Boswell, PA

Boswell is a Somerset County borough in the Johnstown metropolitan area, where the 2020 census counted 1,221 residents. Thomas Taylor Boswell came from Baltimore in 1900, bought several local farms, and formed the Merchants Coal Company of Baltimore. The company laid out a coal town around a deep mine, and Boswell incorporated as a borough on February 22, 1904.

At its peak, the Orenda Mine No. 1 employed more than 900 miners and produced over 3,000 tons of coal a day. The mine later became part of United Coal and Davis Coal before closing in 1939. Many streets honor coal company officials, while the town’s layout follows river names from the Allegheny and Ohio to the Mississippi, Gulf of Mexico, and Atlantic. Boswell’s brick homes, company store, bank, and historic district keep the mining-town plan visible. It remains a company town in its physical plan, even though the mine that gave it a name closed long ago. The Lincoln Highway and U.S. 219 connect it to the broader Somerset County landscape.