Central City, PA

At about 2,200 feet, Central City sits high in Somerset County's Laurel Highlands, northeast of Somerset and within the Johnstown metropolitan area. The borough was founded in 1894 by Anthony Wechtenhiser along a projected Midland Railroad route into the coal fields. The railroad never reached the planned town, yet the name preserves the idea of a central position in a mountain network of valleys and gaps. Central City's setting still points toward work and movement beyond the borough: the region's coal history, the former rail connections to Johnstown, and the roads across Shade Township all meet in the story of this small highland place.

Shade-Central City schools organize current routines through their Cairnbrook elementary and junior-senior high campuses, with the district's calendar, athletics, concerts, and student events tying the surrounding communities together. St. Mary's Holy Assumption Orthodox Church carries the migration history into the present. Its parish grew among Slavic immigrants who worked in the bituminous coal fields; Reitz Coal Company built company homes and donated land for the church and cemetery in Shade Township. The church and cemetery tie the borough's current map to the mining and migration that shaped northern Somerset County. Central City comes into focus through its height, its failed railroad plan, and the school-and-church institutions that carry the mountain community's past into the present.