A history of Mount Carmel,
since 1770
Postcards, papers and photographs of Mount Carmel from public archives, woven together by decade. Neighbors fill in the gaps.
The story
from WikipediaRead it all ↗The area that would become Mount Carmel was successively part of Chester, Lancaster, and Berks counties before the formation of Northumberland County in 1772. Europeans first settled the area around 1770, and anthracite coal was discovered nearby in 1790 by Isaac Tomlinson on Broad Mountain. According to local historian Herbert Bell, the borough was named by sawmill operator Albert Bradford, who drew inspiration from the Biblical Mount Carmel in Israel, finding the elevated mountain setting comparable to the holy site.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Timeline
built from the dates on the items belowFinish Mount Carmel’s story
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
1 of 10 decades since 1900 have photos 🔁Retake an old viewPhiladelphia and Reading RR Stati…, 1917: stand where they stood+15 📦Share a family photoSign in to add one+10Famous people from Mount Carmel
See all 16 →Mount Carmel, decade by decade
1990s
Nothing in Mount Carmel is on the National Register yet
That’s true of most small towns. It doesn’t mean Mount Carmel has no history, only that no one has written up a nomination. The closest listed place is Mothers’ Memorial, Hoffman Memorial, and Veterans’ Memorial in Ashland, 4 miles away.
Mount Carmel and the nearest listed places
Closest to Mount Carmel
Richards Covered BridgeRalpho · Multiple Kingpost and Queenpost Truss6.1mi
Kreigbaum Covered BridgeRalpho · Queenpost Truss6.1mi
Johnson Covered Bridge No. 28Cleveland · Warren Truss6.8mi
Wagner Covered Bridge No. 19Locust · Queen Post Truss7miHow a place gets listed
Then & now
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as Hotel, Mount Carmel, Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, 1861 James Fuller Queen USLOC, pubdom (1851) and it appears here side by side.
🔁 Retake this view · +15Stories next door
nearby towns’ historyFrom Wikimedia Commons (6). Images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.