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Views of the Old Mauch
Chunk Historic District
Streetscape photograph by Sue Pridemore, aerial
photograph from the National Register Collection,
historic photograph from 1896 courtesy of Library
of Congress Prints and Photographs Division [pan
6a19671] - Click here
for a high-resolution historic panorama view |
The town known
as Mauch Chunk changed its name in 1954 to honor the famous
Native American athlete, Jim Thorpe. Thorpe (1887-1953)
is buried here, in a 20-ton mausoleum, although he had
no ties to the town during his lifetime. Located in Carbon
County, along the Mauch Chunk Creek not far from the Lehigh
River, much of the town remains as it did when the coal
industry, railroad, and canal system came together to
create a wealthy town beginning in the 1820s. Situated
at the eastern end of the Southern Anthracite Coal Fields
in the Blue Ridge Mountain, Mauch Chunk boomed in the
mid-19th century, becoming a central transportation link
in the anthracite industry and the site of important transportation
innovations such as the bear trap lock designed by Josiah
White and the Mauch Chunk & Summit Hill Gravity Switchback
Railroad. The switchback railroad was the first railroad
constructed for the movement of coal in this country.
Mauch Chunk became a tourist town as the coal industry
died out; and the switchback became a tourist attraction
drawing people from urban areas along the east coast to
the country for a ride along the line. Today a 16-mile
trail exists along the former railroad bed. Other features
of the Mauch Chunk Historic District include St. Mark's
Episcopal Church, designated a National Historic Landmark
in 1977, and the Carbon County Jail, where10 members of
the Molly Maguires were jailed, tried, convicted and executed.
The Molly Maguires were a secret organization formed by
Irish immigrant coal miners who fought for better working
conditions in the coal fields of western Pennsylvania,
beginning in 1862. Twenty-four Molly Maguires were convicted
of murder in the fall of 1875, as a result of evidence
gathered by a Pinkerton detective, hired by the Philadelphia
& Reading Railroad. After the10 were executed in Mauch
Chunk, and the others sentenced to jail terms of two to
seven years, the organization was crushed.
The Old Mauch Chunk Historic District is located
on Broadway and Race Sts., in Jim Thorpe. Many of the
buildings in the district remain privately owned and
are not open to the public. However, public buildings
are open during business hours and several mansions
offer tours and museums. The Mauch Chunk Museum and
Cultural Center, located within the Mauch Chunk Historic
District, on 41 West Broadway St., is open all year,
10:00am to 4:00pm, every day, except Monday. There is
a fee. Groups by appointment. Please call 570-325-9190
for further information or visit the website.
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