Yellow Dog Village, also know as Shadyside Village, is an abandoned limestone mining “company town” in western Pennsylvania. Built between 1915 - 1925, the village is now just a few streets with vacant and decaying homes, an old chapel, and a playground that appears to be the home to several horses.

Joseph Meyer has been the owner of this old town since late 2014 when he bought it for $220,000 and has big plans. I spoke with Joe when I came out to document this piece of history and he didn’t sound as positive about the future as what I had read prior to the visit. Joe said he wants to build a historical community, where visitors can stay overnight in the houses and experience early 20th century living. Mr. Meyer says he can’t get financing from the bank because they don’t see his vision of how this endeavor can make money. At this point, not even one house is in a livable condition and many of them have crumbling foundations and are completely uninhabitable.

Joe allows photographers and other curious visitors to explore the village for a price and a waver signature. But at $20 here and there, I don’t see Joe’s vision of a “Living History Museum” coming to fruition anytime soon. Joe and his daughter have a stable of horses that now have their run of the streets, yards, and playground.

Here is a bit of the Village history pulled from a 2015 TribLive article:
”According to Armstrong County historical records, Yellow Dog was built in the early 20th Century by the Pittsburgh Limestone Mining Co., which owned and operated the mine along Buffalo Creek. A nearby railroad transported the crushed stone and lime to feed the steel and construction industries.

The company built the village for its workers under a condition: Workers had to promise never to unionize. That agreement is what lies behind the village name.

After the company went bankrupt during the Great Depression, the village was bought and sold many times and underwent name changes. In recent years it was renamed Shady Side Village and later, MAK Square, before coming full circle back to the name it never really lost: Yellow Dog.”
https://triblive.com/news/armstrong/9150478-74/meyer-village-dog