By Matt Cumberledge
April, throughout history, has brought with it a great number of tragedies. Lincoln was assassinated on the 15th of April 1865, the Great Earthquake that devastated San Francisco occurred on April 18, 1906, the Titanic sank April 15, 1912. Even in more modern times Notre Dame cathedral in Paris was consumed by fire on April 15, 2019. Greene County too has experienced more than her fair share of tragedy in Aprils of years past.
The little village that is now Brave, in Wayne Township, Penna. has existed in some form since the early 1800s. It was mostly a small farming community in the early years, but in the 1850s, William Kent came to town, built a mill and later established a small store. Dent, as the town was known then, grew slowly over the years. The same families that settled in the area in the late 18th and early 19th centuries all still remained, however in 1905 a new world of change would hit the small town.
Thomas and James Hoy sold a parcel of three and a half acres located along the banks of Dunkard Creek to the Peoples Natural Gas Company. This insignificant parcel of land would become home to the largest gas pumping station in the world, known locally as “The Brave Station.”
Construction was underway by 1906. The site was chosen due to its proximity to the Lantz gas field, which was under development around the turn of the century, and it was also near a twenty-inch pipeline installed in the preceding years that connected the West Virginia gas fields to Pittsburgh. The area was ripe for development. A small but booming town would grow out around the “Brave Station” as she was built and provide homes for employees and their families.
The bricks used to build the station were made from clay found directly behind the construction site, on the south bank of Dunkard Creek. As the walls went up, large pieces of equipment and machinery were brought in on sleds driven by teams of horses. In 1910, a cooling system was installed in Dunkard Creek to keep the pipelines from overheating. That same year the Maple Grove School was built; this was the first of one of the many improvements brought to the town by the Peoples Natural Gas Company. The following year in 1911, Kent’s United Methodist Church was built, using the leftover bricks from the Brave Station.
The automobile industry was booming during this time period as well. In 1908, Henry Ford began production of the Model T, and by 1918, over 15 million had been sold, creating a huge increase in the demand for gasoline; as a result, in 1914 the Brave Station built a gasoline plant to process the gasoline that was a byproduct of natural gas.
These early years brought much prosperity to the once small hamlet known as Dent and now called Brave. The Brave Station made it possible for the town to see improvements such as electricity, running water, sewage, trash collection, streetlights and many other amenities we take for granted today. Many of the houses that still stand in Brave were built as company houses for the management and employees of the station.
Unfortunately, this booming town was soon to experience a great tragedy. At 11:30 AM on April 2, 1917, the loudest explosion ever heard in the tri-state area occurred. Reports of the explosion came from miles around. A shut off valve that linked the main plant with the nearby gasoline plant had failed. Unknown to the men repairing the valve, gasoline had been able to flow freely through the pipes and the friction resulting from the unrestricted flow caused the explosion.
Michael Wise was on the pipe that exploded; he miraculously survived when the explosion threw him into Dunkard Creek and allowed him to make it to safety of the far bank.
Jack Hoskinson, thrown nearly 70 feet, was able to get on his feet and was found at a spring nearly half a mile away, getting water. He was taken to his home where he died later that day due to severe burns. Pete Cumberledge was killed instantly due to severe burns; his death certificate sadly reads “burned to a crisp.” Charles Cain, Ira Cole, and John Roupe also were killed nearly instantly by severe burns.
Levi Barber Cumberledge, too, was burned in the explosion. He was not killed instantly, however; he was taken home and by 2PM he was under the care of his doctor, Charles Spragg. Nearly half of his body was charred by burns and he was experiencing shock. By 10PM that night, Levi had succumbed to his injuries.
Harry Ormiston was burned severely about the face and hands but survived his injuries, passing in 1950 at the age of 71. Rolley Cumberledge suffered burns to his face and hands but also survived; Joe McNeely and J. A. Hein survived similar injuries.
Nearly all of these men had spent their entire lives in Brave and were descendants of the first people to settle that area. Likewise, all of these men still have family and descendants living in town today.
This was not to spell the end for the Brave Station; by July 5th of that year the gasoline plant had been rebuilt and the local community began healing from the tragedy that took many of their sons, fathers and husbands. Brave continued to grow, and the roaring twenties looked highly upon the town. Four different stores operated in town, as well as several barbershops and even a hotel. An ice plant had been built in town and supplied the residents with ice for their ice boxes, and by 1928 a very modern four-room school had been built. All of these amenities were, at least in part, thanks to the presence of the Peoples Natural Gas Company.
This prosperity would last for a few more decades and by 1956, the Peoples Natural Gas Company had been a part of Brave for 50 years. Unfortunately, Peoples had been expanding into other areas and a pipeline was being built that would make the Brave Station obsolete when it was completed in 1958. By 1959, only 45 employees remained at the once thriving plant, and on September 28, 1959 the Brave Station closed for good.
From 1960 to 1963, the old Brave Station building was used as a warehouse for Mike Bell Wholesale Grocery; in 1964 Accurate Brass took over the building for their brass forging and fabrication operation. Though other businesses have taken over since Accurate Brass, the old Brave Station is used in the production of brass fittings. Even though Peoples Natural Gas has been gone for ages, the structure they built still remains an important part of the community as an employer and as a visual reminder of the prosperity of a once great town.