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Pennsylvania Discussion! - Tons of Pictures
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania ( /ˌpɛnsɨlˈveɪnjə/ (help·info)) is a state located in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada to the north, and New Jersey to the east. The state's four most populous cities are, respectively, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Allentown and Erie. The state capital is Harrisburg.
Pennsylvania has 51 miles (82 km)[3] of coastline along Lake Erie and 57 miles (92 km)[4] of shoreline along the Delaware Estuary.
http://wikitravel.org/en/Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania [1] is a state in the eastern United States. It is known for its Revolutionary War-era historical sites like Valley Forge, its large cities like Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, its farming regions, some occupied by the Amish, and a (once)-strong industrial history. With equally large swaths of cities and towns as fields and mountains, Pennsylvania is a rich and varied state, as well as a worthy travel destination. Pennsylvania is bordered by the states of New Jersey, New York, Delaware, Maryland, West Virginia, and Ohio. The main cities are the aforementioned Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, along with other smaller cities such as Allentown, Erie, Reading, Bethlehem, and Scranton.
History
http://www.legis.state.pa.us/WU01/VC...pa_history.htm
http://www.theus50.com/pennsylvania/history.php
List of National Landmarks
Demographics
http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/42000.html
http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet...t=fph&pgsl=010
Ethnic Majority by County
Median Age
Race - White
Race - Black
Race - Asian
Race - American Indian
Race - Mixed
Race - Other
Geography
County Map
Region Maps
Major Cities
Philadelphia
Pittsburgh
Harrisburg(Capital)
[B]Allentown[/B]
Erie
[IMG]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e9/Presque_Isle_Pennsylvania_aerial_view.jpg
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Reading
Scranton
Bethlehem
Wilkes-Barre
Lancaster
Williamsport
*if you want me to add more ask, these are the ones that I personally decided as important*
Waterways
Susquehanna River
Delaware River
Lehigh Tributary of the Delaware River
Allegheny River
Monogahela River
Lake Erie
Mountain(Ranges)
Poconos
Allegheny Mountains
Valleys
Bald Eagle Valley
Lehigh Valley
Susquehanna Valley
Wyoming Valley
People
Historical Figures
William Penn(Born in England)
Benjamin Franklin(born in Boston)
Betsy Ross
Edgar Allan Poe
James Buchanan
Daniel Boone
John Dickinson
Thomas Mifflin
Elias Boudinot
Thomas Mckean
Samuel W. Pennypacker
Milton Hershey
Edward Goodrich Acheson
Louisa May Alcott
More Famous people
List of Governors
A few Smaller Towns/cities + a little village in my general area
Jim Thorpe(formerly Mauch Chunk)
Story of the old jailhouse in Jim Thorpe.The name Mauch Chunk (pronounced /ˌmɔːk ˈtʃʌŋk/), was dervied from the phrase "sleeping bear" in the language of the native Lenni Lenape people. [missing text][clarification needed] described from the local Bear Mountain which resembled a sleeping bear, was later founded in 1818 by the Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company. It rapidly became a railroad and coal-shipping center, and was home to the Mauch Chunk Switchback Gravity Railroad, generally acknowledged as the first roller coaster in the United States. The city was the location of the trial of the Molly Maguires in 1876, which resulted in the hanging of four men found guilty of murder.[2] The population in 1900 was 4,020; in 1910, it was 3,952.[3]
Following the 1953 death of renowned athlete and Olympic medal winner Jim Thorpe, the boroughs of Mauch Chunk and East Mauch Chunk merged and adopted the name of Jim Thorpe in hopes of attracting attention and tourism to bolster the local post-industrial economy. The township bought the athlete's remains from his third wife and erected a monument to the Oklahoma native, who began his sports career as a student in Carlisle, Pennsylvania (2 hours southwest, near Harrisburg).
1915 postcard showing a bird's eye view of the community
The history of the borough is inscribed in the architecture that makes up its many 19th century styles. Former resident and architectural historian Hans Egli noted the vast range of architectural styles: Federalist, Greek Revival, Second Empire, Romanesque Revival, Queen Anne and Richardsonian Romanesque. Most of these architectural examples remained intact beneath aluminum or vinyl siding that has since been removed.
Robert Venturi, renowned Philadelphia architect, conducted a little-known planning study in the 1970s that attempted to understand the dynamics of historicism and tourism, notions that have come into their own in contemporary times. While Venturi's planning study was unique at the time, it has since become a critical factor in Jim Thorpe's rebound as a functioning and economically stable community.[4] Jim Thorpe benefits from tourism initially spurred on by the celebration of its old architecture, which has developed new industries and modern creations. Two of these relative newcomers to the Jim Thorpe area are paintball and white water rafting.
Historical events forever entwined the town and the Molly Maguires. The city lies in the anthracite coal regions of Pennsylvania. When the Molly Maguires protested hazardous and unfair mining conditions by violence, the name of the two municipalities were Mauch Chunk and East Much Chunk. The towns had declined and, after Jim Thorpe died, widow Patricia promised them that, if they would built a monument to Thorpe, she’d help them improve their economic fortunes. Townspeople erected a memorial as a tombstone, merged and renamed the city Jim Thorpe.
In addition to hazardous and horrific working conditions, workers were paid in script, only redeemable at the company store. Rents in company housing where the miners were forced to live were high. Workers had to pay for their supplies and gear. Wages were low. Children were forced to work. Those who protested were fired.
The Molly Maguires and the Handprint, Cell 17
Attempts at unionization were quashed. A secret society, the Molly Maguires, was formed. Some believe that the name was taken from a secret society in Ireland; others, that it was the name of the wife of the first man who died in a mining accident.
Frank Gowen, chief of the Reading Railroad, wanted to destroy the group and hired Alan Pinkerton to help. The detective agency owner planted one of his men, James McPharlan, into the society to gather evidence. The agent found evidence that resulted in murder convictions and executions by hanging.
The Incident that Led to the Cell 17 Handprint
In 1877, four men, John Donahue, Edward Kelly, Michael Doyle and Alexander Campbell, were found guilty of the murder of mine boss John P. Jones and sentenced to be hanged.
Campbell said he was innocent. He didn’t kill Jones. Although he admitted to being an accessory to murder because he was present when Jones was shot, he was found to be guilty of this capital crime. As proof of innocence, he put his hand on the cell wall before being forcibly removed to be hanged, swearing the print would forever remain as evidence.
The Handprint on Jail Cell 17
Over the years, county sheriffs have tried to remove the handprint to no avail.
In 1930, Sheriff Biegler had the wall torn down and replaced. The next day, the handprint reappeared.
Around thirty years later, Sheriff Charles Neast covered the handprint with latex paint, but it reappeared. His son, Tom, in the 1960s, loved to tell friends about the ghostly phenomenon. Word spread and people visited the Carbon County Jail to see the print.
Attempts to wash the image away failed.
In recent years, James Starrs, George Washington University forensic scientist, and Jeff Kercheval, Hagerstown MD police chemist, analyzed the handprint using high tech equipment. They found no logical scientific explanation for the handprint’s existence. They finally measured the exact location of the image in the event it there were attempts to remove it and it reappeared, they would know if the phenomenon returned to the same location or a different one.
The jail’s last sheriff, Bill Juracka, said he wouldn’t try to remove the handprint.
The Jail Today Still Has the Handprint
The prison was closed and is now the Old Jail Museum. Tour guides show groups Cell # 17 where they can see the ghostly handprint. Campbell’s story is told. It is pointed that, although multiple attempts were made to remove the image, it always returned. Many of those who have visited the museum say the atmosphere is eerie.
Hazleton
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hazleto...lvania#History
Eckley's Miners' Village( uninhabited)
Eckley Miners' Village in eastern Pennsylvania is an anthracite coal mining patch town located near Hazleton, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, in the United States. Since 1970, Eckley has been owned and operated as a museum by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission.
Early years
Before the 1850s Eckley was not a mining town, but a rural, forested community called Shingletown. It was located on land owned by the Tench Coxe Estate. The inhabitants took advantage of the surrounding woodlands and made shingles to be sold in White Haven and Hazleton. These goods were traded for the necessities of life, such as “whiskey, port, and tobacco”.
Coal is discovered
In 1853, four prospectors came to Shingletown and found that the land contained several veins of coal. Within the year these four men, Richard Sharpe, Asa Foster, Francis Weiss and John Leisenring, formed Sharpe, Leisenring and Company, later known as Sharpe, Weiss, and Company. Judge Charles Coxe of Philadelphia, executor of the Tench Coxe Estate, granted the company a 20-year lease for the establishment and operation of a colliery on these 1,500 acres (6 km²) of land. In 1854 the company began work on this, the Council Ridge Colliery.
By autumn of 1854, the company had constructed a saw mill to provide lumber necessary for the colliery buildings, such as the breaker, stable, and store house. They also began building a village to house the colliery workers. The scattered forest dwellings of the residents of Shingletown were quickly replaced by two rows of red wooden frame houses with black trim. This new village was called Fillmore, presumably in honor of President Millard Fillmore who left office in 1853. Several years later, the company applied for a post office for their town and learned that a town in Centre County had already appropriated the name. As a result, the town was renamed Eckley in 1857 in honor of Judge Coxe’s eldest son, Eckley B. Coxe who was then 17 years old. In later years, Eckley Coxe, an engineer, became involved in the operations in the town of his name.
European Immigrants
The first residents of Eckley were mostly English and Welsh immigrants who came from the mines in Great Britain. There also were Germans living in the village who were brought to the colliery as engineers.
By the late 1850s and early 1860s these colliers were joined by groups of Irish farmers who had immigrated to America after the devastating potato famine in their homeland. The Irish were generally unskilled in the field of mining and so received the lowest-skilled, lowest-paying jobs. Over time, the Irish learned the skills of mining and moved into better-paying, higher-skilled jobs. By the time of the 1880s and 1890s the low-skill jobs were being taken by the new wave of immigrants from Eastern and Southern Europe. These groups included peoples from Slovakia, Poland, Ukraine, Lithuania, and Italy. Once again, the new immigrants took many years to develop the knowledge and skills to move into the higher-skilled positions in the colliery.
Many of these immigrants came to America expecting to work in the mines just long enough to save money, buy land, and return to the farming lifestyle they had known in Europe. Once they became part of the company-owned system, however, very few were able to escape the years of poverty and hardship that faced them.
Again if you want to add anything you can. Forgive me if I've forgot anything apparent.This thread is about anything relevant to Pennsylvania either in the state period, colonial period, or ancient and prehistoric ones. I hope for some nice discussion.
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Originally Posted by Stefan
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