Clymer, PA

Clymer is an Indiana County borough whose streets grew with the bituminous coal industry. William Clymer bought land in the area in 1776, yet the borough's rapid expansion came much later, when mines and related businesses drew workers. By 1907, roughly 400 buildings stood in the community, and Clymer incorporated in 1908. The 2020 census counted 1,336 residents. The borough sits within the rolling roads and former mine lands of western Pennsylvania's coal country.

The mining past remains part of Clymer's civic map. On August 26, 1926, an explosion at the Clearfield Bituminous Coal Company's Number 1 mine at Sample Run killed 44 of the 57 men working underground. The disaster helped spur the organization of the Clymer Volunteer Fire Company, which still responds to fires and emergencies. A memorial with the victims' names stands on the Borough Building lawn on Sixth Street. Clymer's municipal offices, fire company, churches, and homes now occupy a place shaped by that industrial history. The borough's story is carried through a surviving volunteer institution and a memorial that puts the cost of mining in the middle of town.