A history of Donora,
since 1900
Postcards, papers and photographs of Donora from public archives, woven together by decade. Neighbors fill in the gaps.
The story
from WikipediaRead it all ↗In 1794, the Whiskey Insurrectionists held several meetings at Fells Church, approximately 1 mile (1.6 km) east of Donora.
A trolley line opened in Donora on December 15, 1901, linking First and McKean, and Fifteenth Street and Meldon. It was extended in 1911 to Black Diamond to connect to the Charleroi to Pittsburgh interurban trolley. The line was abandoned on May 5, 1953.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Timeline
built from the dates on the items belowFinish Donora’s story
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
4 of 10 decades since 1900 have photos 🔁Retake an old viewDonora, Washington County, Pennsy…, 1901: stand where they stood+15 📦Share a family photoSign in to add one+10Famous people from Donora
See all 17 →
Donora, decade by decade
1990s
2 historic places in Donora
Donora has 2 listings on the National Register, and they protect 80 historic buildings, because Cement City Historic District alone counts 80.
Where they are
When they were listed
Then & now
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as Donora, Washington County, Pennsylvania, 1901 (1901) and it appears here side by side.
🔁 Retake this view · +15Stories next door
nearby towns’ historyFrom Wikimedia Commons (6). Images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.