A century ago, a professional football team from Pottsville, PA bulldozed its way to an NFL title - only to have the championship yanked away in one of the NFL's first great scandals. In this piece, I look back at the 1925 Pottsville Maroons and share a new 100th-anniversary excerpt from David Fleming’s Breaker Boys, the book that brought their story roaring back to life. Read the full story.
On April 7, 1933, changes to the Volstead Act allowed the sale of beer with up to 3.2% alcohol, marking the beginning of the end for Prohibition. In Tower City, PA, Frank Mione’s Café celebrated the occasion with an enthusiastic newspaper advertisement welcoming beer back to their business. Read the full story.
The Pottsville Republican newspaper delivered the news to Schuylkill County on January 17, 1920 that nationwide Prohibition had gone into effect at midnight. Read the story.
At midnight on April 7, 1933, whistles blew to celebrate the return of legalized beer in the heart of the Coal Region.
"Pottsville celebrated the advent of the new wet era with one of the driest evenings in its history."
A sweet dessert helped save America's oldest brewery from disappearing during Prohibition.
A reporter for the Hazleton Plain Speaker interview bootleggers to get a scoop on the booze situation in 1926.