Eckley Miners' Village in eastern

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 ...

is an

anthracite coal Anthracite, also known as hard coal and black coal, is a hard, compact variety of coal that has a submetallic lustre. It has the highest carbon content, the fewest impurities, and the highest energy density of all types of coal and is the highe ...

mining

patch town ''Patch Town'' is a 2014 Canadian dark fantasy comedy holiday film written by Christopher Bond and Jessie Gabe, and directed by Craig Goodwill. It features settings designed by Production Designer Matt Middleton. Originally an award-winning shor ...

located in Foster Township, Pennsylvania. Since 1970, Eckley has been owned and operated as a museum 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 ...

History

Early years

Before the 1850s, Eckley was not a mining town, but a rural, forested community called Shingletown. It was located on land owned by

Tench Coxe Tench Coxe (May 22, 1755July 17, 1824) was an American political economist and a delegate for Pennsylvania to the Continental Congress in 1788–1789. He wrote under the pseudonym "A Pennsylvanian," and was known to his political enemies as ...

. The inhabitants took advantage of the surrounding woodlands and made

shingles Shingles, also known as herpes zoster or zona, is a viral disease characterized by a painful skin rash with blisters in a localized area. Typically the rash occurs in a single, wide mark either on the left or right side of the body or face. T ...

to be sold in White Haven and Hazleton. These goods were traded for the necessities of life, such as "

whiskey Whisky or whiskey is a type of liquor made from Fermentation in food processing, fermented grain mashing, mash. Various grains (which may be Malting, malted) are used for different varieties, including barley, Maize, corn, rye, and wheat. Whisky ...

port A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Hamburg, Manch ...

, and

tobacco Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ...

Coal

In 1853, four

prospectors Prospecting is the first stage of the geological analysis (followed by exploration) of a territory. It is the search for minerals, fossils, precious metals, or mineral specimens. It is also known as fossicking. Traditionally prospecting rel ...

came to Shingletown and found that the land contained several veins of coal. Within the year these four men, Richard Sharpe,

Asa Lansford Foster Asa Lansford Foster (August 19, 1798 – January 9, 1868) was a Pennsylvanian geologist, merchant, and coal mine owner. He was also a geologist, mining engineer, and publisher and was one of the pioneers of the anthracite industry. He was a nativ ...

, Francis Weiss, and John Leisenring, formed Sharpe, Leisenring and Company, later known as Sharpe, Weiss, and Company. Judge

Charles Coxe Charles Coxe (c. 1661–17 October 1728), of Lincoln's Inn and Rodmarton and Lower Lypiatt, Gloucestershire, was an English lawyer and Tory politician who sat in the English House of Commons, English and British House of Commons between 1698 an ...

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

, executor of the Tench Coxe Estate, granted the company a 20-year lease for the establishment and operation of a

colliery 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 ...

on these . In 1854, the company began work on the Council Ridge Colliery. By autumn of 1854, the company had constructed a

saw mill A sawmill (saw mill, saw-mill) or lumber mill is a facility where logging, logs are cut into lumber. Modern sawmills use a motorized saw to cut logs lengthwise to make long pieces, and crosswise to length depending on standard or custom sizes ...

to provide

lumber Lumber is wood that has been processed into uniform and useful sizes (dimensional lumber), including beams and planks or boards. Lumber is mainly used for construction framing, as well as finishing (floors, wall panels, window frames). ...

necessary for the colliery buildings, including the breaker,

stable A stable is a building in which working animals are kept, especially horses or oxen. The building is usually divided into stalls, and may include storage for equipment and feed. Styles There are many different types of stables in use tod ...

, and store house. They also began building a village to house the colliery workers. The scattered forest dwellings of the residents of Shingletown were quickly replaced by two rows of red wooden frame houses with black trim. This new village was called Fillmore, presumably in honor of President

Millard Fillmore Millard Fillmore (January 7, 1800 – March 8, 1874) was the 13th president of the United States, serving from 1850 to 1853. He was the last president to be a member of the Whig Party while in the White House, and the last to be neither a De ...

who left office in 1853. Several years later, the company applied for a

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letter (message), letters and parcel (package), parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post o ...

for their town and learned that a town in

Centre County Centre County is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 158,172. Its county seat is Bellefonte. Centre County is composed of the State College, PA Metropolitan Statistical Area ...

had already appropriated the name. As a result, the town was renamed Eckley in 1857 in honor of Judge Coxe's eldest son, Eckley B. Coxe who was then 17 years old. In later years, Eckley Coxe, an engineer, became involved in the operations in the town of his name.

European Immigrants

The first residents of Eckley were mostly English and

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, of or about Wales * Welsh language, spoken in Wales * Welsh people, an ethnic group native to Wales Places * Welsh, Arkansas, U.S. * Welsh, Louisiana, U.S. * Welsh, Ohio, U.S. * Welsh Basin, during t ...

immigrants Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not usual residents or where they do not possess nationality in order to settle as permanent residents. Commuters, tourists, and other short- ...

who came from the mines in

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...

. There also were

Germans Germans (, ) are the natives or inhabitants of Germany, or sometimes more broadly any people who are of German descent or native speakers of the German language. The Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany, constitution of Germany, imple ...

living in the village who were brought to the colliery as

engineers Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, build, maintain and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials. They aim to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while consider ...

. By the late 1850s and early 1860s, these colliers were joined by groups of Irish farmers who had immigrated to America after the devastating Great Famine in their homeland. The Irish were generally unskilled in the field of mining and so received the lowest-skilled, lowest-paying jobs. Over time, the Irish learned the skills of mining and moved into better-paying, higher-skilled jobs. By the time of the 1880s and 1890s, the low-skill jobs were being taken by the new wave of immigrants from Eastern and Southern Europe. These groups included peoples from

Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, 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, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

, and

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

. The new immigrants took many years to develop the knowledge and skills to move into the higher-skilled positions in the colliery. Many of these immigrants came to America expecting to work in the mines just long enough to save money, buy land, and return to the farming lifestyle they had known in Europe. Once they became part of the company-owned system, however, very few were able to escape the years of poverty and hardship that faced them.

Museum

The site is now run as a museum with an indoor and outdoor component by the

. Buildings that are part of the museum include: the Immaculate Conception Church (1861), three "slate pickers houses" (1854), larger laborers' dwellings (1854), St. James Episcopal Church (1859), mine boss's houses (1860), the doctor's office (1874), and the Sharpe House (1861).

Molly Maguires

Film

The Molly Maguires ''The Molly Maguires'' is a 1970 American historical drama film directed by Martin Ritt, starring Sean Connery and Richard Harris.''Variety'' film review; January 21, 1970, page 18. It is based on the 1964 book ''Lament for the Molly Maguires'' ...

'', a 1970 film, was filmed in Eckley in 1969. The wooden " coal breaker" featured heavily in the film was built as a prop. It received little or no maintenance over the years and, even though it has been called a "

tinderbox A tinderbox, or patch box, is a container made of wood or metal containing flint, firesteel, and tinder (typically charcloth, but possibly a small quantity of dry, finely divided fibrous matter such as hemp), used together to help kindle a fi ...

", still stands. The

company store A company store is a retail store selling a limited range of food, clothing and daily necessities to employees of a company. It is typical of a company town in a remote area where virtually everyone is employed by one firm, such as a coal mine. In ...

was also built as a prop for the movie and still exists today. The filming of this movie resulted in the town's being saved from demolition, and was afterward turned into a mining museum under the control of the

Town geography

Traveling east to west down Main Street the houses become larger toward the end of town. Like most industrial companies of the 19th century, Sharpe, Weiss and Company planned the village with the occupation and rent paying abilities of their workers in mind. In Eckley, the mine owners lived at the western end of town. The original

, mule barn, hotel and doctor's office were also located there. Mine foremen and their families rented the single dwellings located just east of the downtown. First class miners, those men with experience in mining, were assigned the -story double houses in the middle of the village. These were larger than the -story double dwellings rented to their assistants or laborers.

References

External links

* *

Historic American Buildings Survey The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

(HABS) documentation, filed under Eckley, Luzerne County, PA: ** ** ** ** ** {{Authority Control Open-air museums in Pennsylvania Unincorporated communities in Pennsylvania Museums in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Pennsylvania Anthracite Coal Region of Pennsylvania Mining museums in Pennsylvania Company towns in Pennsylvania Houses in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania Gothic Revival architecture in Pennsylvania Museums established in 1970 Historic American Buildings Survey in Pennsylvania National Register of Historic Places in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania