Jim Thorpe, PA
Nestled in the Lehigh Gorge of Pennsylvania’s Pocono Mountains, Jim Thorpe is a small town with a remarkably layered history. Originally two communities—Mauch Chunk and East Mauch Chunk—the area grew during the nineteenth century as a center of the anthracite coal industry and became an important transportation hub for moving coal from the mountains to eastern markets. Its steep hillsides, Victorian architecture, railroad history, and narrow streets still reflect the prosperity of that era.
In 1954, the two communities merged and took the unusual step of renaming themselves Jim Thorpe in honor of the celebrated Native American athlete and Olympic champion, although Thorpe himself had never lived there. His remains were brought to the community, where a memorial now tells another chapter of the town's story.
Today, Jim Thorpe combines its industrial past, Victorian architecture, railroad heritage, and the unexpected story of the man whose name it bears. It is the kind of town where the history is not confined to a single site but surrounds you as you walk its streets.
Recent Posts
Living Along Race Street
Not every building in Jim Thorpe needs to have been the home of someone famous to tell us something about old Mauch Chunk. Walking along Race Street, I was just as interested in the ordinary houses and storefronts that have survived alongside the town’s better-known landmarks. Here, tall brick houses with decorative window surrounds stand […]
The Molly Maguires
This marker in Jim Thorpe tells one of the darkest and most controversial stories connected with old Mauch Chunk: the story of the Molly Maguires and the executions of 1877. During the nineteenth century, thousands of Irish immigrants came to Pennsylvania’s anthracite region looking for work. Many found themselves deep underground in the coal mines, […]
Race Street
Walking down Race Street in Jim Thorpe feels like stepping into an earlier version of the town. The narrow roadway, closely spaced stone and brick houses, and steep wooded hillside behind them preserve much of the character of nineteenth-century Mauch Chunk. The street itself has roots in the town’s early industrial history. Its name comes […]
Two Sculptures of Jim Thorpe
At the Jim Thorpe Memorial, two larger-than-life bronze sculptures capture the extraordinary athletic range of the man for whom the town is named. One depicts Thorpe running with a football tucked beneath his arm; the other shows him in the act of throwing the discus. Together, they represent two very different sides of his remarkable […]
The Stroh Building
Walking through Jim Thorpe, I kept noticing names carved into the façades of buildings. High above the windows of this handsome brick building is one of them: STROH. The name leads back to a family that was part of the commercial and industrial life of old Mauch Chunk during the nineteenth century. The Stroh family’s […]
The Carbon County Courthouse
Standing prominently at the corner of Broadway in Jim Thorpe, the Carbon County Courthouse is one of the buildings that immediately draws your eye. Its massive stone walls and tall clock tower seem perfectly suited to the narrow valley and steep mountains surrounding the town. The courthouse we see today is the third to occupy […]
The Lehigh Coal & Navigation Building
Standing prominently near the center of Jim Thorpe is the former headquarters of the Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company. After seeing the enormous piece of anthracite displayed nearby, this building helps complete the story. The coal beneath the mountains created the opportunity, but the Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company developed the transportation system that helped […]
The Jim Thorpe Memorial
After exploring the town that carries his name, we came to the Jim Thorpe Memorial. The simple red and gold entrance sign leads into a quiet wooded park, but what lies beyond it tells the story of one of the most remarkable athletes in American history. Throughout the grounds, Jim Thorpe’s life unfolds, from his […]
St. Mark’s Episcopal Church
As we walked along Race Street, it was impossible not to look upward. Rising dramatically above the narrow roadway is St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, its massive stone walls, tower and Gothic details seeming to emerge directly from the hillside. From the street below, the church feels almost like a medieval building perched above the town. […]
The Asa Packer Mansion
As we explored Jim Thorpe, one name seemed to appear repeatedly: Asa Packer. His story is inseparable from the development of Mauch Chunk, and the mansion overlooking the town provides perhaps the clearest picture of just how successful and influential he became. Packer’s beginnings were far more modest. Born in Connecticut in 1805, he worked […]
Anthracite — The Rock That Built Mauch Chunk
It is almost impossible to understand the story of Jim Thorpe without understanding anthracite coal. This enormous piece of anthracite displayed in town is a reminder that the community once known as Mauch Chunk grew because of the rich deposits of hard coal buried beneath the mountains of northeastern Pennsylvania. Anthracite is different from the […]
Carbon County Emergency Services Memorial
While so much of Jim Thorpe tells the story of coal, railroads, industrialists and nineteenth-century Mauch Chunk, this memorial brought us into a much more recent chapter of the community’s history. Standing in the small park across from the Carbon County Courthouse is a polished black granite monument dedicated to the men and women who […]
