This home was registered in 1869 to Belle Craig. Her husband, Allen Craig, was judge of the 43rd District, Pennsylvania Senator, Civil War veteran, and lead prosecutor of the infamous Molly Maguires trial.
The area was first named “Mauch Chunk” after the term Mawsch Unk (Bear Place) in the language of the native Munsee-Lenape indigenous peoples. It would become the richest town in the U.S. during the anthracite coal boom of the early 1800’s, buoyed by anthracite coal mining, its railroads and the Lower Lehigh Canal, which facilitated the shipping of Pennsylvania’s coal and pig iron to factories, foundries and homes up and down the East Coast.
Today’s Jim Thorpe is most famously known as the location of the trials of the Molly Maguires, a 19th-century secret society active among Irish-American and Irish immigrant coal miners in Pennsylvania in 1876.
Judge Allen Craig and the Molly Maguires
In 1869, Allen Craig’s wife Isabelle Douglas, daughter of a Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company lead engineer and superintendent, became the third owner of the property. It is believe that it may have been a small building when they purchased it, and they had it finished it into the mansion it is today by the late 1880s. It remained in the Craig family until 1924.
Craig was well known for his role as a lead prosecutor in the controversial 1876 Molly Maguires trials. Convicted of murder and other crimes, four of the organization’s suspected leaders were executed by hanging in the nearby Mauch Chunk County Jail.
June 21, 1877, the day of the Mollies execution, became known as “The Day of the Rope”. Their story helped generate the support needed to create the United Mine Workers, which rose to become the most powerful labor union in America.
Mauch Chunk to
Jim Thorpe
Jim Thorpe was an Olympic and professional multi-sport champion, often recognized as one of the the greatest athletes of all time.
Following his death in 1953, Thorpe's widow heard that the boroughs of Mauch Chunk and East Mauch Chunk were seeking to attract business. After attempts of Thorpe’s widow to build a monument to honor her husband’s accomplishments in Oklahoma failed, she made a deal with civic officials of Upper and Lower Mauch Chunk.
In 1954, the town renamed the new municipality Jim Thorpe in his honor, obtained the athlete's remains from his wife and erected a monument to his sports career.
Today, his burial is still controversial, with many advocating for the return of his remains to the burial ground of his people.
In its long history, Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania was home to many firsts. The three partners of The Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company were the first European settlers to the area and established the Lower Lehigh Canal, allowing LC&N to become the first vertically integrated company in the United States. Thirteen millionaires lived in Mauch Chunk during the early 1800s making it the richest town in the country at the time, and a gravity-fed switchback railroad was built in Mauch Chunk to move coal from the mountains to the river. By the 1850s, the "Gravity Road" Switch Back Rail, was providing rides to thrill seekers for 50 cents a ride (equal to about $13 today). It is cited as the first roller coaster in the United States.
Today’s Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania is a beautiful small town with local history and outdoor activities that attract tens of thousands of visitors every year.