Coal Region

The Coal Region is a term used to refer to an area of Northeastern Pennsylvania in the central Appalachian Mountains comprising Lackawanna, Luzerne, Columbia, Carbon, Schuylkill, and Northumberland County, Pennsylvania.

The region's population was 890,121 people as of the most recent census. Many of the names in the region are from the Delaware Indians or Lenapes and Susquehanna native American Indians. The region is home to the largest known deposits of anthracite coal found in the Americas, with an estimated reserve of seven billion short tons (PA DEP Website). It is these deposits that provide the region with its nickname. In the lower Anthracite coal region, Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, the discovery of anthracite coal was first made.

Geography

The Region lies north of the Lehigh Valley and Berks County Regions, south of the Endless Mountains, west of the Pocono Mountains, and east of the Susquehanna Valley, though the Susquehanna River passes through the Wyoming Valley located within the coal region in the central Appalachian Mountains. The Wyoming Valley is the most densely populated area of the region, containing the cities of Wilkes-Barre and Scranton. Hazleton and Pottsville are two of the larger cities in the southern portion of the region. The headwaters of the Lehigh and Schuylkill Rivers both lie within the region.

History and miscellany

Settlement in the region predates the American Revolution, however the discovery of the anthracite coal for which it is named did not occur until the early nineteenth century. Population rapidly grew in the period following the American Civil War, with the expansion of the mining and railroad industries. Polish, Irish, Italian, German, and Russian immigrants formed a large portion of this increase, followed by Welsh, Slovak, Ruthenian, Ukrainian, Hungarian, Slavic, and Lithuanian immigrants. The influence of these immigrant populations is still strongly felt in the region, with various towns possessing pronounced ethnic characters and ethnic food.

The anthracite mining industry loomed over much of the region until its decline in the 1950s. Strip mines and evidence of mine fires such as the Centralia, Pennsylvania mine fire are still visible throughout much of the area. Several of the more violent incidences in the history of the US labor movement occurred within the coal region as this was the location Lattimer Massacre and the home of the Molly Maguires.

The Knox Mine Disaster in 1959 essentially served as the death knell for deep mining within the region; almost all current anthracite mining is done via strip mining. Tours of a deep mine can be taken in Ashland, Pennsylvania where there is also a museum dedicated to the mining industry.

Also evident are "patch towns", small villages affiliated with a particular mine. These small towns, with populations typically less than 500, were solely owned by the mine; the resident miners were tenants, the general store was owned by the mining concern, and police were mine employees whose most prominent charge was to protect the coal from theft by the residents. Though no longer company owned, many such hamlets survive; one of them, the Eckley Miners' Village, is a historical park owned and administered by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, which seeks to restore patch towns to their original state.

Famous people from the Coal Region

• Joe Biden - U.S. Senator.
• David Bohm - quantum physicist.
• Ben Burnley - lead singer of rock band Breaking Benjamin.
• George Catlin - artist.
• P. J. Carlesimo, professional basketball coach, San Antonio Spurs.
• Robert P. Casey, former Governor of Pennsylvania.
• Bob Casey, Jr., U.S. Senator.
• Anthony P. Damato - United States Marine, Medal of Honor recipient.
• Jimmy Dorsey - jazz clarinetist, saxophonist, big band leader.
• Tommy Dorsey- jazz trombonist, big band leader.
• Ellen Albertini Dow - actress, The Wedding Singer's Rapping Granny
• Ham Fisher - cartoonist.
• Alexander Joseph Foley - United States Marine, Medal of Honor recipient.
• Howard Gardner - scientist, author.
• James M. Gavin - Lieutenant General, United States Army.
• Jane Jacobs - sociologist, author.
• Russell Johnson - actor.
• Paul E. Kanjorski - Member of Congress.
• Jean Kerr - author.
• Matthew Lesko - infomercial personality.
• Edward B. Lewis - Nobel Prize-winning scientist.
• Christy Mathewson - former professional baseball player, New York Giants (now the San Francisco Giants).
• Joseph L. Mankiewicz - film director, producer, and screenwriter.
• Richard Marcinko - Navy seal, author.
• Mary McDonnell - actress.
• Gerry McNamara - college basketball player, Syracuse University.
• Jason Miller - Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright, actor.
• Mike Munchak, professional football coach, Tennessee Titans, former professional football player, Houston Oilers.
• Jozef Murgaš - radio pioneer.
• Amedeo Obici - founder of Planters Peanuts Company.
• John O'Hara - author.
• Jack Palance - actor.
• William Daniel Phillips - Nobel Prize-prize winning scientist.
• Darryl Ponicsan - author, screenwriter.
• Robert Reich - former U.S. Secretary of Labor.
• Paul W. Richards - former astronaut.
• Conrad Richter - author.
• Hugh Rodham - father of U.S. Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton.
• Victor Schertzinger - composer, film director, film producer and screenwriter.
• William Scranton - former Governor of Pennsylvania, U. S. Ambassador to the United Nations, and 1964 U.S. Presidential candidate.
• William Scranton, III - former Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania, two-time gubernatorial candidate.
• John Anthony Walker - spy for the Soviet Union.
• Ed Walsh - former professional baseball player, Chicago White Sox.

See also

• Eckley Miners' Village
• Franklin B. Gowen, president of the Reading Railroad who served as the lead prosecutor in the trial to break up the Molly Maguires.
• Mahanoy
• Mahantongo
• Major coal producing regions
• Schuylkill canal

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