Wilkes-Barre is a city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Luzerne County. Located at the center of the Wyoming Valley, it had an estimated population of 44,328 in 2020. It is the second-largest city of the Scranton–Wilkes-Barre–Hazleton, PA Metropolitan Statistical Area, which had a population of 563,631 as of the 2010 Census and is the fourth-largest metropolitan area in Pennsylvania. Wilkes-Barre and the surrounding Wyoming Valley are framed by the Pocono Mountains to the east, the Endless Mountains to the north and west, and the Lehigh Valley to the south. The Susquehanna River flows through the center of the valley and defines the northwestern border of the city.
Luzerne County is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 906 square miles (2,350 km2), of which 890 square miles (2,300 km2) is land and 16 square miles (41 km2) is water. It is Northeastern Pennsylvania's second-largest county by total area. As of the 2010 census, the population was 320,918, making it the most populous county in the northeastern part of the state. The county seat and largest city is Wilkes-Barre. Other populous communities include Hazleton, Kingston, Nanticoke, and Pittston. Luzerne County is included in the Scranton–Wilkes-Barre–Hazleton Metropolitan Statistical Area, which has a total population of 555,426.
Plains Township is a township in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 9,961 at the 2010 census. The municipality is the birthplace of Chicago White Sox hall of famer Ed Walsh and John J. Yeosock, a United States Army general who commanded the 3rd U.S. Army during Operation Desert Shield and Operation Desert Storm. Mohegan Sun Pocono is a casino in Plains Township.
White Haven is a borough in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania. It is located along the Lehigh River. The population was 1,097 at the 2010 census.
The Lehigh Valley Railroad was one of several Class I railroads located in the Northeastern United States, and was built for the purpose of transporting anthracite coal. It was sometimes known as the Route of the Black Diamond, named after the anthracite it transported.
The Wyoming Valley is a historic industrialized region of Northeastern Pennsylvania, once famous for fueling the industrial revolution in the United States with its many anthracite coal mines. As a metropolitan area, it is known as the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre metropolitan area, after its principal cities, Scranton and Wilkes-Barre, and is the 100th-largest metropolitan area in the United States and the 4th largest in Pennsylvania. It makes up its own unique physiographic province, the Anthracite Valley, in the geology of Pennsylvania. Greater Pittston makes up the center of the valley. Scranton is the most populated city in the metropolitan area with a population of 77,114. The city of Scranton has grown in population after the 2015 mid term census while Wilkes-Barre has declined in population. Wilkes-Barre is still the second most populated city in the metropolitan area while Hazleton is the third most populated city in the metropolitan area.
The Lackawanna & Wyoming Valley Railroad, more commonly known as the Laurel Line, was a Pennsylvania third rail electric interurban streetcar line which operated commuter train service from 1903 to 1952, and freight service until 1976. Its main line ran from Scranton to Wilkes-Barre.
Penn State Wilkes-Barre is a commonwealth campus of the Pennsylvania State University and it is located in Lehman Township.
The Luzerne County Historical Society is one of the oldest continually operating local historical societies in America. It was founded on February 11, 1858, in recognition of the 50th anniversary of the first successful burning of anthracite coal by Jesse Fell, and was originally named the Wyoming Historical and Geological Society. The organization operates the historic Swetland Homestead in Wyoming, Pennsylvania and the Luzerne County Museum which also features a separate research library in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. It also administers the Nathan Denison house.
WGMF is an AM broadcasting radio station licensed to the city of Nanticoke, Pennsylvania and serves the Wilkes-Barre, Scranton, and Hazleton radio markets with a Classic Hits format, switching from Adult Standards and Tropical and Spanish language adult contemporary format in December 2008. The station simulcasts sister WZMF located in Tunkhannock, Pennsylvania. WGMF broadcasts at a frequency of 730 kHz with 1,000 Watts of power during the daytime with a non-directional antenna. During the nighttime hours, the station must reduce its power substantially to just 12 Watts which limits its listen able area to just the local Nanticoke area. The power reduction at nighttime is required by rules set by the Federal Communications Commission in order to avoid interference from CKAC, a Canadian Class A radio station also on 730 kHz. WGMF also broadcasts at a frequency of 104.5 MHz with 27 Watts of power from a site atop Dewey/West Mtn near Keyser Valley/Scranton, Pennsylvania which covers Scranton, Old Forge, Avoca, Dickson City, Pittston, and Jessup, Pennsylvania. WGMF also broadcasts at a frequency of 92.5 MHz with 250 Watts of power from a site atop Penobscot Mountain near Mountain Top, Pennsylvania which covers Wilkes-Barre, Mountain Top, Wyoming, Nanticoke, Hazleton, Dallas, West Pittston, and Kingston, Pennsylvania.
Charles Miner was an anti-slavery advocate and politician who served in the Pennsylvania State House of Representatives from 1807 to 1808 and the United States House of Representatives from 1825 to 1829. He was a member of the Federalist Party. During his terms in Congress, he proposed to end the slave trade in the District of Columbia and gradually abolish slavery across the city.
The history of coal mining in the United States goes back to the 1300s, when the Hopi Indians used coal. The first commercial use came in 1701, within the Manakin-Sabot area of Richmond, Virginia. Coal was the dominant power source in the United States in the late 1800s and early 1900s, and although in rapid decline it remains a significant source of energy in 2019.
Duryea Yard is a railroad yard in the Wyoming Valley region of Northeastern Pennsylvania currently operated by the Reading Blue Mountain and Northern Railroad. Originally constructed in 1870 by the Lehigh Valley Railroad as a turn-around and staging hub for coal transport from the "Coal Region" to Eastern big-city markets, the yard remains a hub for the energy extraction industry today.
George Curry was an American football coach. He coached high school football for 46 years, in which he amassed 455 victories with six Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association Class 3A championships. All of his state championships came during a stretch in the 1980s and 1990s, as part of a 39-year stint at Berwick Area High School in Berwick, Pennsylvania. During his time at Berwick, Curry also won three mythical national championships and was USA Today High School Coach of the Year twice.
The Wyoming Division Canal was an anthracite canal in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, in the United States. It was a branch of the North Branch Canal, which was one of only two major canals in Pennsylvania to be owned by the state. The creek went from West Nanticoke to Pittston, going through Luzerne County.
There are two types of coal found in Pennsylvania: anthracite and bituminous. Anthracite coal is a natural mineral with a high carbon and energy content that gives off light and heat when burned, making it useful as a fuel. It was possibly first used in Pennsylvania as a fuel in 1769, but its real history begins with a documented discovery near Summit Hill and the founding of the Lehigh Coal Mine Company in 1792 to sporadically send expeditions to the wilderness atop Pisgah Ridge to mine the deposits, mostly with notable lack of great success, over the next 22 years. The owners of this company were absentee management—reliant on teams of workers sent under a foreman to fell timber to build so called 'Arks', then mine coal around nine miles from the right bank Lehigh, then trek with mule loads to fill the boats for the trip down the rapid strewn Lehigh River, and then more than 60 miles (97 km) to Philadelphia docks on the unimproved often log choked Delaware River.
The Westmoreland Club is a private social club that was established in 1873 in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. Members are Northeastern Pennsylvania "leaders in the arts, business, education, government, and industry”.
Haystack Mountain (Pennsylvania), is an otherwise non-descript 1871 ft peak forming the steep southwestern faces of the Solomon Gap mountain pass's saddle connecting and dividing the Wyoming Valley from the Lehigh Valley.
Plymouth, Pennsylvania sits on the west side of Pennsylvania's Wyoming Valley, wedged between the Susquehanna River and the Shawnee Mountain range. Just below the mountain are hills that surround the town and form a natural amphitheater that separates the town from the rest of the valley. Below the hills, the flat lands are formed in the shape of a frying pan, the pan being the Shawnee flats, once the center of the town's agricultural activities, and the handle being a spit of narrow land extending east from the flats, where the center of town is located. At the beginning of the 19th century, Plymouth's primary industry was agriculture. However, vast anthracite coal beds lay below the surface at various depths, and by the 1850s, coal mining became the town's primary occupation.
Plymouth, Pennsylvania sits on the west side of Pennsylvania's Wyoming Valley, wedged between the Susquehanna River and the Shawnee Mountain range. Just below the mountain are hills that surround the town and form a natural amphitheater that separates the town from the rest of the valley. Below the hills, the flat lands are formed in the shape of a frying pan, the pan being the Shawnee flats, once the center of the town's agricultural activities, and the handle being a spit of narrow land extending east from the flats, where the center of town is located. At the beginning of the 19th century, Plymouth's primary industry was agriculture. However, vast anthracite coal beds lay below the surface at various depths, and by the 1850s, coal mining became the town's primary occupation.
