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