In December 1873, a 4,000 foot tunnel was completed through Big Lick Mountain in Dauphin County. Williamstown Tunnel opened up Bear Valley for profitable coal mining.
The completion of Williamstown Tunnel – 1873
Captain Richard Budd – Civil War veteran and pioneer of Williamstown
Budd served during the Civil War and later became a prominent citizen in Dauphin County's largest mining community.
Grievances of Williamstown miners against the Pennsylvania Railroad Company – 1886
"We are men and all we ask is to be treated as such," wrote the miners in a public letter published during their 1886 strike.
Interview with a survivor of the 1904 Williamstown Colliery Disaster
David Watkeys was pulled unconscious from the Williamstown Tunnel on May 25, 1904. He survived to tell his story.
The Williamstown Colliery Disaster of 1904
10 miners were killed when toxic gas from a locomotive filled Williamstown Tunnel on May 25, 1904
Video: A short history of Williamstown Tunnel in northern Dauphin County
Our first Facebook Live video gives a short history of Williamstown Tunnel at the southwestern border of the Coal Region
“A first-class breaker” – Photographs of Williamstown Colliery in the 1860s
Isaac Kunkel photographed the Williamstown Colliery in 1860s and documented the birth of a new town.
“An enduring monument” – A trip inside Williamstown’s opera house and public hall
A newspaper clipping from 1872 takes us into a long-demolished building at the heart of Williamstown, PA.
Then and Now: Williamstown’s Emergency Influenza Hospital
A modern walk to the places that saw the worst of the suffering during the 1918 Spanish Flu outbreak.
“The sweet strains of music were heard” – Memorial Day in Williamstown
Photographs taken on Memorial Day 1907 in Williamstown, Pennsylvania show a community commemorating its war dead.
