Molly Maguire Historical Park

West Centre Street

Mahanoy City, PA. 17948

(No phone at the park)

https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=236538

https://mahanoyhistory.org/mollymaguires.html

Open: Sunday-Saturday 24 hours

Admission: Free

My review on TripAdvisor:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Profile/R4960NKjustinw/mediabatch/13493199?m=19905

The Molly Maguire Historical Park at West Centre Street

The historical sign

The inside of the park

The History of the Molly Maguires in Mahanoy City:

(from the Mahanoy Area Historical Society website: (Terry Rang/Paul Coombe):

The Mahanoy City area’s first anthracite mine opened in 1861. As mining flourished in the area, so did the population, as many Irish families and other immigrants came to find work. Mahanoy City was incorporated as a borough in 1863, and by 1870, its population had grown to 5,500. The borough’s population hit its peak of about 16,000 in 1910. While the burgeoning anthracite industry made the coal barons rich, the workers toiled for low wages and in dangerous conditions. In the 1870s, tensions mounted between mine bosses and the labor force. Violence erupted between the Irish Catholics and the Protestant English. Mahanoy City became one of Schuylkill County’s sites of alleged Molly Maguire activity.

The Molly Maguires were considered an off-shoot of violent Irish secret societies, such as the Ribbonmen, who rebelled against landlords who treated them harshly and kept them in poverty. In Schuylkill County, Irish miners faced similar hardships. They eventually joined the Workingmen’s Benevolent Association, which had some success in winning better wages and working conditions.

But Franklin B. Gowen, president of Philadelphia & Reading Railroad and its coal land subsidiary, feared the power the union held and believed the Irish controlled it through the secret Molly Maguire society. Determined to break the union, he began accusing Irish miners, who he claimed were Molly Maguires, of murdering mine bosses and other violence.

In 1873, Gowen, a former Schuylkill County district attorney, hired Pinkerton undercover detective James McParlan, using the alias James McKenna, to destroy the Ancient Order of Hibernians. Gowen claimed the AOH was a cover for the Molly Maguires. In 1875, Gowen cut county miners’ wages by 20 percent, triggering “The Long Strike” that lasted five months, devastating the miners and their families. Gowen won that battle as he did his war against the AOH. Gowen and McParlan’s efforts sent 20 men accused of murder as Mollies to the gallows in Schuylkill and Carbon counties. Many of the convictions came on little evidence and McParlan’s testimony.

Alleged Molly events in Mahanoy City included the assassination of Chief Burgess George Major, a St. Patrick’s Day parade led by Kehoe against the Catholic Church’s orders, and the alleged plotting to kill “Bully Bill” Thomas and the Major brothers at Mickey Clarke’s saloon. A monument memorializing the tragic era stands at Centre and Catawissa streets. More than 150 years later, the debate continues whether the men considered Mollies were murderers or martyred heroes. While an incomplete history of the Molly Maguire era in Schuylkill County, this presentation highlights the people, places and events in the Mahanoy City area. We extend a special thank you to Mark T. Major, who granted the Mahanoy Area Historical Society permission to use content from “A Guide to the Molly Maguires,” which he co-wrote with H.T. Crown.

The inside of this quiet park tells the timeline of happenings in Mahanoy City at the time.

The historic plaques tell the story of who the Molly Maguire were and their lasting effects on the changing of mining conditions.

The park story

Who they were

The story and time line

The fate of these men in the end

The park is a reminder for the freedoms that were fought to make things better for future generations and for the stop of oppression in society. There will be different ways to interpret the story in the future but this is a reminder of a better way of life that we now enjoy.