Soldiers of Production: Berwick’s Honey Tanks Contribute to the Allied Victory in World War II

Posted by on Apr 16, 2020 in | Comments Off on Soldiers of Production: Berwick’s Honey Tanks Contribute to the Allied Victory in World War II   One hundred years before Adolf Hitler’s troops invaded Poland, Mordecai William Jackson and George Mack established a foundry in Berwick, in Pennsylvania’s Columbia County, to manufacture farm implements. From these humble beginnings grew a larger company that by the turn of the century joined 12 railroad equipment-manufacturing firms (in six other states) and became the American Car...
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Editor’s Letter

Posted by on Apr 15, 2020 in | Comments Off on Editor’s Letter August 18, 2020, will mark the centennial of the 19th Amendment to the United States Constitution, guaranteeing women the right to vote. In issues of Pennsylvania Heritage leading to this significant anniversary, we will be featuring articles on the early 20th-century movement that led to suffrage as it played out in Pennsylvania, as well as the stories of women’s achievements in the Keystone...
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Historic Districts in Pennsylvania: An Evolving Sense of Place

Posted by on Jun 6, 2016 in | Comments Off on Historic Districts in Pennsylvania: An Evolving Sense of Place Jim Thorpe, originally named Mauch Chunk, is a small and picturesque borough of well-preserved 19th-century buildings perched on the side of a mountain along the Lehigh River in Carbon County. It once served as an important railroad and coal shipping center. As these industries waned in the 20th century, the town sought new economic purpose by marketing its scenic appeal as the “Switzerland of...
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War and Tranquility: From Gettysburg to Glen with Robert Bruce Ricketts

Posted by on May 8, 2015 in | Comments Off on War and Tranquility: From Gettysburg to Glen with Robert Bruce Ricketts The order was clear. Capt. Robert Bruce Ricketts and his two companies of artillery were to hold the Union’s left flank on East Cemetery Hill just beyond the outskirts of Gettysburg. “In case you are charged here,” Ricketts’ commanding officer Col. C.S. Wainwright told him, “you will not limber up under any circumstances, but fight your battery as long as you can.” The reality facing Ricketts on...
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Remembering the Fishing Creek Confederacy

Posted by on May 8, 2015 in | Comments Off on Remembering the Fishing Creek Confederacy During the summer of 1864 rumors began to circulate that Columbia County had become a place of refuge for hundreds of deserters from the Union army. The federal government promised a reward of $30 for every deserter captured. So on the night of July 31, 1864, eight men left neighboring Luzerne County hoping to track down some deserters around Benton. They cornered a house in Raven Creek Valley,...
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Columbia County is Diversity

Posted by on Nov 30, 2013 in | Comments Off on Columbia County is Diversity From the time of the earliest settlements during the Revolu­tionary War era to the present day, Columbia County has been three sepa­rate neighborhoods-the southern re­gion (Catawissa and Centralia); the northern area (Benton and Millville) and the north bank of the Susquehanna River (Bloomsburg and Berwick). They are distinguishable by varied physical environments, ethnic origins and social...
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Montour County: The Little County that Persevered

Posted by on Nov 29, 2013 in | Comments Off on Montour County: The Little County that Persevered Despite its size, Mon­tour County – with an area measuring one hundred and thirty square miles, making it the smallest county in the Commonwealth – claims an undeniably large role in the cultural, political and indus­trial development of Pennsyl­vania. Organized less than a century and a half ago, the county lays hold to a number of distinctions which hallmark its place in...
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One Should Not Overlook Union County

Posted by on Nov 29, 2013 in | Comments Off on One Should Not Overlook Union County Union County on the West Branch of the Susquehanna River is one of Pennsylvania’s smaller counties, encompassing a bare 258 square miles, with a population of 30,000, including 3000 college stu­dents and 1900 inmates of two federal prisons. Few of its residents have held high political office and fewer of its names have appeared in Who’s Who in America. Yet the historical...
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Pennsylvania Volunteers in the War with Mexico

Posted by on Nov 28, 2013 in | Comments Off on Pennsylvania Volunteers in the War with Mexico The war with Mexico, declared on May 13, 1846, was not generally popular throughout the United States. Many in the northern states perceived it as an effort to expand the territory suitable for slavery, there­by increasing the economic and political influence of the South. Many Pennsylvanians, however, did not share what has since been characterized as the typical northern attitude. Either from...
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The Covered Bridges of Pennsylvania: A Guide

Posted by on Nov 26, 2013 in | Comments Off on The Covered Bridges of Pennsylvania: A Guide The Covered Bridges of Pennsylvania: A Guide by Susan M. Zacher Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, 1994 (134 pages, paper, $9.95) Pennsylvania has many types of historic structures scattered throughout its sixty-seven counties, but it’s doubtful if any are as cher­ished and admired as the covered bridge. No matter the season, enthusiasts­ – often joined by photogra­phers...
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