‘The town was renamed Jim Thorpe in his honor and his native state now petitions regularly to move his remains.’
the town is Mauch Chunk, where my Irish forbears settled in 1847...time to change the name back...
“...the town is Mauch Chunk, where my Irish forbears settled in 1847...time to change the name back...”
__________________________________
As I mentioned in post #31 the issue of the grave of Jim Thorpe and by extension the town’s name was decided by the USSC. The boro doesn’t want to change the name back and Mauch Chunk is not Irish rather it is Native American. So i don’t see your point in wanting to change the name of the town back. But if you feel strongly about it why not run for mayor and put a motion on the table?
Yes it is true that the Irish settled in mass here but there were other European ethnic groups.
One thing that i like to point out about the town of JT. Today, at the southern end of the county parking lot next to the Central Railroad of NJ train station, the Delaware and Lehigh Trail (The D&L), crosses the Lehigh River via a ped bridge (that cost over 5 million bux). At the point where the eastern bridge abutment stands is the ruins of lock #1 of the Lehigh canal, built in 1818-1820.
An argument could be made that the industrial revolution in North America started at right there. This is were the canal began, anthracite coal mined in Summit Hill/Lansford/Coaldale was loaded into barges and transported to eastern markets. It was that coal and the marketing of it, that started the USA on it’s path to becoming a great industrial power.