He moved a lot of houses. They’d be at one coal mine, it would peter out, and he would move them to another mine.”

Most of the houses Ashcraft’s father, Harry, moved were one story, however. Ashcraft said once while moving a house, a workman remarked about what a shack it was. He was surprised when a woman appeared in the window and yelled it was not a shack, it was her home.

We welcome readers to continue their own investigation into these mystery houses. We’ll keep this file open.

Look for another Mystery Photo in next Monday’s Observer-Reporter.