Coal Region

By the 18th century, the Susquehannock Native American tribe that had inhabited the region was reduced 90 percent[2] in three years of a plague of diseases and possibly war,[2] opening up the Susquehanna Valley and all of Pennsylvania to European settlers.

Both Delaware and Susquehannock power had been broken by disease and wars between Native American tribes before the British took over the Dutch and Swedish colonies and settled Pennsylvania.

In 1827, LC&N built the nation's second railroad, whose Mauch Chunk Switchback Railway ran from Summit Hill to present-day Jim Thorpe.

The region's population grew rapidly following the American Civil War, due largely to the expansion of the mining and railroad industries.

The influence of these immigrant populations is still strongly felt in the region, with various towns featuring and offering various ethnic characters and cuisine.

Several violent incidents in the history of the U.S. labor movement occurred within the coal region, which was the home of the Molly Maguires and the location of the Lattimer Massacre.

The corporate headquarters of Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company in Mauch Chunk in present-day Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania in the Coal Region. The company, which helped spearhead the U.S. industrial revolution , was founded in 1822 and dissolved in 1986.
A Welsh miner in a coal mine in Pennsylvania's Coal Region in 1910
The Coal Region's route to New York City , which ultimately served as the foundation for the Delaware and Hudson Railway and inspired the construction of the Delaware and Hudson Canal in 1872