A memoir from the 1930s describes the hard life of a breaker boy in Civil War-era Schuylkill County.
A remembrance of a boyhood in Schuylkill County during the Civil War
Schuylkill County’s first Thanksgiving – November 27, 1845
A new tradition was born when Schuylkill County celebrated its first Thanksgiving in November 1845.
“The Youth owned the town” – Celebrating Halloween in Pottsville in 1893
Halloween could get pretty rowdy in the City of Pottsville in the 19th century.
Birds-eye View of Pottsville – 1889
The Schuylkill County seat got into the panoramic map craze in 1889, creating a fantastic resource available to modern researchers.
“Something more than a river” – The West Branch in “Sons of Molly Maguire”
Author Mark Bulik eloquently describes the labor wars that consumed Schuylkill County in the 1870s.
Violence in the Coal Region and the Molly Maguire conspiracy theory
An 1873 letter in the Boston Globe exhibits many signs of a Molly Maguire conspiracy theory in the Coal Region.
Port Carbon’s Soldiers Monument – Dedication on July 4, 1906
Port Carbon's Civil War monument was dedicated on July 4, 1906 to much fanfare.
“The hour of doom” – The Molly Maguire executions in Pottsville on June 21, 1877
A vivid account of the execution of six "Molly Maguires" at Pottsville on June 21, 1877
“The lonely valley was alive with workers” – The Mahanoy Valley in 1874
A newspaper correspondent gives a history of the mining industry in northern Schuylkill County.
“A reign of lawlessness” – A violent week in Schuylkill County in 1870
In April 1870, a widespread outbreak of violence across Schuylkill County shocked residents
