An election night murder in Tremont, Pennsylvania | 1864

Main Street in Tremont Pennsylvania Jake Wynn Public Historian Schuylkill County Coal Region history

On Election Night 1864, politics turned deadly in Tremont, PA. After Schuylkill County voters re-elected Congressman Myer Strouse, a band of Irish mineworkers—calling themselves the “Bloody 69th”—paraded through town. Hours later, 25-year-old George W. Thompson was beaten to death. No one was ever tried. This is the Coal Region’s volatile Civil War era—press bias, ethnic tension, and justice denied—told through one forgotten murder. Read the full story.

Schuylkill County soldier killed at the Battle of Peebles Farm | September 1864

Grave of Jacob Shade at Union Cemetery in Sacramento, PA Civil War Petersburg Jake Wynn Public Historian

In September 1864, Schuylkill County’s Jacob Shade was killed at the Battle of Peebles Farm during the Siege of Petersburg. A 30-year-old laborer turned soldier, Shade left behind a widow and children—one of hundreds from the Coal Region who gave their lives for the Union during the Civil War. Read the full story.

A Schuylkill County soldier’s photograph | July 1942

Harry Kimmel of Donaldson, PA Schuylkill County soldier in World War II

A photograph of Corporal Harry Kimmel appeared in a July 1942 edition of the West Schuylkill Press-Herald of Tremont, PA. Learn more about the World War II soldier from Donaldson, PA. Read the full story.

Remembering the local emergency response to the Porter Tunnel Disaster | March 1977

On March 1, 1977, water poured into the Porter Tunnel mine in western Schuylkill County. Emergency crews raced to the scene.

Letters from War – A meeting of Schuylkill County natives on the front lines in Europe, December 1944

A letter from Corporal Irvin Schwartz from December 1944 is excerpted in the West Schuylkill Press-Herald.

Letters from War – The West Schuylkill Press-Herald reports on a soldier’s 1944 visit to war-time London

The West Schuylkill Press-Herald summarized what Irvin Schwartz reported seeing in the bomb-damaged capital of Great Britain in March 1944.

Letters from War – A high school sports pundit from a US Army base in England, January 1944

In a letter written on January 30, 1944, Pfc. Irvin Schwartz opined on high school basketball in his native Schuylkill County.

Letters from War – Irvin Schwartz’s Farewell Column for the West Schuylkill Press in 1943

In this prologue to our "Letters from War" series, newspaper columnist Irvin Schwartz pens his farewell in May 1943.

A Nazi propaganda magazine from 1945 featured photographs of a Schuylkill County mining operation

A soldier from Schuylkill County was stunned when he found photographs from the Pennsylvania Coal Region in a magazine published in Nazi Germany.