Lansford museum’s maps give insight into the past

Recently unveiled maps at the Lansford Historical Society Museum which date back to the 19th century show how the coal town was highly advanced at the time.

Each fall the museum displays blueprint maps created by the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company in the town’s mining heyday.

This year’s exhibit features maps dating back to 1869. Volunteer Bruce Markovich said the exhibit shows long-gone features which made the large scale mining of coal popular.

“A map shows you what was here and what is gone, and the technology at the time that was present here was just amazing — for a small area,” he said.

The switchback road which connected Summit Hill and Jim Thorpe is well-known. One map in the exhibit shows Lansford’s own version which existed from 1850-71. Cars drifted from Summit Hill through the East End of Lansford and ended in Coaldale, according to Markovich. They would then be hauled back up to Summit Hill.

Another transportation feature was “the diamond” on Ridge Street, which allowed two trolleys traveling opposite ways on the same track to pass by each other.

Several maps show the Andrewsville curve, a section of railroad which LC&N built to allow a full-sized steam train to travel between Lansford and Summit Hill. Markovich said for an area as small as the Panther Valley, that was unusually advanced.

“They had the technology and they weren’t afraid to use it,” he said.

One of the newer maps in the collection is from 1914. It shows a power plant built by LC&N in Lansford, and the engine house of the Panther Creek Railroad, which held nine full-sized locomotives. Both features have long since given way to coal mining activity.

Markovich said features like that are why historic maps provide context and information that photos can’t.

“I always think maps give you a better picture of history than just a photograph. A photograph is one place, one time, where a map you can take in everything,” he said.

The map exhibit will be on display through Oct. 17. The museum is open 6-8 p.m. on Thursdays and noon-4 p.m. Friday.