In 1875, a travel writer gazed down into Williams Valley near Tower City. Coal breakers loomed like "enormous black spectres," ridgelines fading blue toward the Susquehanna — the industrial and the sublime, side by side. Read the story.
In February 1945, a Schuylkill County anti-aircraft gunner wrote home from France, describing daily life near the front as the war neared its end. His letter offers a view of war-time service far from home. Read the full story.
On Halloween eve 1938, Orson Welles’ “War of the Worlds” sent Tower City, PA into panic. Families huddled to “go together,” eyes searched the sky, one man spent every dollar he had at a local store—and the West Schuylkill Herald took notes. Read the full story.
In 1938, Tower City residents opened the Herald newspaper to despair: The Brookside Colliery - lifeblood of their town - was shut down as “unsafe and unprofitable.” Pillars robbed, tunnels flooded, 1,200 jobs vanished; families turned to relief, WPA, and bootleg mining. The mining era in Williams Valley's history was coming to an end. Read the full story.
In 1877, coal dealers ventured deep into Schuylkill County’s Kalmia Colliery to witness Pennsylvania’s booming anthracite industry up close. Experience the sights, sounds, and gritty realities that shaped the Coal Region. 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.
Charles E. King traded Pennsylvania’s coal veins for Europe’s battlefields in 1918. Discover how this Williamstown miner-turned-cook served with artillery forces before returning home to build a life shaped by wartime experiences. Read the full story.
Discover the story behind a poignant 1977 photograph capturing an exhausted miner during rescue efforts at the Porter Tunnel disaster near Tower City. An unforgettable chapter Schuylkill County history. Read the full story.
In 1964, the West Schuylkill Herald featured Mrs. Mione’s classic Italian lasagna recipe, a staple at her family’s table in Tower City, PA. Decades later, Mione’s Pizza remains a beloved local institution, still serving up flavors rooted in tradition. Read the full story and recipe.
The first funerals following the East Brookside Disaster in 1913 marked a beginning of mourning rituals following Schuylkill County's deadliest mine disaster.