The river's left bank community of East Mauch Chunk, which has more of the houses of modern Jim Thorpe, was settled later to support the short-lived Beaver Creek Railroad, the mines which spawned it, and the logging industry.

On Sept. 1st Mrs. Thorpe, saying she feared Jim would be buried in a potter's field, shipped the body to Tulsa where she said the Chamber of Commerce was going to build a proper memorial, which was not true.

The monument site contains his tomb, two statues of him in athletic poses, and historical markers describing his life story.

[18] The US Supreme Court refused to hear their appeal on October 5, 2015, assuring that Jim Thorpe's remains will stay in Carbon County.

Detractors to the new name claim that the renaming was a "Tourist Lure" and protested that Jim Thorpe had never even set eyes on the borough while he was alive.

[20] There were several movements to rename the borough back to Mauch Chunk, first in 1964 after the expected boost in tourism never came and another in 1992 as Jim Thorpe's popularity waned and locals referred to renaming the borough after a dead Native American to boost tourism revenues as "crass commercialism" while Thorpe's family called for his remains to be returned to Oklahoma.

Denise Scott Brown and Robert Venturi, renowned Philadelphia architects, conducted a little-known planning study in the 1970s that attempted to understand the dynamics of historicism and tourism, notions that have come into their own in contemporary times.

While Venturi's planning study was unique at the time, it has since become a critical factor in Jim Thorpe's rebound as a functioning and economically stable community.

[22] Jim Thorpe tourism is based on its vintage architecture, and recreation such as hiking, paintball and white water rafting.

The Carbon County Section of the Lehigh Canal, Old Mauch Chunk Historic District, Mauch Chunk Switchback Railway, Asa Packer Mansion, Harry Packer Mansion, Carbon County Jail, Central Railroad of New Jersey Station, and St. Mark's Episcopal Church are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

[25] In the deeps of the geologic timescale the two shorelines of the Lehigh River occupied by the 19th-century towns of Mauch Chunk and East Mauch Chunk were situated on the bottom of an ancient river-fed tarn, a mountain lake which filled the valley on the west bank and covered the relative flatlands on the east bank.

The muddy bottom of that high tarn (the range then rivaling the Himalayas in size), where the waters pooled at a lower elevation amongst the twisted folds of four near-parallel ridgelines, created a level region whose settlements became the relatively flat lands on either bank of the Lehigh.

The town is 4 miles (6 km) east of Nesquehoning, which is up a steep grade and around the bend along U.S. 209 South, and also butting up against the slopes of Mount Pisgah.

It has a warm-summer humid continental climate (Dfb) and average downtown monthly temperatures range from 26.5 °F in January to 71.2 °F in July.

It intersects the Pennsylvania Turnpike Northeast Extension (Interstate 476) east of Lehighton, about 6 miles (10 km) southeast of Jim Thorpe.

[35] In a poll conducted in 2009 by Budget Travel magazine, Jim Thorpe was awarded a top 10 spot on America's Coolest Small Towns.

In 2012, Jim Thorpe was voted the fourth most beautiful small town in America in the Rand McNally/USA Today Road Rally series.

Jim Thorpe is becoming a tourist destination, with many businesses catering to white water rafting, mountain biking, paintball and hiking.

Along with these sports, Jim Thorpe is popular among railroading fans for its passenger rail service, and is known for its extraordinary architecture.

The swimming portion occurs in Mauch Chunk Lake, Which has kayaking and boating rentals for the public to use as well as a beach.

The bike course takes riders through the mining towns of Summit Hill, Nesquehoning, Lansford and Jim Thorpe.

[37] The Anita Shapolsky Art Foundation was established at 20 West Broadway, in a 10,000-square-foot (930 m2) 1859 former Presbyterian church, in Jim Thorpe in 1998.

[38][39][40] There, through the organization, Anita Shapolsky exhibits abstract artists and contemporary artworks during the summer, and provides educational programs for children.