These two images show the decline of the anthracite coal industry in Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania in the 1930s.
The images show the Philadelphia and Reading Coal and Iron Company’s mine patch of Lorraine in East Norwegian Township near St. Clair.
The first image shows the patch in 1918.
The second, taken in 1938, shows the town mostly abandoned. The village was stripped by Schuylkill County residents during the Great Depression and by the time the photo was taken, only two of the original homes remained standing.
The mine nearby was abandoned in 1930 and left the village as mostly a ghost town.
Photos come from the Pennsylvania State Archives and the Library of Congress.
Read more about decline in the Coal Region
“A Town That Wouldn’t Say Die!” – Lykens, Pennsylvania in 1937
Lykens miners determined to save their workplace at historic Short Mountain Colliery | October 1933
“Abandoned as Unprofitable” – Williamstown Colliery Closes Forever
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