page_title: History of Plymouth, Pennsylvania
section_title: Years of industrial growth (1857–1900)
hierarchical_section_title: History of Plymouth, Pennsylvania / Years of industrial growth (1857–1900)
caption_attribution_description: First Central High School, Plymouth, Luzerne County, PA
context_page_description: 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.
context_section_description: The Lackawanna and Bloomsburg Railroad
  The Lackawanna and Bloomsburg Railroad reached Plymouth in 1857, and by June 1860, all 80 miles (130 km) of the railroad, from Scranton to Northumberland, were complete. In 1873, the line came under the control of the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad, which was backed by powerful New York financiers, and which operated several collieries along its length, including the Avondale Colliery in Plymouth.
  The railroad's arrival led to the rapid transformation of Plymouth into a major supplier of anthracite coal. Small mining operations gave way to large, highly capitalized collieries, capable of reaching coal veins deep underground. These large operations attracted foreign labor, first from the British Isles, and then from Eastern Europe. The jobs provided by the coal industry came with the constant risk of death or injury and, for those who survived, chronic health problems. The annals of Plymouth's history include a long list of mining fatalities as well as one of the nation's greatest mine disasters.
  Incorporation of Plymouth Borough
  What is now Plymouth Borough was originally a part of Plymouth Township. Plymouth Borough was incorporated in April 1866. The boundaries of the new borough extended from the line of the No. 11 Lance Coal Breaker on the east to Driscoll Street on the west, about a mile and a half; and from the river on the south to near the foot of the mountain on the north. When first created, the borough was divided into two wards, east and west, the dividing line being Academy Street. Later, these two wards were sub-divided into additional wards. After incorporation, the borough elections were held in the Old Academy where the township elections had previously been held. The first borough election was held in May 1866, and  Elijah C. Wadhams was elected as the borough's first Burgess.
  Welsh, English, Scottish, and Irish immigration
  In the wake of the arrival of the Lackawanna and Bloomsburg Railroad in 1857, a large number of immigrants came to Plymouth to work in the coal mines and, as the population grew, it became more diverse. According to the 1860 census, Plymouth Township had 2,393 residents. By the time of the 1870 census, the population had grown to 7,736, including 807 born in Ireland, 926 born in Wales, and 713 born in England. In addition to these newcomers, there were 138 Scots, 52 Germans, 39 Canadians, 5 French, and 1 Norwegian. Moreover, many of the 4,635 Pennsylvania-born residents were the children of these immigrants. By 1870, roughly 75% of the town's population was either foreign-born, or the children of foreign-born parents.
  The influx of immigrants from the British Isles led to the construction of several new buildings, including St. Vincent's church for the Roman Catholic congregation, St. Peter's for the Anglicans, the Presbyterian church for a largely Scottish congregation and several new churches for a variety of Welsh congregations.
  The Avondale Mine Disaster
  The Avondale Mine Disaster occurred on September 6, 1869, when 108 men and boys died at the Avondale Colliery, located just west of the Plymouth borough line. A fire in the mine shaft, ignited by a ventilating furnace, spread to the breaker which stood over the shaft. The breaker was destroyed by fire, trapping those working in the mine below. All were killed, as were two men who volunteered to enter the mine soon after the fire. One result of the disaster was the enactment in 1870 of a law regulating mining which required employment by the State of mine inspectors, the mapping of all mine works, the creation of two means of egress from every mine, provision for proper ventilation, reporting and investigation of all accidents and the establishment of rules of conduct for employees.
  Labor troubles
  A bank panic on September 18, 1873, led to a prolonged national depression, and by 1877 there were about three million unemployed, roughly 25 percent of the working population. These circumstances led to the outbreak known as the Great Railroad Strike of 1877. It was the first nationwide 
caption: Plymouth's Central High School was built in 1884 and was destroyed by fire in 1905.
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