Dudley was the site of a double switchback on the Shoups Branch. Actually, Dudley was the name of the town on the southwest side of the valley and Barnettstown was the name of the town on the northeast side. Maps from the 1873 Huntingdon County Atlas.
"Barnettstown, so named after the former owner of the land here, is a mining village, which commenced at the time operations were begun in the old Barnet mine, near Dudley. During the prosperous times between 1860 and 1870 this village grew till it came to contain about forty houses. Of these many were vacant during the financial depression between 1870 and 1880. In addition to the dwelling-houses now here there is one store."1
"In 1859 what is now Dudley borough commenced as a village. At that time the land on which it stands belonged to L. T. Wattson, Orbison, Dorris & Co., and the Huntingdon and Broad Top Railroad Company. The completion of the railroad to this point gave to mining an impetus which resulted in the springing up of a village here. It was named Dudley, after a place of that name in England. It reached its greatest growth about 1864, after which time it slightly diminished in population until 1882, when an increase commenced. The borough contains thirty-five dwellings, and has two hotels, three stores, two millnery establishments, a tin shop, two blacksmith shops, and a railroad depot. It is the passenger terminus of the Huntingdon and Broad Top Railroad. Its population in 1880 was two hundred and three."1
The station presently located in the railroad park in Dudley is the relocated Broad Top City station.
1History of Huntingdon and Blair Counties, Pennsylvania by J. Simpson Africa Philadelphia, PA: Louis H. Everts, 1883, pp. 228-237.
 1873 atlas depiction of Dudley. |
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 Dudley tank in 1950. |
