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Jake Wynn – Public Historian

Exploring the history of Pennsylvania’s Coal Region

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Williamstown

The Williamstown Colliery Disaster of 1904

Posted on May 25, 2019April 17, 2026 by Jake Wynn
Mine locomotives at Williamstown Colliery

10 miners were killed when toxic gas from a locomotive filled Williamstown Tunnel on May 25, 1904

Posted in Coal Region, WilliamstownTagged anthracite, Anthracite coal, Coal Region, Dauphin County, Disaster, Mine Disaster, Pennsylvania, Williams Valley, Williamstown, Williamstown Colliery4 Comments

Video: A short history of Williamstown Tunnel in northern Dauphin County

Posted on April 23, 2019April 24, 2019 by Jake Wynn
Williamstown Tunnel in the 1860s

Our first Facebook Live video gives a short history of Williamstown Tunnel at the southwestern border of the Coal Region

Posted in Anthracite mining, WilliamstownTagged Coal Region, Dauphin County, Facebook Live, Pennsylvania, Video, Williams Valley, Williamstown, Williamstown Colliery4 Comments

“A first-class breaker” – Photographs of Williamstown Colliery in the 1860s

Posted on April 5, 2019April 28, 2025 by Jake Wynn

Isaac Kunkel photographed the Williamstown Colliery in 1860s and documented the birth of a new town.

Posted in Anthracite mining, WilliamstownTagged anthracite, Coal Mining, Coal Region, Colliery, Dauphin County, Isaac Kunkel, Photograph, Summit Branch Railroad Company, Williams Valley, Williamstown, Williamstown Colliery3 Comments

“An enduring monument” – A trip inside Williamstown’s opera house and public hall

Posted on December 31, 2018March 25, 2025 by Jake Wynn

A newspaper clipping from 1872 takes us into a long-demolished building at the heart of Williamstown, PA.

Posted in Reflection, WilliamstownTagged 19th Century, Coal Region, Dauphin County, Newspaper, Pennsylvania, Photograph, Williams Valley, WilliamstownLeave a comment

Then and Now: Williamstown’s Emergency Influenza Hospital

Posted on November 27, 2018March 15, 2020 by Jake Wynn

A modern walk to the places that saw the worst of the suffering during the 1918 Spanish Flu outbreak.

Posted in Williams Valley, WilliamstownTagged 1918 Influenza Outbreak, Dauphin County, Influenza, Pennsylvania, Photograph, Then and Now, Williamstown, World War I5 Comments

“The sweet strains of music were heard” – Memorial Day in Williamstown

Posted on May 26, 2018May 26, 2018 by Jake Wynn

Photographs taken on Memorial Day 1907 in Williamstown, Pennsylvania show a community commemorating its war dead.

Posted in WilliamstownTagged 1907, Central Pennsylvania, Civil War, Coal Region, Dauphin County, Decoration Day, Memorial Day, Newspaper, Photograph, Veterans, Williams Valley, WilliamstownLeave a comment

“Big Lick” – Photographs from the 1860s show a Pennsylvania coal mine with an odd name

Posted on May 3, 2018April 15, 2018 by Jake Wynn

The images reveal pictures of industry growing on the side of Big Lick Mountain in Upper Dauphin County after the Civil War.

Posted in Uncategorized, WilliamstownTagged anthracite, Big Lick, Central Pennsylvania, Coal, Coal Mining, Coal Region, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, Williamstown3 Comments

Williamstown sailor recounts surviving a German U-boat attack, two weeks in a lifeboat in 1943

Posted on February 22, 2018December 12, 2018 by Jake Wynn

Jim Shurskis told the dramatic story of surviving his ship's sinking to students from Williamstown High School.

Posted in Williamstown, World War IITagged Central Pennsylvania, Dauphin County, Jim Shurskis, Magazine, Merchant Marine, Pennsylvania, Sigmund Shurskis, Williams Valley, Williamstown, World War 2, World War IILeave a comment

Williamstown Tunnel – A closer look at a Pennsylvania coal mine in the 1860s

Posted on February 1, 2018January 31, 2018 by Jake Wynn
Williamstown Tunnel in the 1860s

Williamstown Tunnel began shipping coal from Northern Dauphin County in 1866 and became the most prosperous coal mine in the state.

Posted in WilliamstownTagged anthracite, Anthracite coal, Civil War, Coal Mining, Coal Region, Dauphin County, Featured, Pennsylvania, Photograph, Upper End, Williamstown1 Comment

Williamstown High School football star killed in the Battle of the Bulge in 1945

Posted on January 4, 2018May 14, 2025 by Jake Wynn

Private Joe Cooper died in combat on January 4, 1945 near the village of Flamierge, Belgium.

Posted in Williamstown, World War IITagged Airborne, Battle of the Bulge, Belgium, Central Pennsylvania, Coal Region, Dauphin County, Featured, Football, Killed in action, Pennsylvania, Soldier, Williamstown, World War 2, World War II, WW2, WWII2 Comments

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