St. Marys, PA

[Evergrey]

I took these photos this summer. St. Marys is located in north-central PA in Elk County and is 14,000 people strong. It's workforce is primarily in manufacturing (powdered metals). St. Marys is famed for Straub Beer, former Pittsburgh Pirate relief pitcher Joe Beimel, MexAmerica tortillas and the only free-roaming elk herd east of the Mississippi. It's in a very remote and heavily wooded location... far from any major cities.

[PghUSA]

Those are some great shots Evergrey, haven't been up that way in a long while but seeing those pics I miss those small towns

[ZachariahDaMan]

Nice pictures, what's the building in the last one?

[Evergrey]

Nice pictures, what's the building in the last one?

That building's a beaut, eh? They sure knew how to make factories look great back in the day.

It's Pure Carbon Co.... I think they're known as Pure Powdered Metals now... St. Marys once had the interesting distinction of being the "Carbon Capial of the World" due to all the carbon produced there... now it's the center of the world's foremost Powdered Metal manufacturing region. Pure is one of several large powdered metal factories in St. Marys. There are also dozens of smaller operations in the area. Half of Elk County's labor force is in manufacturing!

[PAboyBJR70]

So THAT'S St. Marys, PA!

I always see it on the boxes of Sylvania Light Bulbs I buy. Is Sylvania a major employer there?

It's a very attractive town. Can't believe how much those neighborhood pics look like Scranton.

[Evergrey]

Yes... Sylvania is one of the major employers in St. Marys... it got its start in this area though its now headquartered near Boston. My mom worked at Sylvania for 20 years.

[PghUSA]

Oh I never made the connection with Sylvania. That is very interesting, so much of what we think of as a community--especially one of the 19th or 20th centuries like St. Mary's--is guided by how successful and charitable the local firm or firms were to it.

Too bad they moved to Boston (was it a buyout?), that whole area of NW Pennsylvania lost lots of its economic legacies in the last generation, Quaker State in Oil City, Sylvania, and just recently Adelphia. I hope in this next generation we can restore some of the rich financial legacies to that beautiful area of the commonwealth.