Ashland is a

borough A borough is an administrative division in various English language, English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History ...

in Schuylkill and Columbia counties in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

, northwest of Pottsville. It is part of

Northeastern Pennsylvania Northeastern Pennsylvania (NEPA or Nepa) is a region of the U.S. state of Pennsylvania that includes the Pocono Mountains, the Endless Mountains, and the industrial cities of Scranton (the area's largest city), Wilkes-Barre, Pittston, Ha ...

. A small part of the borough also lies in Columbia County, although all of the population resided in the Schuylkill County portion as of the 2020 census. The borough lies in the

anthracite Anthracite, also known as hard coal and black coal, is a hard, compact variety of coal that has a lustre (mineralogy)#Submetallic lustre, submetallic lustre. It has the highest carbon content, the fewest impurities, and the highest energy densit ...

coal region The Coal Region is a region of Northeastern Pennsylvania. It is known for being home to the largest known deposits of anthracite, anthracite coal in the world with an estimated reserve of seven billion short tons. The region is typically defined ...

of eastern Pennsylvania. Settled in 1850, Ashland was incorporated in 1857, and was named for

Henry Clay Henry Clay (April 12, 1777June 29, 1852) was an American lawyer and statesman who represented Kentucky in both the United States Senate, U.S. Senate and United States House of Representatives, House of Representatives. He was the seventh Spea ...

's estate near

Lexington, Kentucky Lexington is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city coterminous with and the county seat of Fayette County, Kentucky, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census the city's population was 322,570, making it the List of ...

. The population in 1900 was 6,438, and in 1940, 7,045, but had dropped to 2,471 at the 2020 census. It is the location of Pioneer Tunnel, a tourist attraction featuring a tour of a coal mine on mine cars and a separate

narrow gauge A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge (distance between the rails) narrower than . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with Minimum railw ...

steam train ride.

History

For a long time after southern Pennsylvania was settled, the area that is now Ashland was mostly wilderness except for a hotel in the area in 1820. A prominent citizen of the county, Burd S. Patterson, however, predicted that the area would eventually become a prominent mining town. In 1845, John P. Brock and James Hart joined Patterson in buying of land in the Ashland area. In 1846, a group of miners led by Patrick Devine developed

coal seams Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground or from a mine. 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 extra ...

in veins in the area. However, the town progressed little over the next three years. By 1857, though, the town had 3,500 people, and Ashland became a borough, detaching itself from Butler Township. The first post office was built in 1853, and the first church was built in 1855. Thumbnail IMG 89456756

The Mothers' Memorial, also known as the Whistlers Mother Statue, is located at the junction of

Pennsylvania Route 54 Pennsylvania Route 54 (PA 54) is a state highway which runs for in eastern Pennsylvania in the United States. The highway runs from U.S. Route 15 in Pennsylvania, U.S. Route 15 (US 15), which is three miles (5 km) west of Montgomery, ...

and

Pennsylvania Route 61 Pennsylvania Route 61 (PA 61) is an state highway that is located in Pennsylvania in the United States. The route is signed north-south despite running in a northwest-southeast direction from U.S. Route 222 Business (Reading, Pennsylvania), U ...

. The Mothers' Memorial is a bronze reproduction of the famous

James Abbott McNeill Whistler James Abbott McNeill Whistler (; July 10, 1834July 17, 1903) was an American painter in oils and watercolor, and printmaker, active during the American Gilded Age and based primarily in the United Kingdom. He eschewed sentimentality and moral a ...

artistic painting: "An Arrangement in Grey and Black No. 1", commonly known as "

Whistler's Mother ''Arrangement in Grey and Black No. 1'', best known under its colloquial name ''Whistler's Mother'' or ''Portrait of Artist's Mother'', is a painting in oils on canvas created by the American-born painter James McNeill Whistler in 1871. The sub ...

". The WPA-built "Mothers' Memorial" honors all mothers of the United States and it's the only one of its kind in the

world The world is the totality of entities, the whole of reality, or everything that Existence, exists. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the world as unique, while others talk ...

. It was designed by the sculptor Emil Siebern, carried out by Julius C. Loester, commissioned and erected during the misery of the

Great Depression in the United States In the United States, the Great Depression began with the Wall Street Crash of October 1929 and then spread worldwide. The nadir came in 1931–1933, and recovery came in 1940. The stock market crash marked the beginning of a decade of high u ...

by the Ashland Boys' Association and dedicated on Sunday, September 4, 1938, during Labor Day weekend. President

Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), also known as FDR, was the 32nd president of the United States, serving from 1933 until his death in 1945. He is the longest-serving U.S. president, and the only one to have served ...

economic recovery plan of the

Works Progress Administration The Works Progress Administration (WPA; from 1935 to 1939, then known as the Work Projects Administration from 1939 to 1943) was an American New Deal agency that employed millions of jobseekers (mostly men who were not formally educated) to car ...

(WPA) carried out the stone masonry work. On September 17, 2020, the Mothers' Memorial, Hoffman Memorial, and the Veterans' Memorial, were added by the

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an List of federal agencies in the United States, agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government, within the US Department of the Interior. The service manages all List ...

to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

as a Historic District. The Ashland Boys' Association (A.B.A.) was an inspirational story of former residents of Ashland who had to leave town for work when the

mining failed in the late 1800s. Ashland men returned home every

Labor Day Labor Day is a Federal holidays in the United States, federal holiday in the United States celebrated on the first Monday of September to honor and recognize the Labor history of the United States, American labor movement and the works and con ...

weekend for little more than a century to visit the old hometown and march in the grand Ashland Boys' Association Mummers' Parade. This unique show of attachment to family, friends, and comforts of home erected the WPA-built Mothers' Memorial statue that became the Ashland Boys' Association's legacy – an American icon and a symbol of

motherhood A mother is the female parent of a child. A woman may be considered a mother by virtue of having given childbirth, birth, by raising a child who may or may not be her biological offspring, or by supplying her ovum for fertilisation in the case ...

in the United States. The Ashland Boys' Association was honored with a State Historical Marker () by the

Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission The Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission (PHMC) is the governmental agency of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, responsible for the collection, conservation, and interpretation of Pennsylvania's heritage. The commission cares for hist ...

on August 31, 2013. The historical marker was unveiled by Adam J. Bernodin, III and James Klock. Goynebros1jpg

Goyne Brothers was a family-owned firm that came into existence in 1881. Goyne Brothers which later changed the name in 1903 to Goyne Steam

Pump A pump is a device that moves fluids (liquids or gases), or sometimes Slurry, slurries, by mechanical action, typically converted from electrical energy into hydraulic or pneumatic energy. Mechanical pumps serve in a wide range of application ...

Company were manufacturers of general mining machinery, and in 1883, they determined to make the manufacture of mining pumps as a specialty. The Goyne Steam Pump Company in 1911, became known as one of the most substantial exclusive mine pump manufacturing plants in the United States. The importance of coal mining drainage launched out mine pumpers exclusively and the Goyne Steam Pump Company invented, engineered, manufactured, and sold over 250 different mining pump designs and sizes, ranging from single pump up to the largest compound condensing duplex machines practicable for mining purposes throughout the

and

bituminous coal Bituminous coal, or black coal, is a type of coal containing a tar-like substance called bitumen or asphalt. Its coloration can be black or sometimes dark brown; often there are well-defined bands of bright and dull material within the coal seam, ...

regions of Pennsylvania, and the United States. The Goyne Steam Pump Company changed the name to Goyne Pump Company in 1955, and the company was purchased in 1979 by Goulds Pumps

Points of interest

*Mothers’ Memorial (Whistler's Mother Statue) *Ashland Boys’ Association Pennsylvania Historical Marker *Pioneer Tunnel Coal Mine and Steam Train *Ashland Area Historic Preservation Society Museum *Station House *Dr. J. L. Hoffman Memorial * The Museum of Anthracite Mining *Military Veterans Monument *World War I Field Piece *Washington Fire Company Historic Bell Tower/Foghorn *Ashland Town Clock

Geography

Ashland is located along the northern boundary of Schuylkill County at (40.781587, -76.344426). A small portion of the borough, constituting less than 1% of its area, extends north into Columbia County. Butler Township of Schuylkill County borders Ashland to the east, south, and west, while Conyngham Township of Columbia County borders the borough to the north. According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...

, Ashland has a total area of , all land. Ashland is served by

and

. PA 54 leads east-northeast to

Girardville Girardville may refer to: * Girardville, Pennsylvania, United States * Girardville, Quebec, Canada {{geodis {{authority control Populated places established in 1820 1857 establishments in Pennsylvania Municipalities of the Anthracite Coal Region of Pennsylvania Bloomsburg–Berwick metropolitan area Boroughs in Columbia County, Pennsylvania Boroughs in Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania Coal towns in Pennsylvania