V-J Day comes to Girardville | The Coal Region celebrates the end of World War II | 1945 When the news broke on August 15, 1945, Girardville took to the streets. This photograph captures the celebrations — and the moment a coal mining community exhaled after four years of war.
Martin Byrne arrived in Washington on August 6, 1861 and found a city locked down by mounted police, drilling soldiers, and the weight of a war gone badly wrong. He wrote home to say his health had never been better — and that he'd gained twenty pounds since leaving Carbondale. Read the letter.
New regiments, new volunteers | The Coal Region rebuilds the Union Army after Bull Run | 1861 After the disaster at Bull Run, the Union's three-year recruiting effort reached deep into the anthracite coal fields. Four new companies were forming at Mauch Chunk, a Hazleton coal operator was outfitting a regiment, and the war that everyone thought would be short was quickly escalating. Read the story.
When the 8th Pennsylvania's chaplain declared that bad army liquor should warn Civil War soldiers off drinking altogether, the editors of the Luzerne Union had a different takeaway — and used the opportunity to recommend their favorite local distillery. Read the story.
In 1902, journalist Lincoln Steffens profiled John Mitchell, the quiet, disciplined leader of the United Mine Workers of America, during the Great Coal Strike. Mitchell rejected demagoguery, insisting labor’s power rested on contracts, restraint, and honor - an approach that reshaped union leadership in the Coal Region and beyond. Read the full story.
In August 1905, mineworkers in Wilkes-Barre took to the streets under the banner of the United Mine Workers of America as union leader John Mitchell came to town. This photograph captures their parade through the city’s east end, marching down Maxwell Street toward the Jersey Central tracks, a show of strength just a few years after the hard-fought 1902 Coal Strike. Read the full story.
In August 1963, dozens of residents from Scranton traveled to Washington, DC for the March for Jobs and Freedom, witnessing Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech firsthand. Their reflections capture a powerful moment during the Civil Rights Movement that felt, as one attendee said, like “This is America.” Read the Full Story.
During the Great Railroad Strike of 1877, a Wilkes-Barre letter writer condemned corporate greed and the brutal suppression of striking workers, calling for solidarity among laborers. Published on August 1, 1877, the plea coincided with a deadly clash in Scranton, where militia fired on strikers, foreshadowing decades of labor struggles in the Coal Region. Read the full story and letter.
The first funerals following the East Brookside Disaster in 1913 marked a beginning of mourning rituals following Schuylkill County's deadliest mine disaster.
Three mineworkers were killed in their makeshift coal mine when the roof caved in during a 1934 mine accident.