Town of Blandburg, Blandburg, Cambria County, PA

See HABS PA-5973 for additional information on the refractories industry.
Written data includes photocopies of location maps, elevations & floor plans for some of the housing.
Significance: Blandburg was formally plotted in the same year the Cambria Fire Brick Company began construction of the Blandburg brickyard. About half the town proper was company-owned housing. The brickyard was purchased by the Harbison-Walker Refractories Company in 1895 and continued to operate until the company closed it in 1953. Although the brickyard was demolished, most of the company housing remains intact under private ownership. Blandburg is particularly important in the history of refractories industry towns because correspondence survives that documents a strike there against Harbison-Walker in 1903-04.
Survey number: HABS PA-5972
Building/structure dates: 1891 Initial Construction
Building/structure dates: 1891-1892 Subsequent Work
Building/structure dates: 1895-1930 Subsequent Work
Building/structure dates: 1950-1960 Subsequent Work