Plymouth, Pennsylvania, sits on the west side of Pennsylvania's Wyoming Valley, wedged between the
Susquehanna River
The Susquehanna River (; Lenape: Siskëwahane) is a major river located in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, overlapping between the lower Northeast and the Upland South. At long, it is the longest river on the East Coast of the ...
and the Shawnee Mountain range. Just below the mountain are hills that surround the town and form a natural amphitheater that separates the town from the rest of the valley. Below the hills, the flat lands are formed in the shape of a frying pan, the pan being the Shawnee flats, once the center of the town's agricultural activities, and the handle being a spit of narrow land extending east from the flats, where the center of town is located. At the beginning of the 19th century, Plymouth's primary industry was agriculture. However, vast
anthracite
Anthracite, also known as hard coal, and black coal, is a hard, compact variety of coal that has a submetallic luster. It has the highest carbon content, the fewest impurities, and the highest energy density of all types of coal and is the hig ...
coal beds lay below the surface at various depths, and by the 1850s, coal mining had become the town's primary occupation.
History of Plymouth (1753–1972)
The Yankee era (1753–1856)
The Susquehanna Company and early settlement
The origins of
Plymouth
Plymouth () is a port city and unitary authority in South West England. It is located on the south coast of Devon, approximately south-west of Exeter and south-west of London. It is bordered by Cornwall to the west and south-west.
Plymouth ...
(also known as Shawnee and Shawneetown) date back to the creation of the Susquehanna Company in
Windham, Connecticut
Windham is a town in Windham County, Connecticut, United States. It contains the former city of Willimantic as well as the boroughs of Windham Center, North Windham, and South Windham. Willimantic, an incorporated city since 1893, was consoli ...
, on June 18, 1753, formed to promote the settlement of certain lands along the Susquehanna in what is now northeastern Pennsylvania. This place, called "
Wyoming
Wyoming () is a U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho to the west, Utah to the south ...
", fell within the bounds of the charter issued in 1662 by Charles II to the
Connecticut Colony
The ''Connecticut Colony'' or ''Colony of Connecticut'', originally known as the Connecticut River Colony or simply the River Colony, was an English colony in New England which later became Connecticut. It was organized on March 3, 1636 as a settl ...
. It also fell within the bounds of the charter issued by the same king in 1681 to
William Penn
William Penn ( – ) was an English writer and religious thinker belonging to the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), and founder of the Province of Pennsylvania, a North American colony of England. He was an early advocate of democracy a ...
, thus setting the stage for a conflict between the two colonies.
In 1754 at Albany, the Susquehanna Company purchased a deed to a tract of land along the Susquehanna River from the
Iroquois
The Iroquois ( or ), officially the Haudenosaunee ( meaning "people of the longhouse"), are an Iroquoian-speaking confederacy of First Nations peoples in northeast North America/ Turtle Island. They were known during the colonial years to ...
(Six Nations) who had long held the land by right of conquest, and in 1769, John Durkee and a group of 240 Connecticut settlers created five townships, surveying their bounds, naming them Wilkesbarre (later renamed Wilkes-Barre), Nanticoke (later renamed Hanover), Pittstown (later renamed
Pittston
Pittston is a city in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is situated between Scranton and Wilkes-Barre in Northeastern Pennsylvania. The city gained prominence in the late 19th and early 20th centuries as an active anthracite coal ...
), Forty (later renamed
Kingston
Kingston may refer to:
Places
* List of places called Kingston, including the five most populated:
** Kingston, Jamaica
** Kingston upon Hull, England
** City of Kingston, Victoria, Australia
** Kingston, Ontario, Canada
** Kingston upon Thames, ...
) and Plymouth. During the summer of 1770, the settlers began to sub-divide the five townships into lots, and settlement began in earnest in 1772.
Armed men loyal to Pennsylvania twice attempted to evict the Connecticut settlers in what are known as the Pennamite-Yankee Wars. Following the
American Revolution
The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revolut ...
and ratification of the
Articles of Confederation
The Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union was an agreement among the 13 Colonies of the United States of America that served as its first frame of government. It was approved after much debate (between July 1776 and November 1777) by ...
in 1781, Pennsylvania sued to resolve the conflict with Connecticut. A trial was held at
Trenton, New Jersey
Trenton is the capital city of the U.S. state of New Jersey and the county seat of Mercer County. It was the capital of the United States from November 1 to December 24, 1784.Wyoming Valley, until April 1799, when Pennsylvania passed the Compromise Act allowing settlers (in those townships which had been created and settled before the Trenton Decree of 1782) to pay a fee in return for certification of their ownership. Thus, Plymouth landowners who could establish their chain of title retained ownership of their land, but came under the jurisdiction of Pennsylvania. The process took years, but by 1811 most land claims had been resolved. Today, all ownership of land in Plymouth can be traced back to these certified titles.
Large
anthracite
Anthracite, also known as hard coal, and black coal, is a hard, compact variety of coal that has a submetallic luster. It has the highest carbon content, the fewest impurities, and the highest energy density of all types of coal and is the hig ...
coal beds lay below Plymouth's surface at various depths. These beds were visible at a few locations in the form of outcrops, and one such location was a gorge created by Ransom Creek (now Coal Creek) located about a mile upstream from the Susquehanna River. Coal could be seen (and accessed) on both the east side (Turkey Hill) and the west side (Curry Hill) of the creek. Attracted by this outcrop, Abijah Smith came to Plymouth about 1806 from
Derby, Connecticut
Derby is a city in New Haven County, Connecticut, United States, approximately 8 miles west-northwest of New Haven. It is located in southwest Connecticut at the confluence of the Housatonic and Naugatuck Rivers. It borders the cities of Ansoni ...
, and bought land on the east side of the creek, intending to mine, ship and sell coal. In the fall of 1807, Smith floated an ark down the Susquehanna River loaded with about fifty tons of anthracite coal, and shipped it to Columbia in Lancaster County. The significance of Smith's shipment went unnoticed until 1873, when Hendrick B. Wright, in his ''Historical Sketches of Plymouth'', wrote, "anthracite coal had been used before 1807, in this valley and elsewhere, in small quantities in furnaces, with an air blast; but the traffic in coal as an article of general use, was commenced by Abijah Smith, of Plymouth."
In 1811, Smith's brother, John Smith, began to mine coal on the west side of the creek. This second mine (often erroneously called Plymouth's first coal mine) achieved national fame as a kind of tourist attraction. In 1829, a writer from Wilkes-Barre posted a notice in the ''Connecticut Mirror'', writing, "among the curiosities of our county (and we have a few) are Smith's Coal Mines, situated in Plymouth township in this county...it sends a sudden twinge through⇐ a fellow, say, to think himself walking under a mountain fifty feet through, with only here and there a pillar to support it...those who feel desirous of knowing more about this matter, must do as many others have done – go and see for themselves."
Wyoming Valley's coal industry grew steadily. In 1830, the ''Baltimore Patriot'' reported that "a greater quantity of Anthracite Coal has been sent down the Susquehanna this Spring than in any former season. The Baltimore Company have sent three thousand tons, and from other mines about seven thousand tons were dispatched, making an aggregate of ten thousand tons."
The North Branch Canal
As late as the 1840s, whenever high water allowed, coal from Wyoming Valley's coal mines was shipped down the Susquehanna River on wooden arks. But by the end of 1830, canal boats began to replace arks as the preferred method of transporting coal and other goods to market. In 1826, the Pennsylvania Board of Canal Commissioners began to survey the route of a new canal, to be called the
North Branch Canal
The North Branch Division of the Pennsylvania Canal was a historic waterway that ran along the North Branch Susquehanna River between southern New York and north-central Pennsylvania. At its southern end, the canal connected with the West Branch ...
, to run alongside the north branch (the main branch) of the Susquehanna River from
Northumberland
Northumberland () is a county in Northern England, one of two counties in England which border with Scotland. Notable landmarks in the county include Alnwick Castle, Bamburgh Castle, Hadrian's Wall and Hexham Abbey.
It is bordered by land on ...
to the
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
border. The work was generally complete by the fall of 1830, and the first load of coal shipped from Wyoming Valley reached Berwick in October.
The canal was a boon to Plymouth's coal operators, who in 1830 included John Smith, Freeman Thomas, Henderson Gaylord and Thomas Borbidge, and encouraged others to open mines, such as Jameson Harvey and Jacob Gould. John Smith's teamsters led teams of horses deep into his mine, turned the team, loaded the wagon and then drove the team to the river bank to load the coal into
canal boats
Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface flow un ...
. Gaylord, whose mine was at the base of Welsh Hill, improved on this method and built a
gravity railroad
A gravity railroad (American English) or gravity railway (British English) is a railroad on a slope that allows cars carrying minerals or passengers to coast down the slope by the force of gravity alone. The speed of the cars is controlled by a bra ...
that ran along what is now Walnut Street, down what is now Gaylord Avenue, to his wharf on the river.Samuel Livingston French, ''Reminiscences of Plymouth, Luzerne County, Penna.'' (New York: Lotus Press, 1915). A similar branch, called the Swetland Railroad, was built from mines in Poke Hollow down a route which later became Washington Avenue, across Bull Run to another wharf on the river.
The early coal mines in Plymouth supported an ancillary industry, boat building. The arks used to transport goods on the river were built in a basin where Wadhams Creek entered the river. After the canal was built, the arks began to be replaced by flat-bottomed canal boats, built in the same basin with a distinctive design, known as "Shawnee boats." Many of the town's young men became boatmen and were well known along the length of the canal for their distinctive call, "Shawnee against the World."
Years of industrial growth (1857–1900)
The Lackawanna and Bloomsburg Railroad
The Lackawanna and Bloomsburg Railroad reached Plymouth in 1857, and by June 1860, all of the railroad, from Scranton to Northumberland, were complete. In 1873, the line came under the control of the
Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad
The Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad (also known as the DL&W or Lackawanna Railroad) was a U.S. Class 1 railroad that connected Buffalo, New York, and Hoboken, New Jersey (and by ferry with New York City), a distance of . Incorporated in ...
, which was backed by powerful New York financiers, and which operated several
collieries
Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from ...
along its length, including the Avondale Colliery in Plymouth.
The railroad's arrival led to the rapid transformation of Plymouth into a major supplier of anthracite coal. Small mining operations gave way to large, highly capitalized collieries, capable of reaching coal veins deep underground. These large operations attracted foreign labor, first from the
British Isles
The British Isles are a group of islands in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-western coast of continental Europe, consisting of the islands of Great Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Inner and Outer Hebrides, the Northern Isles, ...
, and then from
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is a subregion of the Europe, European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural, and socio-economic connotations. The vast majority of the region is covered by Russ ...
. The jobs provided by the coal industry came with the constant risk of death or injury and, for those who survived, chronic health problems. The annals of Plymouth's history include a long list of mining fatalities as well as one of the nation's greatest mine disasters.
Incorporation of Plymouth Borough
What is now Plymouth Borough was originally part of Plymouth Township. Plymouth Borough was incorporated in April 1866. The boundaries of the new borough extended from the line of the No. 11 Lance Coal Breaker on the east to Driscoll Street on the west, about a mile and a half; and from the river on the south to near the foot of the mountain on the north. When first created, the borough was divided into two wards, east and west, the dividing line being Academy Street. Later, these two wards were sub-divided into additional wards. After incorporation, the borough elections were held in the Old Academy where the township elections had previously been held. The first borough election was held in May 1866, and Elijah C. Wadhams was elected as the borough's first burgess.
Welsh, English, Scottish, and Irish immigration
In the wake of the arrival of the Lackawanna and Bloomsburg Railroad in 1857, a large number of
immigrant
Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not natives or where they do not possess citizenship in order to settle as permanent residents or naturalized citizens. Commuters, tourists, and ...
s came to Plymouth to work in the coal mines and, as the population grew, it became more diverse. According to the 1860 census, Plymouth Township had 2,393 residents. By the time of the 1870 census, the population had grown to 7,736, including 807 born in Ireland, 926 born in Wales, and 713 born in England. In addition to these newcomers, there were 138 Scots, 52 Germans, 39
Canadians
Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...
, 5 French, and 1 Norwegian. Moreover, many of the 4,635 Pennsylvania-born residents were the children of these immigrants. By 1870, roughly 75% of the town's population was either foreign-born, or the children of foreign-born parents.
The influx of immigrants from the British Isles led to the construction of several new buildings, including St. Vincent's church for the
Roman Catholic
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...
Presbyterian
Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...
church for a largely Scottish congregation and several new churches for a variety of Welsh congregations.
Avondale mine disaster
The Avondale Mine Disaster occurred on September 6, 1869, when 108 men and boys died at the
Avondale Colliery
The Avondale Colliery was a coal mine in Plymouth Township, Luzerne County, near Plymouth, Pennsylvania in the small town of Avondale. The mine was considered to be "one of the best and worst" operating in Pennsylvania's Wyoming Valley.
This co ...
, located just west of the Plymouth borough line. A fire in the mine shaft, ignited by a ventilating furnace, spread to the breaker which stood over the shaft. The breaker was destroyed by fire, trapping those working in the mine below. All were killed, as were two men who volunteered to enter the mine soon after the fire. One result of the disaster was the enactment in 1870 of a law regulating mining which required employment by the State of mine inspectors, the mapping of all mine works, the creation of two means of egress from every mine, provision for proper ventilation, reporting and investigation of all accidents and the establishment of rules of conduct for employees.
Labor troubles
A bank panic on September 18, 1873, led to a prolonged national depression, and by 1877 there were about three million unemployed, roughly 25 percent of the working population. These circumstances led to the outbreak known as the Great Railroad Strike of 1877. It was the first nationwide strike, one in which Plymouth played a small but interesting part. Samuel L. French, Plymouth's Burgess at the time, recalled,
"In July, 1877, almost immediately succeeding the peaceful enjoyments incident to the centennial celebration of our national independence, the country was startled at the outbreak of very serious rioting by the railroad employees of Pittsburgh. These outbreaks of lawlessness, like an epidemic of a contagious disease, rapidly spread over near the entire state. Railroad traffic was for a time interrupted, employees being assaulted and engines and cars demolished. Local authorities were utterly unable to cope with the situation."
On July 25, a general strike was called in northeastern Pennsylvania on the Delaware and Hudson Railroad and the
Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad
The Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad (also known as the DL&W or Lackawanna Railroad) was a U.S. Class 1 railroad that connected Buffalo, New York, and Hoboken, New Jersey (and by ferry with New York City), a distance of . Incorporated in ...
(the line that ran through Plymouth). The mine workers employed by these railroads (many from Plymouth) struck as well. On August 2, three thousand state
militia
A militia () is generally an army or some other fighting organization of non-professional soldiers, citizens of a country, or subjects of a state, who may perform military service during a time of need, as opposed to a professional force of r ...
troops arrived in the Wyoming Valley. Samuel L. French wrote,
"The miners in the anthracite regions of Schuylkill and Luzerne and Lackawanna counties were at the time on strike and soon became infected. A demon like spirit seemed to pervade the masses. In Scranton, Mayor McKune had been violently assaulted, and a posse of the leading citizens had fired upon and killed several of the rioters. A passenger train on the L&B R.R., arriving at Plymouth from Northumberland in the evening was stoned and the train obliged to remain on the siding at the depot. I was Burgess at the time and a committee of representative citizens reported to me, their fears of contemplated incendiarism against certain of the properties located here and connected with mining industries, and requested me to officially invoke protection from the State. I telegraphed the State authorities and soon thereafter a regiment of soldiers was in possession of the town."
"...Brigadier General E. W. Matthews, a former school teacher in Plymouth, was in charge of the troops which invaded the town. In front of the engine of the train which carried the troops was placed a gun, and at Nanticoke several companies were disembarked, and as skirmishers, during the night, proceeded up the road, taking into custody every man caught out of doors. Near a hundred of these night prowlers were thus captured, quite a number in Plymouth, some of whom were carried to Scranton, there to give an account of their actions. The troops remained stationed here, and in the locality for several weeks, the staff officers using the stalled railroad cars for their headquarters."
Polish, Lithuanian, and Slovak immigration
By 1880, a new mix was added to the population of Plymouth with the arrival of immigrants from
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is a subregion of the Europe, European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural, and socio-economic connotations. The vast majority of the region is covered by Russ ...
. These were welcomed by the mining companies because they worked for low wages, and thus undercut the bargaining power of the increasingly organized Irish and Welsh miners. In the 1880 census, only 86 of Plymouth's residents were born in Poland, 25 in
Prussia
Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an em ...
, 9 in Hungary, 8 in Austria, and 2 in Russia. Most likely they were all ethnically Slovak,
Lithuania
Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...
n, and Polish. Like most immigrants, many of the new arrivals were poor and uneducated and, at first, spoke little or no English. They were referred to in the press as "foreigners" and during the early years of their arrival were often made to feel unwelcome. Their function as strike-breakers added to their unpopularity. On February 26, 1890, ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'' reported:
"The Poles and Hungarians who live in such numbers in Plymouth and vicinity promise to be speedily cleared out. At different times before several hundred have been shipped away to fill the strikers place at
Punxsutawney
Punxsutawney (; Lenape: '
)
is a borough in southern Jefferson County, Pennsylvania. Punxsutawney is known globally for its annual Groundhog Day celebration held each February 2, during which thousands of attendees and international media outl ...
by the agents of the company who are circulating throughout this region and today 300 more were sent off in a special train. They left on the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad at 11 o'clock, many of them accompanied by their wives and children and carrying a most miscellaneous collection of goods with them. Each man was supplied with a bottle of whiskey, a big paper of tobacco, and a ticket to Punxsutawney. Another batch is being raised and will leave Plymouth in a day or two."
While some of the Eastern European immigrants were transitory, many more came to Plymouth and stayed, eventually forming a large and important part of the population. By 1890, Plymouth boasted three Roman Catholic churches with Eastern European congregations, St. Mary's (Polish), St. Stephen's (Slovak), and St. Casimir's (Lithuanian). By the 1920s, these three groups were said to represent 40% of the town's population.
The first Central High School
The first Central High School was designed by the architect
Frederick J. Amsden
Frederick J. Amsden was an architect from Scranton, Pennsylvania. He was a veteran of the Civil War with the rank of captain. He was born at Rome, New York, on June 19, 1841, but his father, Joel Amsden, relocated to Scranton in 1850. Frederick J. ...
, and built in 1884 by Samuel Livingston French and his Plymouth Planing Mill Co. The school saw its first graduating class in 1886, but was destroyed by fire in February 1905. According to the February 24, 1905 edition of the ''Wilkes-Barre Times'':
"A serious fire occurred at Plymouth this morning at 12:30, when the Plymouth Central high school was so badly gutted and damaged that it will have to be re-built. The building is located on Shawnee Avenue, only a short distance from the busiest section of that town, it being about 1,300 feet from the Pioneer and Wyoming Valley knitting mills and Shawnee box factory. The fire was discovered at 12:30 and an alarm was rung from Box 26 calling out the entire fire department which quickly responded, but the blaze had gained considerable headway and a sheet of flames could be seen issuing from the top of the building."
The Typhoid Epidemic of 1885
The Typhoid Epidemic of 1885 was caused by contamination of the town's water supply. Like the Avondale Mine Disaster of 1869, it aroused the sympathy of the entire nation. The epidemic was eventually traced to a dairy farmer who lived on Mountain Road alongside Coal Creek, the stream that fed the town's water supply. During the Christmas holiday in 1884, he visited his brother, the owner of a cigar store in Philadelphia, and returned home in January ill with typhoid. During his weeks of recuperation, the snow on the ground around his farmhouse became contaminated. At the same time, the water company's reservoirs had become so low, that the company began to pump water, as a substitute source, from the Susquehanna River.Benjamin Lee, M.D., "The Debit and Credit Account of the Plymouth Epidemic", in ''Second Annual Report of the State Board of Health and Vital Statistics of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania'' (Harrisburg PA: Edwin K. Meyers, State Printer, 1887), 816-823.
In late March, the weather began to warm and the snow began to melt, so that the stream and one of its reservoirs (known as the Third Water Dam) became contaminated. Furthermore, because of the melting snow, the reservoir began to fill. Hoping to stop pumping river water, the water company's superintendent lit a fire at the exit pipe of the reservoir, allowing water to flow freely downstream and contaminate the town's water supply.
By the week of April 12, between 50 and 100 new cases were reported daily. By September, 1,104 cases were recorded (out of a population of just over 8,000), including 713 in April, 261 in May, 83 in June, 31 in July, 15 in August and 1 in September. Taking into account unreported cases, the number was probably much higher.
Dr. Morris Stroud French was a physician in Philadelphia at the time of the epidemic, one of several sent to Plymouth to set up a temporary hospital in the Central High School building. After the epidemic, French prepared a report of the hospital's activities, listing all the patients who were treated, the ward where they lived, the length and cost of their treatment, and, when applicable, the date of their death. French recorded 1,153 victims, of whom 114 died. He estimated the cost of the epidemic, including the cost of treatment and lost wages, at about $100,000.
Martin Wilkes and the Polish–Lithuanian Church War
By the time that the 1887 city directory was published, there were three Roman Catholic congregations in Plymouth: "St. Vincent's Catholic Church" (for "English-speaking"—mostly Irish) Catholics, "St. Stephen's Hungarian Catholic Church", (for Slovaks), and "St. Mary's Polish Catholic Church" (for Poles and Lithuanians). St. Mary's congregation was founded in the spring of 1885. The trustees purchased land on Willow Street and built a small wooden church (on the site of the later school building). Although the Poles and Lithuanians spoke different languages, their histories were intertwined, and the
Diocese of Scranton
The Diocese of Scranton is a Latin Church ecclesiastical jurisdiction or diocese of the Catholic Church. It is a suffragan see of Archdiocese of Philadelphia, established on March 3, 1868. The seat of the bishop is St. Peter's Cathedral in th ...
assumed the two groups would amicably share the same church and cemetery so long as their parish priest was fluent in both languages. As it turned out, there was animosity between them. In 1889–1890, these feelings were inflamed by an outspoken parishioner named Martin Wilkes, who came to be known in the national press as "the Polish King". Wilkes was born in Poland and immigrated to the United States in 1873. By the time of the 1880 census, he was working as a coal miner, living in West Nanticoke, and by 1889, he had acquired a saloon, gained a small following and proclaimed himself leader of the Poles in Plymouth.
St. Mary's congregation's first priest was Polish. But after he departed, trouble arose when the Diocese of Scranton appointed, not once, but twice, a Lithuanian priest to St. Mary's. The Poles objected on the grounds that their greater number, earlier arrival and greater financial contribution entitled them to preference. The second Lithuanian priest, Father Alexandras Burba, was appointed to St. Mary's on August 22, 1889. Burba spoke Polish and Lithuanian, but was an ardent Lithuanian nationalist; the Polish trustees allowed him to celebrate mass in the church but refused to give him possession of the parsonage. On October 22, Bishop O'Hara arrived from Scranton and sent Father Mack (of the St. Vincent's congregation) to gain access to the parsonage, but when he knocked on the door, he was "met by three guns pointing at him from an upstairs window."''The Philadelphia Inquirer'', October 22, 1889.
Next, Father Mack went to the Town Hall and got warrants for the arrest of the rebel faction, after which the police arrested three of them. When the rebels reached the town lock-up (in an effort to rescue the prisoners), they encountered constable Michael Melvin and in the ensuing scuffle broke his leg. According to ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'', The Polanders still hold possession of the priest's house tonight. The Burgess says he will clear every man out tomorrow if he has to make dead men of them all."
After this episode, Father Burba departed St. Mary's, and the split between the two nationalities became permanent, with the Lithuanians forming their own congregation and building their own church, completed in December 1890.
The electric railway and the Carey Avenue Bridge
The Plymouth Street Railway was incorporated on May 14, 1889, and in 1891 its directors built an electric railway, or
trolley line
A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport are ...
, down the middle of Plymouth's Main Street, running from the east end of the borough to a turn-around at the west end of town. That same year, the line was extended along the north side of Ross Hill to Edwardsville, where transfers could be made to a similar railway that ran across the Market Street Bridge to Wilkes-Barre. When the Plymouth Street Railway was complete, the Wilkes-Barre & Wyoming Valley Traction Co. leased it and operated it along with several other trolley lines. After the Carey Avenue Bridge was completed in the spring of 1895, the Wilkes-Barre & Wyoming Valley Traction Co. built a second railway line across the bridge, providing a second, more direct route to Wilkes-Barre's public square.
Ultimately, the network included the boroughs and townships of
Ashley Ashley is a place name derived from the Old English words '' æsc'' (“ash”) and '' lēah'' (“meadow”). It may refer to:
People and fictional characters
* Ashley (given name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name
...
Forty Fort
Forty Fort was a stronghold built by settlers from Westmoreland County, Connecticut, on the Susquehanna River in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania. During the American Revolutionary War, both Connecticut and Pennsylvania claimed this territory, as ...
,
Hanover
Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-largest city in Northern Germany ...
,
Kingston
Kingston may refer to:
Places
* List of places called Kingston, including the five most populated:
** Kingston, Jamaica
** Kingston upon Hull, England
** City of Kingston, Victoria, Australia
** Kingston, Ontario, Canada
** Kingston upon Thames, ...
Pittston
Pittston is a city in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is situated between Scranton and Wilkes-Barre in Northeastern Pennsylvania. The city gained prominence in the late 19th and early 20th centuries as an active anthracite coal ...
West Pittston
West Pittston is a borough in the Greater Pittston area of Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is located on the Susquehanna River (opposite of Pittston City). In 2020, the population was 4,644.
The town once produced mine screens, g ...
Wyoming
Wyoming () is a U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho to the west, Utah to the south ...
. The trolley cars ran until the 1950s and were an important amenity, making it easier for residents to go to work, to shop, to visit friends and relatives, and to spend time at new amusement parks that sprung up along the lines, including Sans Souci Park, located between Nanticoke and Wilkes-Barre.
The Spanish–American War
In 1898, the Ninth Regiment, a state
militia
A militia () is generally an army or some other fighting organization of non-professional soldiers, citizens of a country, or subjects of a state, who may perform military service during a time of need, as opposed to a professional force of r ...
organization founded in 1879 and headquartered in Wilkes-Barre, volunteered to serve in the
war with Spain
War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...
. On April 27, 1898, two days after Spain declared war, the various companies that formed the regiment (including Plymouth's Company I) met at the Wilkes-Barre armory and marched to the Lehigh Valley railroad station. Enthusiasm for the war was at a high point, and it was estimated that 130,000 people gathered to see the troops off. In May, they made camp at Chickamauga Park, Georgia, where in July an outbreak of typhoid occurred with roughly half of the 1,300 troops contracting the disease, from which 29 men died. The war ended on August 12 while the Ninth Regiment was still camped in Georgia, and on September 19 the regiment returned to Wilkes-Barre.Oscar J. Harvey and Ernest G. Smith, ''A History of Wilkes-Barre, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania'', vol. 4 (Wilkes-Barre. PA: Smith Bennett Corp., 1929). Plymouth's Company I was led by Capt. Harry W. Pierce, First Lieut. Adnah McDaniel, Second Lieut. William F. Powell, First Sergeant George W. Kostenbauder and Quartermaster Sergeant John May. The musicians were John T. Hayward and George N. Van Loon.
The end of the 19th century
During the last thirty-five years of the 19th century, Plymouth had nearly reached its ultimate state. Virtually all the streets that would ever be created were now in place, and most of the houses, churches and commercial buildings that would ever be built had now been built. Plymouth's coal mines were established and consolidated in the hands of a small number of operators, and its water system, telegraph and telephone service, electrical lines and gas pipes were fully developed. A trolley system connected the residents to all of the neighboring towns and cities. The next three decades would be prosperous ones during which the town's residents would enjoy the bounty of the years of industrial growth. Coal production would grow and the population steadily increase in size and wealth. One of the problems that this increase presented was the need to build sufficient school buildings to accommodate the growing population, and the growing number of families who could now afford to send their children to school, rather than to work in the mines.
Years of prosperity (1901–1929)
The Great Flood of 1902
One of the most destructive floods in the history of the Wyoming Valley occurred on Sunday, March 2, 1902, when the waters of the
Susquehanna River
The Susquehanna River (; Lenape: Siskëwahane) is a major river located in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, overlapping between the lower Northeast and the Upland South. At long, it is the longest river on the East Coast of the ...
rose and flooded a vast developed area. It was the largest flood since the Great Flood of 1865. Eight deaths were reported in Wilkes-Barre.Eugene T. Giering, ''Wyoming Valley Flood Scenes, March 2, 1902'' (1902). The temperature suddenly rose, and snow which had covered much of the Susquehanna's watershed melted. At the same time, more than of rain fell within a short period. The combined melted snow and rain caused the river to rise rapidly and the ice to break on February 28. All day Saturday, March 1, the river rose, until Sunday when it crested at above the low water mark.
Wyoming Valley had experienced less extensive flooding a few months earlier, on December 15, 1901, and therefore, residents were more prepared than they might have been. In Plymouth, water covered the streets closest to the river and surrounded or flooded many houses. The railroads were damaged, bridges were swept away and great portions of roadbeds washed out. Wyoming Valley's street car system was paralyzed, and it was a few weeks before cars were run regularly.
Plymouth recovered quickly from the 1902 flood. On March 6, trains began running on schedule to Scranton on the
Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad
The Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad (also known as the DL&W or Lackawanna Railroad) was a U.S. Class 1 railroad that connected Buffalo, New York, and Hoboken, New Jersey (and by ferry with New York City), a distance of . Incorporated in ...
. And by March 8, the first street car arrived in town from Edwardsville. The West family set up an electric pump on Main Street and began pumping out flooded cellars for the town's businessmen. Capt. Theodore Renshaw went to Peter Shupp's old house on Center Avenue and measured the flood's high-water mark and found it to be at street curb level. Renshaw recalled that the 1865 flood had risen above the floor of Shupp's residence, and calculated that the 1865 flood had been 2'-9" higher than the 1902 flood.
The second Central High School
The architect of the second Central High School was
Harry Livingston French
Harry Livingston French (November 21, 1871 – January 16, 1928) was an American architect based in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. He designed in a variety of styles, including classical architecture and Gothic revival. His built works included nu ...
. In 1905, when French was awarded the commission to design the new school, he was already well known to the Plymouth school board: French was a native of Plymouth, descended from an old and distinguished family. In 1900, when the school board commissioned him to design alterations to the Franklin Street School, Harry French had been an architect for only a few years. He graduated from
Cornell University
Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...
in 1894, but soon after left for Meeker, Colorado, where his brother practiced medicine. French spent sixteen months in Meeker, returning east in the beginning of 1897. By April 1899, his firm, McCormick & French, had won third place in the design competition for the new
Luzerne County Courthouse
The Luzerne County Courthouse is a historic county courthouse located in Wilkes-Barre, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania (along the Susquehanna River). The building houses the government of Luzerne County.
In 2009, county officials celebrated the one ...
. For their efforts, they received a prize of $300. However, in 1905, architect F. J. Osterling of Pittsburgh, the winner of the competition, was forced to resign in the middle of construction. He was replaced by McCormick & French.
Harry French inherited numerous social, business and political connections — his father was Samuel Livingston French, born in Plymouth on September 8, 1839, a great-grandson of Noah Wadhams, Plymouth's illustrious 18th century preacher. Samuel L. French was a veteran of the
Civil War
A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country).
The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...
, having served in the
Union Army
During the American Civil War, the Union Army, also known as the Federal Army and the Northern Army, referring to the United States Army, was the land force that fought to preserve the Union (American Civil War), Union of the collective U.S. st ...
from 1861 to 1862. Afterwards, he was a politically active Republican. In 1872, he was elected Register of Wills for Luzerne County, and in 1874, became the first clerk of the Orphans' Court. In 1875, he was elected to the first of several terms as Burgess of Plymouth, and held that office during the great labor troubles of 1877. Samuel L. French was also an amateur historian — he wrote a book about the
Army of the Potomac
The Army of the Potomac was the principal Union Army in the Eastern Theater of the American Civil War. It was created in July 1861 shortly after the First Battle of Bull Run and was disbanded in June 1865 following the surrender of the Confedera ...
, and in 1915 published ''Reminiscences of Plymouth'', his homage to the antebellum years of his hometown.
In 1880, Samuel L. French became a retail lumber dealer, founding the Plymouth Planing Mill Company, which he ran until 1902. It was this company which built the old Central High School in 1884. The old school, and the new one that replaced it, sat on a bluff overlooking the Parrish Colliery of the Lehigh & Wilkes-Barre Coal Co. Both school and colliery sat on land that once was part of the Wadhams estate. After the fire, the school board must have engaged McCormick and French immediately, for it was only one month after the fire that the board met to announce that the architects' plans were accepted, plans for a much larger building than the original. On March 23, 1905, the ''Wilkes-Barre Times'' reported:
"At a special meeting of the school board held last evening in the office of the secretary, J. A. Opp, held for the purpose of adopting the plans and specifications of the proposed new school building, which is to take the place of the building which was burned down on February 24, it was decided to accept the plans that had been prepared by McCormick and French. The plans are for a building of sixteen rooms, which is twice the size of the old building, and it will be a substantial structure, which will be one of the prettiest buildings in town. The secretary was instructed to advertise for bid, and another meeting will be called on April 12 for the purpose of opening the bids and awarding the contract. A motion was unanimously carried that the sale of bonds be held in the office of the secretary on April 10."
On June 1 that year, the class of "nineteen-five" held its commencement exercises. Fourteen students received their diplomas. Charles H. Kaeufer read an eloquent speech entitled "Memorial of the Central Building".
"Workmen have now removed the last traces of the old school. Whatever will remain of the old building in the future is embedded in the minds and hearts of the boys and girls who have come to maturity during the twenty-one years of its usefulness. The shelter which the building has afforded has resulted in the up-building of character and the implanting of healthy sentiments in the boys and girls of Plymouth. The expenditure has not been in vain. The building has been a fortress against ignorance and superstition. Its memory should be cherished lovingly. Patriotism has been infused, industry fostered, and wickedness condemned. Therefore the influence of the building must be ranked among the permanent possessions of the community."
On the following evening, the Plymouth High School Alumni Association held its fourth annual banquet. Mrs. L. S. Smith, one of the "few surviving members" of the first graduating class (1886), spoke of her memories of the old school, a talk that was followed by a musical presentation and a toast given by the future governor of Pennsylvania, Arthur James.
The summer of 1905 came and went as work began on the new school. On August 18, the ''Times'' reported that "sills were laid for the new Central School house yesterday." On August 26, pupils were ordered to report to Rooms 7 and 8 of the Willow St. School. The class of 1906 would spend the entire school year in temporary quarters, for it was not until Labor Day, September 3, 1906, that the new building was dedicated. The ''Wilkes-Barre Times'' sent a reporter:
"Plymouth's handsome new High school was dedicated and formally opened to-day with impressive and appropriate exercises amid the cheers of several thousand people. Prior to the exercises at the school there was a grand parade, in which many secret societies from in and out of town took part, together with bands of music ... The parade formed at the corner of Main and Bridge Streets, moved to Davenport, countermarched to Gaylord and thence to the high school where the exercises were held ... "The progress of the public school" was the subject of an eloquent address by J. Q. Creveling, who began by comparing the present school system with that of years gone by when Plymouth and all its institutions were in their infancy. He spoke of the rapid advancement in the education of America's army of children and of the responsibility resting upon the thousands of men and women employed in the work of fitting them to enter upon life's duties."
The event was organized by the
Junior Order of United American Mechanics
The Junior Order of United American Mechanics is an American fraternal order. It began as a youth affiliation of the Order of United American Mechanics, but seceded to become its own organization and eventually absorbed its parent order. Origin ...
, perhaps a union representing the men who built the building. The O.U.A.M. presented the school with a new flag as well as a bible for each classroom. The new building served as Plymouth's high school for only seven years, for on Labor Day, September 1913, another parade and dedication exercise took place, this time to celebrate the opening of yet another new high school building — this one on Main Street. After 1913, the 1906 Central High School was used to educate children in the lower grades.
The third high school building
Plymouth's third high school building was dedicated on September 1, 1913, following a large parade through the town. The parade featured the police force, three fire departments, the school directors, school children on floats, various labor unions and several fraternal organizations. At the ceremony, the Central School children sang "March of our Nation", and after the graduates of the class of 1914 raised the flag, the students and audience sang "
The Star-Spangled Banner
"The Star-Spangled Banner" is the national anthem of the United States. The lyrics come from the "Defence of Fort M'Henry", a poem written on September 14, 1814, by 35-year-old lawyer and amateur poet Francis Scott Key after witnessing the b ...
", accompanied by the school's marching band. The chairman of the dedication ceremony was Harold L. Freeman, and the architect of the new building was his brother, New York's Alfred Freeman, a Plymouth native and graduate of Plymouth High School's class of 1892. The building was built by Perkins and Heffernan, and the plumbing work installed by Doyle Brothers, both Plymouth firms.
The building (which was later added onto) had four rooms on the first floor and four on the second floor plus a large study room. The basement was reserved for the cloakrooms, boiler rooms, lavatories and a room for the School Directors.
William B. Cleary, writing in the ''Wilkes-Barre Times Leader'', noted that "The new school building is located in the central portion of the town, set back sufficiently from the main street to give it an important position and affords an opportunity to make most attractive grounds."
Plymouth's third high school building was converted to an elementary school in July 1979, and demolished in August 2014. Architectural historian (and former attendee) Michael Lewis commented in ''The Times Leader'' newspaper: "As far as architecture is concerned, the high school is neither original nor innovative. It is simply one of those solid, serviceable and beautifully constructed school buildings built a century ago, when it seemed that America could build durable and efficient public buildings effortlessly."
The First World War
The First World War broke out in 1914, but America remained neutral until it declared war on
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
on April 6, 1917. The Selective Service Act of 1917 was passed on May 18, 1917, and by July a lottery was scheduled so that local districts could meet their assigned quotas of men. District 6 (comprising Plymouth and Larksville boroughs) was initially required to furnish 154 men, and many more, men and women, would eventually serve. The war ended when an armistice was signed on November 11, 1918, but "Welcome Home" day in Plymouth was not celebrated until June 30, 1919. That day, a parade formed, with the public school students gathering at Wadhams Street, fraternal lodges on Girard Avenue, soldiers and sailors on Gaylord Avenue, the Polish and Slovak societies on Centre Avenue, and Catholic school children on Eno Street. Participants marched up to the Carey Avenue Bridge and back to Gaylord Avenue where they disbanded. Burgess George E. Gwilliam declared the day to be "one of rejoicing with a cessation of all labor", and banned all cars and trolleys from the streets. After the parade, all four movie theaters opened their doors to veterans free of charge.
By the time of the "Welcome Home" parade of 1919, a fundraising drive was underway to erect a monument to the soldiers and sailors who had served in the First World War. A committee was formed, and George T. Brewster (1862–1943), a sculptor from New York, was engaged. Brewster had studied at the Massachusetts State Normal Art School, and in Paris at the
École des Beaux-Arts
École des Beaux-Arts (; ) refers to a number of influential art schools in France. The term is associated with the Beaux-Arts style in architecture and city planning that thrived in France and other countries during the late nineteenth century ...
. Since 1915, he had been busy creating a large number of statues, busts and relief portraits for the Vicksburg National Military Park. For Plymouth, Brewster prepared a design of two life-size figures, a soldier and sailor, mounted atop a granite base. In the contract, the sculptor agreed not to duplicate the design anywhere in Pennsylvania. The unveiling was scheduled for November 11, 1919, but the work was delayed and funds ran short. The bronze plaque, listing the names of the fallen, was optimistically dated Memorial Day, 1920. The dedication finally took place on November 11, 1920, two years after the war's end. Schools and mines were closed for the day, and afterward a parade formed, said to be Plymouth's largest ever. The monument still stands and is the principal public work of art in the borough.
The fourth high school building
Plymouth's fourth high school building, designed by the Scranton-based architect Louis Hancock, was completed in 1925 on a site immediately to the west of the third high school (which then became the Junior High School building). The new building cost $203,000 and was dedicated on February 12, 1925. A few weeks before the dedication, a reporter took a tour of the building, writing that:
"After years of anticipation and debate, the new high school represents the achievement of an ideal. It has advanced Plymouth several years ahead of the status formerly held. Allied with the adjacent recreation field, where athletics are carried out, the school is a complete foundry of young manhood and young womanhood, an inspiration to the spirit that has written the name of Plymouth High School upon the top of the roster of public educational institutions."
Many of the town's residents credited school board member Ward P. Davenport for expediting the construction of the school, for attending to its details and for keeping the costs under control. By the time the school was complete, Davenport was in poor health and retreated to
Atlantic City
Atlantic City, often known by its initials A.C., is a coastal resort city in Atlantic County, New Jersey, United States. The city is known for its casinos, Boardwalk (entertainment district), boardwalk, and beaches. In 2020 United States censu ...
to recuperate. Davenport's health did not improve, and the December 1925 issue of the school's newspaper, the ''Shawnee Arrow'', made note of his death. By the spring of 1926, the school had been renamed Ward P. Davenport High School, and the stone tablet over the front door with the inscription "Plymouth High School" was replaced with one inscribed with Davenport's name.
Years of retrenchment (1930–1972)
Plymouth Post Office
In November 1933, funds were allocated for a new post office building in Plymouth. The allocation was expedited by two Plymouth natives, Michael E. Comerford, the movie-theater owner, who happened to be the regional representative of the recently created
National Recovery Administration
The National Recovery Administration (NRA) was a prime agency established by U.S. president Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR) in 1933. The goal of the administration was to eliminate "cut throat competition" by bringing industry, labor, and governmen ...
, and Frank C. Walker, Comerford's nephew, a Roosevelt ally and the NRA's executive secretary. Among the sites suggested by the Plymouth Chamber of Commerce was the east half of the old railroad depot, across Main Street from the Plymouth high school, more or less where the new post office was built. Construction began in January 1935 and the building was dedicated on November 23, 1935. President Franklin D. Roosevelt was an amateur architect who admired early American architecture, and the new building was designed in the
Georgian
Georgian may refer to:
Common meanings
* Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country)
** Georgians, an indigenous Caucasian ethnic group
** Georgian language, a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians
**Georgian scripts, three scrip ...
style that was especially popular at the time. An addition, undistinguished but sympathetic to the original wing, was built in the 1960s.
The post office's most interesting feature is a
mural
A mural is any piece of graphic artwork that is painted or applied directly to a wall, ceiling or other permanent substrate. Mural techniques include fresco, mosaic, graffiti and marouflage.
Word mural in art
The word ''mural'' is a Spani ...
installed in 1938 by the artist Jared Blanford French (1905–1988) entitled "Mealtime, The Early Coal Miners", one of more than 1,200 works of art commissioned by the U.S. Treasury between the years 1934 and 1943 through a program intended to embellish Federal buildings and encourage the arts during the
Great Depression
The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...
. French's mural and the town's Soldiers and Sailors monument are the two most significant secular public works of art in Plymouth.
Great Flood of 1936
One of the
Susquehanna River
The Susquehanna River (; Lenape: Siskëwahane) is a major river located in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, overlapping between the lower Northeast and the Upland South. At long, it is the longest river on the East Coast of the ...
's most damaging floods occurred in March 1936. In the Wyoming Valley, the flood waters covered approximately . Property loss in Plymouth Borough alone was estimated to be about $1,000,000.Herbert E. Atkins, ed., ''The Wyoming Valley Floods of 1936'' (Wilkes-Barre PA: Herbert E. Atkins, 1936). A large number of Plymouth residents were left homeless, and many volunteers responded to help with rescue and relief efforts. These were coordinated from headquarters set up in the Town Hall building. The Vine Street and Franklin Street schools were converted to temporary dormitories, and the Central School served as a makeshift hospital. The town's three fire companies patrolled the flooded areas during the inundation, and afterward did duty pumping out flooded cellars. After the flood waters receded, Atty. Harold L. Freeman and Mrs. John Q. Mask chaired a fund-raising drive to aid families left destitute by the disaster, while Mrs. Ralph Worthington and Mrs. C. C. Groblewski coordinated donations of clothing made by the Red Cross.
The Diamond Jubilee celebration of 1941
By the 1940s, two rival energy sources, oil and
natural gas
Natural gas (also called fossil gas or simply gas) is a naturally occurring mixture of gaseous hydrocarbons consisting primarily of methane in addition to various smaller amounts of other higher alkanes. Low levels of trace gases like carbo ...
, competed with anthracite coal, both of which were cheaper to extract and to ship. The anthracite industry received a temporary boost during the Second World War, but by the late 1950s, the industry was all but dead, with the exception of some strip mine operations that continued throughout the 1960s.
In September 1941, seventy-five years after Plymouth was incorporated as a borough, the town began a five-day celebration at Huber Field, including a pageant with the patriotic theme "America on Parade". Like many American towns, Plymouth had an ethnically diverse population, formed largely by the descendants of Irish, Welsh, Polish, Lithuanian and Slovak immigrants. Patriotism had an important place in the school curriculum, and the generation that was coming of age in 1941 had been educated to think of themselves as Americans first and foremost. After the Grand Finale of the pageant, according to the Jubilee's promotional pamphlet, the audience was "requested to join with the cast and with the Shawnee Choral Society in the singing of our National Anthem."
While the townspeople celebrated, war was raging in Europe and Asia. The ninth scene of the pageant, "Democracy Defended", was described in the Jubilee's pamphlet as a...
"... tableau of "Peace," following the
irst
An infrared search and track (IRST) system (sometimes known as infrared sighting and tracking) is a method for detecting and tracking objects which give off infrared radiation, such as the infrared signatures of jet aircraft and helicopters.
IR ...
World War — a war which we fought to "end war". It is presented as a tribute to the brave men and courageous women who gave their all so that Democracy might survive, and in the hope that America may continue to remain honorably at Peace."
However, two months after the celebration, the
Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service
The was the Naval aviation, air arm of the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN). The organization was responsible for the operation of naval aircraft and the conduct of aerial warfare in the Pacific War.
The Japanese military acquired their first air ...
launched the
attack on Pearl Harbor
The attack on Pearl HarborAlso known as the Battle of Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service upon the United States against the naval base at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii, j ...
that drew America into war again. Many men and women from Plymouth served in the armed forces during the Second World War.
The writers of the Plymouth Diamond Jubilee pamphlet expressed optimism about the future. In the pageant's tenth scene, "American and Plymouth Today", the Diamond Jubilee Queen, Catherine Oldfield (in later years a Plymouth school teacher known as Catherine Bogdon), delivered her address of welcome "attended by boys and girls, young men and women of Plymouth and vicinity." The scene was described as "symbolic of modern youth, keeping step with the times, moving forward in step with current events. They are the men and women of tomorrow — the destiny of America we love will be in their hands." But owing to the decline of the local economy, many of the young men and women in attendance would have to move elsewhere in order to find work.
The Plymouth Diamond Jubilee celebration of 1941 occurred at an interesting time in the town's history. Still vital, and having survived a decade-long economic depression, the town looked forward to a return to its past prosperity. But unbeknown to the populace, a slow and steady decline would soon begin. Because of the collapse of the anthracite coal industry, the town's population, 15,507 in 1940, would decline to 5,951 by the year 2010.
Plymouth centennial celebration
In 1966, the residents of Plymouth celebrated the 100th anniversary of the incorporation of the Borough of Plymouth. The honorary chairman was the Burgess, Edward F. Burns, and the general chairman was Angelo Grasso. The festivities began on June 11, 1966, with the Centennial Ball, held at the Gaylord Avenue Armory, during which Sandy Smith was chosen to be Miss Plymouth Centennial. A week of parades and parties culminated on June 18, Pioneer and Homecoming Day, with the Grand Parade. In between, the Centennial Committee presented at Huber Field "In Olde Shawnee", a fifteen-episode spectacle produced by John B. Rogers Productions of Fostoria, Ohio. Many residents, church groups, and civic and fraternal groups participated in the Centennial. During Centennial Week, many women donned old-time costumes from colonial days, and many men grew goatees, moustaches and "mutton-chop" side-burns, which by 1966 had been long out of fashion.
School consolidation 1966–1967
The first Plymouth High School graduating class received their diplomas in 1886, and the last graduating class received theirs in 1966. In the fall of 1966, Plymouth's school system merged with the Edwardsville and Larksville schools to become "Plymouth Area High School", one of three divisions in a consolidated school district called "Wyoming Valley West". In the fall of 1967, the Plymouth Area division combined with the other schools in the district to form a single high school in which freshmen and sophomores attended the Plymouth high school building, and juniors and seniors attended the Kingston high school building. Currently, the
Wyoming Valley West High School
Wyoming Valley West High School is a public high school in Plymouth, Pennsylvania, Plymouth, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania. It is the only public high school in the Wyoming Valley West School District. The current bu ...
building is located in Plymouth, just south of the site of the old Central High School, Plymouth's second high school building (built 1906 and demolished in 1980), and just north of Plymouth's third high school building (built 1913 and demolished in 2014) and Plymouth's fourth high school building (built 1925 and demolished in 1979).
Agnes Flood of 1972
Unlike earlier floods in the Wyoming Valley, most of which were caused by spring freshets, the 1972 flood was caused by bizarre and unusual weather patterns, including heavy rainfall that began in mid-April. In May almost of rain fell, and in June another fell, so that by late June the Susquehanna watershed was becoming saturated. By Wednesday, June 21,
tropical storm Agnes The name Agnes has been used for a total of sixteen tropical cyclones worldwide: one in the Atlantic Ocean, thirteen in the Western North Pacific Ocean, one in the South-West Indian Ocean, and one in the South Pacific Ocean.
In the Atlantic:
* Hur ...
arrived and was hovering over the Susquehanna watershed, dropping up to of rain upstream in a single day. All around the valley, signs of trouble loomed: Main Street in Shavertown flooded, Harvey's Lake overflowed, Hunstville Dam was full, a bridge washed out in Towanda. But meanwhile, at Wilkes-Barre the river height was only above the low water level. Nevertheless, by 10:00 pm that night the river had quietly risen to , causing
Civil Defense
Civil defense ( en, region=gb, civil defence) or civil protection is an effort to protect the citizens of a state (generally non-combatants) from man-made and natural disasters. It uses the principles of emergency operations: prevention, miti ...
Headquarters in the Luzerne County Courthouse to evacuate. Plymouth residents were ordered to leave their homes by 2:00 am.Jane C. Bolger, ed., ''A Portrait of Agnes'' (Dallas, Pennsylvania: James Kozemchak, Sr. and Sons, 1972).
By early morning Thursday, June 22, a widespread evacuation of the valley's flood zone was underway. At 6:00 am, water poured through a dike at Plymouth, and one hour later the river reached a height of , rapidly approaching the limit of the valley's dike system. Countless volunteers passed sandbags from hand to hand in a futile effort to raise the dike level and hold back the water, until at 11:00 am, Civil Defense sounded the alarm calling a halt to all efforts on the east side. At 1:00 pm, water came over the dike at
Forty Fort
Forty Fort was a stronghold built by settlers from Westmoreland County, Connecticut, on the Susquehanna River in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania. During the American Revolutionary War, both Connecticut and Pennsylvania claimed this territory, as ...
, after which work stopped on the west side as well.
Telephones no longer worked, electricity was no longer available and sewage systems were incapacitated. The absence of refrigeration led to a shortage of food.
Martial law
Martial law is the imposition of direct military control of normal civil functions or suspension of civil law by a government, especially in response to an emergency where civil forces are overwhelmed, or in an occupied territory.
Use
Marti ...
went into effect as rescue efforts got underway, and thousands of volunteers descended on the valley to assist with the rescue and then the clean-up. Meanwhile, the water rose higher and higher, finally peaking at at 7:00 pm, Saturday, June 24. At its greatest extent the flood was wide and long. Eventually, the water receded, leaving behind 25,000 homeless residents, and acres of devastation and mud.
Burgesses (Mayors) of Plymouth, Pennsylvania
Nineteenth century burgesses (elected or appointed from 1866 to 1900)
*Elijah Catlin Wadhams was born at Plymouth on July 17, 1825, and was educated at Dickinson College and
New York University
New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin.
In 1832, the ...
, from which he graduated in 1847.W.W. Munsell & Co., ''History of Luzerne, Lackawanna and Wyoming Counties, Pa.'' (New York: W.W. Munsell & Co., 1880). He was elected Plymouth's first Burgess in 1866, holding the office until 1869. Wadhams moved to Wilkes-Barre in 1873 and died there in 1889.
*Josiah William Eno was born in
Simsbury, Connecticut
Simsbury is a town in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 24,517 at the 2020 census. The town was incorporated as Connecticut's 21st town in May 1670.
History
Early history
At the beginning of the 17th century, the ...
, in 1820 and settled at Plymouth in 1855. He was one of the signers of the 1866 petition asking the courts to create Plymouth Borough, and was elected auditor in the first borough election the same year. Eno was elected Justice of the Peace in 1867, 1872, 1877 and 1882, and in this capacity served as
coroner
A coroner is a government or judicial official who is empowered to conduct or order an inquest into Manner of death, the manner or cause of death, and to investigate or confirm the identity of an unknown person who has been found dead within th ...
during the inquest into the Avondale Mine Disaster of 1869. He was elected Plymouth's second Burgess in 1870 and re-elected in 1871. He became the fourth Burgess in 1873 and was re-elected in 1874, holding office until the election held on February 16, 1875.''Plymouth Weekly Star'', February 17, 1875. Eno died in 1895 and was buried in Forty Fort Cemetery, Forty Fort, Pennsylvania.
*Charles H. Cool was born on January 4, 1839, at Beaver Meadows, Pennsylvania, the son of William Hoppa Cool (one of the owners of Plymouth's Gaylord Colliery) and his wife, Jane (Lockhart) Cool.Horace Edwin Hayden, ed., ''Genealogical and Family History of The Wyoming and Lackawanna Valleys'', V.2, (New York: The Lewis Publishing Co., 1906). Charles H. Cool appeared in the 1870 census at Plymouth, age 31, occupation "retired merchant." He became Plymouth's third Burgess in 1872, but by 1880, had moved to
West Pittston
West Pittston is a borough in the Greater Pittston area of Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is located on the Susquehanna River (opposite of Pittston City). In 2020, the population was 4,644.
The town once produced mine screens, g ...
. In 1892, he ran as the Prohibitionist candidate for the United States Congress, Twelfth Congressional District, and lost the election to William Hines by a wide margin. Cool died in 1927 and was buried in the West Pittston Cemetery.
*Edward D. Barthe (a.k.a. Edmund D. Barthe) was born in
Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...
on September 7, 1829, the son of Peter D. Barthe, a carpenter, and as a young man learned the printing trade. During the
Civil War
A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country).
The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...
, he joined the Pennsylvania Volunteers, Twenty-Sixth Regiment, Company C, entering the service as a sergeant and leaving in 1862 by medical discharge. In 1867, he came to Wilkes-Barre and joined the staff of the ''Wilkes-Barre Record''.H.C. Bradsby, ed., ''History of Luzerne County, Pennsylvania'' (Chicago: S.B. Nelson & Co., 1893). For many years Barthe was the editor of the ''Plymouth Weekly Star'' newspaper. He was Plymouth's fifth Burgess, elected on February 16, 1875. Barthe died on June 4, 1892, and is buried at Hillside Cemetery in
Roslyn, Pennsylvania
Roslyn is an unincorporated community in Abington Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, United States. Originally called Hillside, the name Roslyn came from rose gardens that once grew there.
The first known person of European descent to s ...
.
*Samuel Livingston French was born in Plymouth on September 28, 1839. He was Plymouth's sixth Burgess, holding the office from 1876 to 1877, and was Burgess during the 1877 labor riots. He was succeeded by John Y. Wren in 1878.''History of Luzerne, Lackawanna and Wyoming Counties, Pa.'' (New York: W.W. Munsell & Co., 1880). However, in the election held Tuesday, February 18, 1879, Samuel L. French and the Citizens Party won every contested office, and French returned to office as Plymouth's eighth Burgess. Samuel Livingston French died in 1923 and is buried in the Hollenback Cemetery, Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.
*John Young Wren was born in
Glasgow
Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...
, Scotland on July 6, 1827, the son of William Wren and his wife, Jean McCreath. He was the first immigrant to be elected Burgess. Wren fought on the side of the
Union
Union commonly refers to:
* Trade union, an organization of workers
* Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets
Union may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment
Music
* Union (band), an American rock group
** ''Un ...
during the Civil War in Battery G, 2nd Artillery, 112th Regiment, and was mustered out with the rank of captain. In 1870, he lived at Plymouth and worked as a
machinist
A machinist is a tradesperson or trained professional who not only operates machine tools, but also has the knowledge of tooling and materials required to create set ups on machine tools such as milling machines, grinders, lathes, and drilling ...
, and about 1871, established an iron foundry located on the southwest corner of Cherry and Willow streets. The business suffered during the economic downturn of the mid-1870s and eventually failed. By 1887, he and his family lived at 54 Gaylord Avenue, supported by Wren's son Christopher, an insurance agent. For many years, Wren's daughter, Annie, was the art teacher at Plymouth's Central High School. Captain Wren was elected as Plymouth's seventh Burgess in 1878 and served for one year. He died at Plymouth on June 14, 1899, and was buried at Edgehill Cemetery,
West Nanticoke, Pennsylvania
West Nanticoke is a census-designated place (CDP) in Plymouth Township, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, United States, across the Susquehanna River from the city of Nanticoke. The population of the CDP was 749 at the 2010 census.
Geography
West Na ...
.
*Henry Coffin Magee was born on February 6, 1848, at
Carroll Township, Perry County, Pennsylvania
Carroll Township is a second class Township (Pennsylvania), township in Perry County, Pennsylvania, Perry County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 5,230 at the 2020 census. It is one of twenty-two (22) townships in Perry County and ...
, where his father, Richard Magee, was a carpenter, cabinet maker, farmer, and undertaker. Magee graduated from the State Normal School,
Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania
Bloomsburg is a town and the county seat of Columbia County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is part of Northeastern Pennsylvania and is located southwest of Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, Wilkes-Barre along the Susquehanna River. It is the only ...
, in 1871. He taught school and was the principal of the public schools of Plymouth from 1871 to 1876. In October 1875, he was admitted to the Luzerne County Bar and began to practice law.F.C. Johnson, ed., ''The Historical Record'', v.2 (Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania: Press of the ''Wilkes-Barre Record'', 1888). In 1880, he was an attorney living at 115 Main Street (old address system), next door to former Burgess E. D. Barthe.1880 U.S. Census, Plymouth, Pa. That year he was elected Burgess, the ninth to hold the office. In 1884, he was elected as a Republican to the Pennsylvania state legislature, serving between 1885 and 1886, but lost a re-election bid in 1886. In 1887, he boarded at the Parrish House (formerly the Elijah Wadhams Homestead).''Directory of Plymouth and Nanticoke'' (Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania: T.P. Robinson, 1887). Magee died at Plymouth on April 27, 1888, and is buried in Union Cemetery,
New Bloomfield, Pennsylvania
New Bloomfield is a borough in, and the county seat of, Perry County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is part of the Harrisburg–Carlisle metropolitan statistical area. The population was 1,244 at the 2020 census.
History
New Bloomfield was lai ...
*Capt. John Dennis was born in 1810 at Bere Alston,
Devon
Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devon is ...
, England, and after emigrating to the United States in 1848 settled at Scranton, Pennsylvania.F.C. Johnson, ed., ''The Historical Record'', v.1 (Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania: Press of the ''Wilkes-Barre Record'', 1887). He lived at Plymouth between 1854 and 1856 when he was the contractor who sank the Patten shaft at Poke Hollow, near the corner of Washington Avenue and State Street, the first mine shaft sunk on the west side of Wyoming Valley. He returned to Plymouth about 1865, in time to sign the petition requesting the incorporation of Plymouth Borough. He was elected the tenth Burgess in 1881 and served two terms. On May 7, 1883, at a meeting of the Borough Council, the "Bonds of Chief Burgess, John Dennis, ereapproved." He died at Parsons, Pennsylvania, on May 3, 1887, and was buried in the Shawnee Cemetery.
*Thomas Kerr was Plymouth's eleventh Burgess. He was born in 1844 at
Kilbirnie
Kilbirnie ( Gaelic: ''Cill Bhraonaigh'') is a small town of 7,280 (as of 2001) inhabitants situated in the Garnock Valley area of North Ayrshire, on the west coast of Scotland. It is around southwest of Glasgow and approximately from Paisle ...
, Scotland,''Wilkes-Barre Times Leader'', March 15, 1911. but migrated with his parents to the United States in 1849. Kerr grew up in Wilkes-Barre and pursued a number of business enterprises there and in Altoona,
Hazleton Hazleton may refer to:
Places
* Hazleton, British Columbia, Canada
* Hazleton, Gloucestershire, a village in Gloucestershire, England
** Hazleton long barrows, Neolithic burial mounds at Hazleton, Gloucestershire, England
** Hazleton Abbey, a me ...
and
Alabama
(We dare defend our rights)
, anthem = "Alabama (state song), Alabama"
, image_map = Alabama in United States.svg
, seat = Montgomery, Alabama, Montgomery
, LargestCity = Huntsville, Alabama, Huntsville
, LargestCounty = Baldwin County, Al ...
. In January 1879, he established a music store in Plymouth and later added a hardware store and a real estate business. In 1887, his shop was located at 60 East Main Street, and advertised "Hardware, Stoves and Tinware, House-Furnishing Goods, also Sewing Machines, Music and Musical Instruments. Agent for Slate Roofing." In 1885, Kerr was elected Burgess as a Republican with the backing of the town's Prohibitionist faction, and in 1887 was reelected. Kerr and his family attended Plymouth's Presbyterian church. In April 1895, when no longer Burgess, Kerr acquired the Plymouth concession for Singer sewing machines. On May 4, 1895, he made news when he was seriously burned as the result of a gas explosion. Kerr died at Wilkes-Barre on March 15, 1911, and was buried in Oaklawn Cemetery, Hanover Township, Pennsylvania.
*Alfred J. Martin was born in 1839 at
Cornwall
Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...
, England, and migrated to the United States in 1869. Martin was born at the Cornwall county prison in Bodmin where his father was warden.''Wilkes-Barre Times Leader'', July 21, 1908. He was Plymouth's twelfth Burgess, elected in 1889, but probably began his term as Burgess at the beginning of 1890. However, in May 1890 John C. F. Jenkins filed a petition in the Prothonotary's office to have Martin's citizenship papers annulled on the grounds that they were fraudulently obtained. The court decided in favor of Jenkins, and in June 1890, Judge Charles E. Rice declared Martin's naturalization to be null and void, forcing Martin from office. In 1908, Martin traveled back to England to visit siblings he hadn't seen in forty years. Martin died at home at 70 Academy Street on October 6, 1913, and was buried in the Shawnee Cemetery.
*Peter C. Roberts was born in
Denbighshire
Denbighshire ( ; cy, Sir Ddinbych; ) is a county in the north-east of Wales. Its borders differ from the historic county of the same name. This part of Wales contains the country's oldest known evidence of habitation – Pontnewydd (Bontnewy ...
,
North Wales
, area_land_km2 = 6,172
, postal_code_type = Postcode
, postal_code = LL, CH, SY
, image_map1 = Wales North Wales locator map.svg
, map_caption1 = Six principal areas of Wales common ...
, in 1832 and came to the United States in 1864. In 1886, he lived at 59 Bank (later Girard) Street and was the sexton of the Welsh Baptist Church. In 1888, he was a
Justice of the Peace
A justice of the peace (JP) is a judicial officer of a lower or ''puisne'' court, elected or appointed by means of a commission ( letters patent) to keep the peace. In past centuries the term commissioner of the peace was often used with the sa ...
, with offices at 45 West Main Street.''Directory of Plymouth and Nanticoke'' (Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania: T.P. Robinson, 1889). He was Plymouth's thirteenth Burgess, appointed by the courts in 1890 to replace Alfred J. Martin. At the same time, he was a Justice of the Peace and had offices at 30 Center Avenue.''Directory of Plymouth and Nanticoke'' (Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania: T.P. Robinson, 1891). After his first term expired, Roberts was elected in February 1891 on the Citizens ticket, and then re-elected in 1892. In 1893, no longer Burgess, he was a Justice of the Peace and a real estate agent. Roberts died on January 1, 1894, and was buried in the Shawnee Cemetery.
*Daniel B. Loderick was born in
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...
about 1853. He was a
harness
A harness is a looped restraint or support. Specifically, it may refer to one of the following harness types:
* Bondage harness
* Child harness
* Climbing harness
* Dog harness
* Pet harness
* Five-point harness
* Horse harness
* Parrot harness
* ...
maker, having learned the trade from James Laird of Wilkes-Barre, who later became his father-in-law. As a young man, "Dan" Loderick was a well-known baseball player in the position of catcher for Wilkes-Barre's "shoemaker nine".''Wilkes-Barre Times'', February 2, 1898. By 1880, Loderick was living in Plymouth, working at his trade. He was included in the 1887 City Directory: his shop was at 12 West Main Street and his residence at 40 Center Avenue. He served as Plymouth's High Constable from 1881 to 1884 and from 1889 to 1892. He was the borough's fourteenth Burgess, and despite being a Democrat in an overwhelmingly Republican town, he was elected three times, serving from 1893 to 1897. Loderick died at his home on Gaylord Avenue of Bright's Disease on February 1, 1898, at the age of 45, and was buried in the Shawnee Cemetery.
*Philip Walters was born in Wales in 1846, and migrated to the United States in 1869.1900 U.S. Census, Plymouth, Pa. He was nominated for Burgess at the Republican convention held in Plymouth's Town Hall on January 18, 1897, edging out J.D. Williams and William Hoover. Walters was subsequently elected in the general election. He served until early 1900. Afterward, he served as a Justice of the Peace and worked as an insurance agent. Philip Walters died on June 17, 1916, and was buried in the Shawnee Cemetery on June 20, 1916. At the funeral, the pallbearers included former Burgess W. D. Morris and future Burgess Charles W. Honeywell.
*Elijah Cox (a naturalized citizen born in England in 1847) was elected Plymouth's sixteenth Burgess on February 20, 1900, defeating Joseph Anderson, former Burgess Thomas Kerr and future Burgess Morgan Bevan. Cox served until 1903. He died at Plymouth on February 26, 1918, and is buried in the Shawnee Cemetery.
Twentieth century burgesses (elected or appointed from 1901 to 2000)
*John M. Thomas was born in Wales in 1840, and emigrated to the United States in 1870. He was elected as Plymouth's seventeenth Burgess in the election held on February 17, 1903. Running as an independent, he defeated Alonzo Whitney, the Republican candidate and John T. Dwyer, the Democratic candidate. Thomas ran the River Breeze hotel for many years, but at the time of his election, worked as a miner at the Gaylord Colliery. On April 20, 1903, acting as Burgess, Thomas shot and killed a mad dog on Main Street. He was tried for
extortion
Extortion is the practice of obtaining benefit through coercion. In most jurisdictions it is likely to constitute a criminal offence; the bulk of this article deals with such cases. Robbery is the simplest and most common form of extortion, ...
in connection with a peddler's license that he had issued, a somewhat frivolous charge prosecuted by the peddler, and was acquitted on June 19, 1903. One of his last acts as Burgess was to sign on February 13, 1906, an ordinance creating a regular police force in the borough. On January 25, 1913, when no longer Burgess, Thomas shot and killed his son William, a veteran of the
Spanish–American War
, partof = the Philippine Revolution, the decolonization of the Americas, and the Cuban War of Independence
, image = Collage infobox for Spanish-American War.jpg
, image_size = 300px
, caption = (clock ...
. The shooting occurred on Main Street. Thomas was defended by H. L. Freeman and future governor Arthur H. James. He testified in his own defense, claimed the shooting was accidental and was acquitted by a jury on April 10.
*Morgan Bevan was born in Wales about 1850, the son of John M. and Elizabeth Bevan. In 1887, Bevan lived with his parents at 30 Ridge (now Cambria) Street. The father died in 1890. In 1900, Morgan Bevan was a bachelor, living with his mother on Cameron Street, working as a "medical salesman" selling
patent medicine
A patent medicine, sometimes called a proprietary medicine, is an over-the-counter (nonprescription) medicine or medicinal preparation that is typically protected and advertised by a trademark and trade name (and sometimes a patent) and claimed ...
s. He was elected Burgess as a Republican on February 20, 1906, defeating Bernard Feenan, the Independent candidate, John Jones, the Citizen's party candidate, and Stephen Cusma, the Workingman's and Roosevelt candidate. There was no candidate from the Democratic party. Bevan held office as the Borough's eighteenth Burgess from 1906 to 1909. He died in September 1924 and was buried in the Shawnee Cemetery.
*David D. Morris (also known as W.D. Morris) was born in Wales about 1847.1910 U.S. Census, Plymouth, Pa. He was said to have been a veteran of the Civil War.''Wilkes-Barre Times Leader'', February 17, 1909. He lost the Republican primary on January 23, 1909, to Thomas Evans. There was so little interest in the Democratic primary that no record was kept, so Morris claimed to have won it in order to stay in the race. In the end, he ran on the Citizens ticket. His campaign was managed by future governor Arthur H. James and was considered to be unusually well run. In the general election held on February 16, Morris drew 1,317 votes to Evans' 989 and became Plymouth's nineteenth Burgess. In February 1911, Burgess Morris ordered all of Plymouth's businesses to close during the funeral services for Rev. T. J. Donahue, the rector of St. Vincent's church. On July 4, 1911, Morris presided over the grand opening of a playground at Cherry Street on the grounds of the Gaylord colliery, donated to the town by the Kingston Coal Co. In July 1912, Morris made national news when he arrested 30
hobo
A hobo is a migrant worker in the United States. Hoboes, tramps and bums are generally regarded as related, but distinct: a hobo travels and is willing to work; a tramp travels, but avoids work if possible; and a bum neither travels nor works.
E ...
es who were loitering in Plymouth, and arranged for them to compete in a baseball game. The losers were arrested and taken to the town lock-up, whereas the winners were given a free dinner and made to leave town. On January 6, 1914, Morris submitted his final monthly report for December 1913 to the town council. Morris was buried in the Shawnee Cemetery with military honors on Memorial Day, 1919.
*Samuel U. Shaffer fought in the Civil War with the 143rd Pennsylvania Volunteers. He began his political career as Borough clerk in 1879, when Samuel L. French was Burgess. In 1887, he lived at 70 Bead Street, and ran a
hardware store
Hardware stores (in a number of countries, "shops"), sometimes known as DIY stores, sell household hardware for home improvement including: fasteners, building materials, hand tools, power tools, keys, locks, hinges, chains, plumbing suppli ...
at 11 West Main Street. He announced his candidacy for Burgess on July 9, 1913, and was elected on November 4, 1913, defeating Edward F. Burns by a vote of 1,101 to 573. Shaffer was sworn into office as the twentieth Burgess on January 5, 1914, by his predecessor, David Morris, and held the office until January 1918. Shaffer died on March 19, 1929, and was buried in the Shawnee Cemetery.
*George E. Gwilliam was born in Pennsylvania in 1883, the son of Welsh-born parents George and Annie Gwilliam. The mother immigrated to the United States in 1854; the father in 1865. Relatively prosperous by 1900, the father owned an insurance agency, while his son, sixteen years old, had the luxury of being "at school" rather than at work in the coal mines. By 1908, George E. Gwilliam had followed his father into the insurance business. In the primary election on September 19, 1917, Gwilliam won both the Republican and Democratic nominations defeating William E. Smith, Thomas Close, William D. Morris and Gomer Reese. Gwilliam won the general election on November 6, 1917 and served as Plymouth's twenty-first Burgess from 1918 to 1925. He was a fervent Prohibitionist and in August 1920 ordered the saloons of Plymouth to close on Sundays. After he retired as Burgess, Gwilliam remained active in politics and in November 1927 was elected Luzerne County Recorder of Deeds. Gwilliam died in 1969 and was buried in the Forty Fort Cemetery, Forty Fort, Pennsylvania.
*William E. "Billy" Smith was born in Wales about 1880, and migrated to the United States with his parents in 1881.1930 U.S. Census, Plymouth, Pa. As a young man he lost a leg when he leaped from the balcony of the Plymouth Armory. From at least 1908 until 1915, he ran a pool hall and cigar store on Main Street. In 1917, Smith ran unsuccessfully for Burgess. In 1922, he was a Justice of the Peace. In November 1925, Smith ran against John Boney, a Democrat, and Sephaniah Reese, an Independent candidate. Boney, considered a Republican running as a Democrat, did not really campaign and on November 3, 1925, Smith won by a large margin. In October 1933, at the end of his second term, Smith fell ill and Joseph Bialogowicz, a Borough Council member, acted as Burgess. Smith died on October 21, 1933, and for a short time there was a move to appoint his widow Burgess (she would have become Plymouth's first female burgess) and give her the Democratic and Republican nominations in the November general election, but the appointment and the nominations were given to Charles W. Honeywell instead. To his credit, Honeywell gave his salary for the remainder of Smith's term to Smith's wife. Smith is buried in the Fern Knoll Cemetery, Dallas, Pennsylvania.
*Charles W. Honeywell was born about 1858, probably in Exeter Township, Pennsylvania, the son of Daniel D. and Julia Ann Honeywell. In 1860, the father was a farmer. By 1880, the family lived at Plymouth where the father worked as a shoemaker, and Charles, now 22, worked in a brickyard. In 1887, Honeywell was employed as a manager for J.E. Coursen, owner of a general store, but also employed by the Plymouth Police Department. By 1891, Honeywell was a constable, tax collector and insurance agent with offices at 34 East Main Street. After a long career as a Justice of the Peace, Honeywell became Burgess in October 1933 upon the death of William E. Smith. Smith had won both the Democratic and Republican nominations, and was replaced by Honeywell on both tickets after his death, by agreement of both parties. Owing to poor health, Honeywell served one term and resigned as Burgess in December 1937. Upon his resignation, he was replaced by Samuel J. Brokenshire. Honeywell died on December 28, 1937, and is buried in Hanover Green Cemetery, Hanover Township, Pennsylvania.
*Samuel John Brokenshire was the last of Plymouth's Cornish-Welsh-born Burgesses. He was born at
Redruth
Redruth ( , kw, Resrudh) is a town and civil parishes in Cornwall, civil parish in Cornwall, England. The population of Redruth was 14,018 at the 2011 census. In the same year the population of the Camborne-Redruth urban area, which also inc ...
, Cornwall, England in 1872, the son of Samuel Brokenshire and his wife, Wilmot Opie, and migrated to the United States sometime between 1874 and 1885. The family settled on Palmer Street near the corner of Jeanette Street, a popular neighborhood for newly arrived Welsh and English immigrants. Samuel Brokenshire Sr. died at Plymouth on July 1, 1888, age 46. In 1891, Samuel Jr. was employed as a driver, boarding with his mother. In 1900, he lived with his mother and worked as a day laborer. After serving as constable for five years, on June 3, 1907, he was named Plymouth's High Constable. On his 1918 draft registration card, Brokenshire gave his occupation as "high constable" and a note is appended: "right arm amputated below elbow." Brokenshire never married, and from 1910 to 1930, he boarded with the Andrew Hendershot family on Shawnee Avenue. In the 1910 census, his occupation was given as a
constable
A constable is a person holding a particular office, most commonly in criminal law enforcement. The office of constable can vary significantly in different jurisdictions. A constable is commonly the rank of an officer within the police. Other peop ...
. In May 1912 he rescued a child from being run over by a street car. In 1921, Brokenshire made local news when he was called for jury duty. He claimed that his only vacation each year was to attend the
World Series
The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, contested since 1903 between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The winner of the World ...
and was dismissed. On May 1, 1937, Brokenshire announced his candidacy for Burgess, but Charles W. Honeywell won the election. However, Brokenshire was appointed Burgess in December 1937 when Honeywell resigned. In July 1939, Brokenshire sent the Borough police to stop Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, a union organizer for the
Industrial Workers of the World
The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), members of which are commonly termed "Wobblies", is an international labor union that was founded in Chicago in 1905. The origin of the nickname "Wobblies" is uncertain. IWW ideology combines genera ...
and a well-known member of the American Communist Party, from giving a speech in Plymouth. In the general election held on November 4, 1941, Brokenshire, running as a Republican, defeated his Democratic opponent (Edward "Starky" Stugenski) by a vote of 3,490 to 2,406. It was Brokenshire's second term. He was elected for a third term in November 1945. In January 1954, Brokenshire began his fifth term as Burgess at the age of 82, Pennsylvania's oldest chief magistrate. Brokenshire died in April 1956 and was buried in Mount Greenwood Cemetery, Trucksville, Pennsylvania.
*Horace C. Cooper was born at Franklin Township, Pennsylvania in 1883, the son of Joshua Cooper, a house builder who lived on Girard Avenue. In 1930, Horace Cooper lived at 78 Wadhams Street, engaged in the same occupation as his father. Cooper was appointed to be Plymouth's twenty-fifth Burgess after the death of Samuel Brokenshire, but failed to win election on his own account in 1957. Cooper died in 1965 and was buried in the Fern Knoll Cemetery, Dallas, Pennsylvania.
*Joseph J. Braja was born in Plymouth on June 9, 1915, the son of Jacob Braja and his wife, Hedwig Gilica. He served during the Second World War in the Third Armored Division under the command of General George Patton and fought in the Battle of the Bulge.''Sunday Independent'', January 5, 1958. He attained the rank of staff sergeant, and was awarded the
Silver Star
The Silver Star Medal (SSM) is the United States Armed Forces' third-highest military decoration for valor in combat. The Silver Star Medal is awarded primarily to members of the United States Armed Forces for gallantry in action against an e ...
(1945) and the
Purple Heart
The Purple Heart (PH) is a United States military decoration awarded in the name of the President to those wounded or killed while serving, on or after 5 April 1917, with the U.S. military. With its forerunner, the Badge of Military Merit, w ...
medals. In the 1957 race for Burgess, seven men vied in the Republican primary for the office, including incumbent Horace Cooper, who was defeated by Donald E. Hosey. Nevertheless, on November 5, Braja, backed by the Democratic boss Ben Mazur, defeated Hosey by 97 votes to become the first member of the Democratic Party to be elected Burgess. He was sworn in on February 6, 1958, and served until 1962. When not serving as Burgess, he was an employee of he Luzerne County Road and Bridge Department. Braja died on May 23, 2003, and was buried in St. Mary's Cemetery, Plymouth Township, Pennsylvania.James Ellsworth, ''My Hometown, Plymouth, Pa.'', (Plymouth, Pennsylvania: self-published, 2003).
*Donald E. Hosey was born on May 13, 1922, the son of Plymouth political leader and council member I. J. Hosey and his wife, Mary (Mangan) Hosey. Running as a Republican, Hosey was elected Plymouth's twenty-seventh Burgess in 1962, and served until 1966. He was the borough's first ethnically Irish Burgess. Hosey died on December 28, 1990, and was buried in St. Mary's Cemetery, Hanover Township, Pennsylvania.
*Edward F. Burns was born on August 5, 1922, the son of Edward and Rose Burns, and grew up on Plymouth's Church Street. His father was a coal miner. Burns graduated from St. Vincent's High School (1940) and served during the Second World War in the Army Air Forces. He graduated from King's College, Wilkes-Barre, in 1951, and after briefly teaching school in New Jersey, returned to Plymouth, where he worked as a bank employee for many years. Burns was Plymouth's twenty-eighth Burgess. He was also Plymouth's longest serving Burgess, first elected to the position in January 1966 and holding it through consecutive elections until his death on January 19, 1994. As Burgess, he presided over Plymouth's Centennial celebration in 1966, and oversaw the borough's restoration efforts in the aftermath of the 1972 Agnes Flood. Burns's love of his hometown and his relish for the job were evident to all who knew him, and, in return, he was much beloved by his constituents. Burns was buried in St. Vincent's Cemetery,
Larksville, Pennsylvania
Larksville is a borough in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is west of Wilkes Barre on the Susquehanna River (along U.S. Route 11). The population was 4,216 as of the 2020 census.
History
Larksville was formed from a section of ...
.
*Stanley T. Petrosky was born about 1940, the son of Stanley A. Petrosky and his wife, Margaret Harnen. He attended Plymouth's St. Vincent High School, where he was a member of coach Joe Evan's legendary 1957 basketball team, which won the Pennsylvania state championship. Petrosky graduated from Plymouth High School (1958) and King's College, Wilkes-Barre. He was elected to the Borough Council in 1989, and was appointed Burgess in 1994 after the death of Edward F. Burns. Petrosky died in February 2001 and was buried in St. Mary's Cemetery, Plymouth Township, Pennsylvania.
Twenty-first century burgesses (elected or appointed in 2001 and after)
*Dorothy Novak Petrosky was Plymouth's thirtieth Burgess. A lifetime resident of Plymouth and a graduate of Plymouth High School (Class of 1957), she was married for 36 years to Burgess Stanley T. Petrosky, and was appointed to replace him after his death in February 2001. Petrosky was elected in her own right in the general election that same year and became the first woman to hold the office of Burgess in Plymouth. However, in the 2017 election, she was defeated by Thomas McTague.
*Thomas F. McTague was a 1958 graduate of Plymouth High School, a former assistant to Mayor Edward F. Burns, and a former councilman from 1994 to 2014. McTague won the Democratic primary on May 16, 2017, defeating the incumbent, Dorothy Petrosky. No Republican was on the ballot. McTague ran unopposed in the general election held on November 7, 2017, and was inaugurated as Plymouth's thirty-first Burgess in January 2018. McTague died while in office on September 27, 2019.
*Frank J. Coughlin, Jr. was formerly the president of the Borough Council. He was appointed Plymouth's thirty-second Burgess in October 2019 to complete the term of the previous Burgess, Thomas F. McTague, which ended in January 2022. In the Luzerne County primary election held May 18, 2021, Coughlin won both the Democratic and Republican nominations. In the general election held November 21, 2021, Coughlin, essentially unopposed, was elected to a four-year term with 97.8% of the vote.
Coal mining in Plymouth, Pennsylvania Plymouth, Pennsylvania sits on the west side of Pennsylvania's Wyoming Valley, wedged between the Susquehanna River and the Shawnee Mountain range. Just below the mountain are hills that surround the town and form a natural amphitheater that separat ...