Free Essays on History Of Wilkes-barre

During the early 1700's various Indian tribes, such as the Shawanese, Delaware and Nanticoke, settled in the valley of Wilkes-Barre. In 1768, a group of Yankees, led by Major John Durke, built Fort Durkee near Ross Street. They named the area for John Wilkes and Iasaac Barre. Several battles took place in the following years, but the Yankees were finally recognized as the owners of the land. By the turn of the century, the area had a Newspaper, a post office, and court house. In the late 1800's and early 1900's, hundreds of thousands of immigrants came to the region to work the anthracite coal. This transformed the Wyoming Valley from an isolated farming area to a metropolis. However, the costs of extracting the clean-burning coal from the deep mine shafts were great in human and environmental terms. One out of every four mine workers was a boy. Boys as young as 7 worked the breakers, sorting out rocks from the coal. When mining was at its peak in this area, almost every day the papers carried an account of someone being killed. The most common injury was from fallen rock. The success of coal brought a steady stream of entrepreneurs who grew very rich and powerful. J. C. Atkins built the Wilkes-Barre Lace Manufacturing Co., and Fred Kirby opened his first five-and-dime stores at 172 E. Market St. Men like Charles Parrish and the Coxe brothers owned mines, powder mills, timber companies, and railroads. In 1857, Charles Stegmaier began brewing beer on Hazle St, and he was turning out over two hundred thousand barrels a year by 1916. Silk and garment mills became major employers for mining woman with companies such as the Empire Silk Mill importing silk from Japan. Richard Jones, a mill worker, founded Vulcan Iron Works on S. Main St. in 1849, which grew to one thousand six hundred employees, producing loc... Free Essays on History Of Wilkes-barre Free Essays on History Of Wilkes-barre During the early 1700's various Indian tribes, such as the Shawanese, Delaware and Nanticoke, settled in the valley of Wilkes-Barre. In 1768, a group of Yankees, led by Major John Durke, built Fort Durkee near Ross Street. They named the area for John Wilkes and Iasaac Barre. Several battles took place in the following years, but the Yankees were finally recognized as the owners of the land. By the turn of the century, the area had a Newspaper, a post office, and court house. In the late 1800's and early 1900's, hundreds of thousands of immigrants came to the region to work the anthracite coal. This transformed the Wyoming Valley from an isolated farming area to a metropolis. However, the costs of extracting the clean-burning coal from the deep mine shafts were great in human and environmental terms. One out of every four mine workers was a boy. Boys as young as 7 worked the breakers, sorting out rocks from the coal. When mining was at its peak in this area, almost every day the papers carried an account of someone being killed. The most common injury was from fallen rock. The success of coal brought a steady stream of entrepreneurs who grew very rich and powerful. J. C. Atkins built the Wilkes-Barre Lace Manufacturing Co., and Fred Kirby opened his first five-and-dime stores at 172 E. Market St. Men like Charles Parrish and the Coxe brothers owned mines, powder mills, timber companies, and railroads. In 1857, Charles Stegmaier began brewing beer on Hazle St, and he was turning out over two hundred thousand barrels a year by 1916. Silk and garment mills became major employers for mining woman with companies such as the Empire Silk Mill importing silk from Japan. Richard Jones, a mill worker, founded Vulcan Iron Works on S. Main St. in 1849, which grew to one thousand six hundred employees, producing loc...