Weeping for Minersville (Scranton, Harrisburg, Wilkes-Barre: section 8, transplants, for sale)

[Christine Anne]

This summer my 22 year old son took a road trip to Pennsylvania and stopped at my father's family's hometown: Minersville. They had a small chicken farm in the hills to supplement the income the boys earned in the mines. My father was the youngest of 21 children and worked as a breaker boy until the older ones scraped together enough money to send him to New York to learn electrical engineering.

Dad is long gone and so is the Minersville he knew.

I remember visiting as a child. It was never a fancy place, but full of good, hardworking people who lived simply. I looked over the website and took a look at the stats. Wow. That poor little city has been decimated.

I told my son to stay out of the hills.

Looking over the real estate ads was a shocker, too. For half a second, I was tempted to contemplate it as a decent place to flee New York. I know that outsiders aren't exactly welcome in any of these small towns. They weren't then, and I know they aren't now. Nonetheless I was half-hoping that ancestral roots might ease the hostility a little bit.

Then I saw that the Church was for sale.

What on earth happened to you, Minersville? Where did that hard-working American pride go? All I can do is weep for Minersville and hope that somewhere there is another little town in Pennsylvania that we might be able to call home.

[ScranBarre]

Sadly this is the case for nearly all of Schuylkill County. While Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, Harrisburg, and the Lehigh Valley have all generally managed to diversify their economies somewhat after the fall of their primary industries, Schuylkill County is just sort of "stuck" there in an economic Bermuda Triangle of sorts. I know there are some grass roots efforts to revitalize both Tamaqua and Pottsville, but if I remember correctly much of the rest of the county just looks like a wasteland that hit its prime decades ago. Whenever I come home from Northern Virginia via I-81 I dread the 40-mile or so stretch through Schuylkill County because it's just so depressing---people thinking a Wal-Mart distribution center is going to be their "savior." Most of the younger people move away for college and never return. I think establishing a private four-year college in Pottsville (Yuengling University?)would be an EXCELLENT way to spur development in the county.

[PeeAye Native]

I don't think Minersville is any worse off that it was 25 years ago. I'd even say it's holding it's own. But there is probably a 'slim to none' change it will see boom times again, like when coal was king and lubricated the local economy.

I did notice a restaurant on the main drag, that I ate in and was a popular lunch spot 30 years ago (I'm not exaggerating) finally appears to be closed, the Wynn Ann, on the main drag at Sunbury and Front St.

And in a sign of the times, two blocks away looks to be a thriving (for Minersville standards) a coffee house, the Lazy Dog cafe. It's been going strong for a few years and the Wynn Ann has been fading away for a few years. I think that is progress on a Minersville scale.

Pottsville and Schuylkill Haven seem to be where people who work (as opposed to those who are retired, which seems to be a large % of the population). And the homes are not sparkling new McMansions, but they are mostly well kept and maintained. And yes the prices that existing homes sell for for insanely low. I think i's also true that people stay in the same home for years and years, like 40, 50 and 60 years in the same place.

I also think it is still full of full of good, hardworking people who live simply. It's just a lot of then have reached retirement age. And if they wanted a faster pace of life, they would have moved away by now.

If you drive through there on a weekend, the chruches, a Saturday Night bingo hall, etc, all seem to have folks coming and going.

Another curiosity, there's a storefront bar on the main street named the Black Diamond Navy Club, there's a big old anchor out front, and over the years the place seems to be used less and less. Old timers in the coal region towns love their social clubs, especially veterans clubs like this (like VFWs and American Legions, too). And I'll predict that place will only close down when the last surviving member gets too old to go in and open it up. After all, how many people get done with a tour of duty in the Navy anymore and then return to a hometown like Minersville? That was was a WWII rite of passage, and the tradition lives in that one storefront bar. That, in a way epitomizes Minersville. People still identify with old traditions and don't really desire to change much.

[PeeAye Native]

I don't think Minersville is any worse off that it was 25 years ago. I'd even say it's holding it's own. But there is probably a 'slim to none' change it will see boom times again, like when coal was king and lubricated the local economy.

I did notice a restaurant on the main drag, that I ate in and was a popular lunch spot 30 years ago (I'm not exaggerating) finally appears to be closed, the Wynn Ann, on the main drag at Sunbury and Front St.

And in a sign of the times, two blocks away looks to be a thriving (for Minersville standards) a coffee house, the Lazy Dog cafe. It's been going strong for a few years and the Wynn Ann has been fading away for a few years. I think that is progress on a Minersville scale.

Pottsville and Schuylkill Haven seem to be where people who work (as opposed to those who are retired, which seems to be a large % of the population). And the homes are not sparkling new McMansions, but they are mostly well kept and maintained. And yes the prices that existing homes sell for for insanely low. I think i's also true that people stay in the same home for years and years, like 40, 50 and 60 years in the same place.

I also think it is still full of full of good, hardworking people who live simply. It's just a lot of then have reached retirement age. And if they wanted a faster pace of life, they would have moved away by now.

If you drive through there on a weekend, the chruches, a Saturday Night bingo hall, etc, all seem to have folks coming and going.

Another curiosity, there's a storefront bar on the main street named the Black Diamond Navy Club, there's a big old anchor out front, and over the years the place seems to be used less and less. Old timers in the coal region towns love their social clubs, especially veterans clubs like this (like VFWs and American Legions, too). And I'll predict that place will only close down when the last surviving member gets too old to go in and open it up. After all, how many people get done with a tour of duty in the Navy anymore and then return to a hometown like Minersville? That was was a WWII rite of passage, and the tradition lives in that one storefront bar. That, in a way epitomizes Minersville. People still identify with old traditions and don't really desire to change much.

Originally Posted by ScranBarre

Sadly ... just so depressing---people thinking a Wal-Mart distribution center is going to be their "savior." ...

I forgot about the HighRidge Business Park, an island of jobs. Not all of them are high paying, but some are pretty good. Wegmans has a new regional distribution center there, as does Lowes, and a few trucking terminals. Watch if the I-80 tolls go through, that business park will see some more growth.

[donnahonesdale]

They weren't then, and I know they aren't now. Nonetheless I was half-hoping that ancestral roots might ease the hostility a little bit.

I wonder if this mentality can be some of the cause for these small towns sinking. When the older generations begin retiring and closing up the shops and such, when the children of these families move out of the small towns because there is little work or they just want to move out of the "country" , then it would behoove these small towns to be more welcoming to "newbies" that might buy homes, start small businesses, help revitalize the town. To be closed to ALL new people kind of "cuts off their nose to spite their face" so to speak. Not ALL families moving into small towns from the "city" are going to bring the town down with their "city" ways. I would dare say that most that move to the country are looking for a more peaceful ways of life for their families.

I don"t know---it seems odd to me that there is so much disdain for "transplants". Just my ramblings :0). Feel free to ignore---or comment---or not as this has been a topic on here at other times I think.

[go phillies]

Originally Posted by donnahonesdale

I don"t know---it seems odd to me that there is so much disdain for "transplants". Just my ramblings :0). Feel free to ignore---or comment---or not as this has been a topic on here at other times I think.

There's not disdain for transplants if they're decent law-abiding people who move here for the right reasons. The people who come from NY/NJ to sell drugs or because its easier to get on welfare and Section 8 are NOT welcome. And that's the way it should be. NY and NJ dumps enough of its trash at DeNaples and the other landfills in the area, we don't need their human trash as well.

[ki0eh]

Near where I grew up was an area where an order of missionary nuns has set up shop due to the lack of economic opportunity. Many folks have sold out for second homes/hunting camps. Along came the state seeking a place for a low-level nuclear waste dump. One old family volunteered their land. A national TV correspondent came to ask why. The patriarch said that if it were sold and became a dump, it would still be named his family's hill, which he saw as a fate better than cut up and sold for hunting camps. Can't find the link to that particular report as it was before the modern Internet, but here's a similar report I found: Family Farmer Wants to Sell, But for a Radioactive Dump? - The New York Times

Similarly, I think there are a fraction of folks in rural communities, perhaps disproportionately represented among those in charge of local governments and community organizations, who would rather let the town die and "take it with them," than allow new blood to come in.

I'm not pointing that finger at Minersville specifically since I don't know their situation. Just food for thought for those trying to understand why outsiders might not be welcomed.

[ronjon1435]

Originally Posted by go phillies

There's not disdain for transplants if they're decent law-abiding people who move here for the right reasons. The people who come from NY/NJ to sell drugs or because its easier to get on welfare and Section 8 are NOT welcome. And that's the way it should be. NY and NJ dumps enough of its trash at DeNaples and the other landfills in the area, we don't need their human trash as well.

You said it!! Well done!