Barrett Township celebrates its Sesquicentennial

December/2009/ Filed in: Barrett Township | George R. Barrett | Courts/Crime & Punishment | Monroe County

Barrett Township will celebrate its 150th birthday at the end of this month. This northern Monroe County township was officially created from parts of Price and Paradise Townships on December 31, 1859, although the area had been settled much earlier. Read More...

Delaware Water Gap part of 'Peaceable Kingdom'

November/2009/ Filed in: Quakers | Delaware Water Gap

Pennsylvania artist Edward Hicks used the Delaware Water Gap as a background for some of his well-known Peaceable Kingdom paintings. Hicks was inspired by Isaiah 11:6, “the wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the yearling together; and a little child shall lead them.” Read More...

Dansbury Mission spreads Moravian ideals to East Stroudsburg

September/2009/ Filed in: The Brodheads | East Stroudsburg | Native Americans | Moravians

The area now known as East Stroudsburg has a rich and early history. East Stroudsburg was settled by the Brodhead family in 1737, while Stroudsburg was not settled until Jacob Stroud purchased his first piece of land in 1769. Read More...

CDs lead cars along truly historic Sullivan Trail

September/2009/ Filed in: Revolutionary War | Kresgeville

You're driving in your car on Sullivan Trail. It's a hot late-summer day, so you're wearing light clothes, a frosty drink sits in the cup holder and the air conditioner is on full blast. But what's in the CD player is bringing you back to 1779, when Gen. John Sullivan led his troops from Easton to New York to fight the Iroquois tribe. Read More...

The first West End Fair

August/2009/ Filed in: Agriculture | Gilbert

The first West End Fair was held 88 years ago on a beautiful day, Thursday, September 2, 1920 at Weir Lake in Chestnuthill Township. The idea to hold a special day to celebrate the farmers and their goods belonged to Frank Koehler. Mr. Koehler, who was the father of school superintendent Dr. LeRoy Koehler, believed the hard-working people in the western portion of Monroe County deserved a day to celebrate and promote their agricultural products. Read More...

History of the Stroudsburg Library

July/2009/ Filed in: Education | Stroud Mansion | Stroudsburg

Founding father Benjamin Franklin has many credits to his name: inventor, scientist, author, diplomat, and philosopher. He is also credited with establishing the first library in America. A little over 100 years after the founding of Franklin’s library, and closely following Franklin’s model, 20 well-known Stroudsburg citizens gathered to create the Stroudsburg Library Company. Read More...

A walk on the historic side in Stroudsburg

June/2009/ Filed in: Stroudsburg | MCHA

Many people are planning “‘staycations’ this year,” said Amy Leiser, executive director of Monroe County Historical Association. MCHA could have the answer to this year’s “staycation” plans with the self-guided walking tour brochure, “Stroudsburg Historical Tour.” Read More...

Grateful daughter sparks first Father’s Day

June/2009/ Filed in: Holidays

The recognition of Father’s Day grew out of the celebration of Mother’s Day. The first observance of Father’s Day occurred on July 5, 1908 in West Virginia (the same state that held the first Mother’s Day) at the Central United Methodist Church in Fairmont.
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Stroudsburg cannons dedicated to Civil War dead

May/2009/ Filed in: Civil War | Stroudsburg

For 112 years, the cannons in Courthouse Square stood without any marker or plaque to show why they were placed there. On Monday, county officials changed that by dedicating the cannons to the local veterans of the Civil War during a Memorial Day celebration before hundreds of onlookers. Read More...

The beginning of Mother’s Day

May/2009/ Filed in: Holidays

The celebration of Mother’s Day unofficially began in the early 1900s. Anna Jarvis was born outside the small town of Grafton, W. Va., in 1864 to Granville and Ann Marie Jarvis. As a child, young Anna watched her mother volunteer for a number of social causes to better their hometown. For example, Anna’s Mom, Ann Marie, worked to provide nursing care to Civil War veterans and fought for better sanitation practices for her community. Read More...

Swiftwater laboratory starts with Col. Slee

April/2009/ Filed in: Swiftwater | Business | Health | Col. Richard Slee

In 1897, Richard Slee established Pocono Biological Laboratories in Swiftwater — his first client was the U.S. Army. Slee’s lab was the first and only company in the United States to produce France’s improved smallpox vaccine. Only one year later, Slee provided all of the vaccines used in Cuba during the Spanish-American War in 1898. Read More...

The early days of ‘Penn’s Woods’

March/2009/ Filed in: William Penn | Quakers | Pennsylvania

March 1st through the 8th marks the week-long celebration of Pennsylvania’s birth. In 1681, King Charles II of England granted William Penn a charter to establish a colony in the New World, and it seems appropriate now to take a short look at the man and his colony. Read More...

Poconos link to Lincoln: John Staples

February/2009/ Filed in: Civil War | John Staples

The Civil War affected the citizens of Monroe County as it did the nation. Men left their homes, families and jobs to serve in the Union Army. Joining his fellow citizens, John Summerfield Staples fought in the Civil War, and became a celebrity. Read More...

Stroud Mansion houses diverse history

January/2009/ Filed in: Stroud Mansion | MCHA

Stroud Mansion, built more than 200 years ago, has been used for many purposes, including a tavern, library and local meeting place. Read More...

Monroe County Historical Association

Stroud Mansion Museum & Library • Stroudsburg, Pa.