MCHA Gift Shop • Histories & Diaries

A History of the Movie Theatres in Monroe County, Pa.

By Roy E. Pipher. 2010. Illustrated. 8½ x 11, 296 p.
Covers the history of the Sherman, Grand, Plaza, Stroud, Casino at Mount Pocono, Foxmoor, early nickelodeons and other theaters ...

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Then & Now: The Stroudsburgs in the Poconos

By Marie Summa, Frank Summa and Patrice Summa Bair. 2008. Softcover, 6.5 x 9.25, 95 p.
The authors revisit the past and contrast it with the present. Vintage photographs of Stroudsburg and East Stroudsburg landmarks are printed next to new photographs taken from the same perspective. ...

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‘It Has Seamed Like War Today’ – The Civil War Letters of William D. Walton

Edited by Clarence J. Murphy. 1999. Softcover, 6 x 9, 89 p.
Compiled by the Monroe County Historical Association.

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‘I Am Giting Used to Solgering’ – The Civil War Letters of Lewis Long

Edited by Clarence J. Murphy. 2007. Softcover, 6 x 9, 88 p.
Compiled by the Monroe County Historical Association.

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BOTH Civil War Soldier Letters Books

Get both “It Has Seamed Like War Today” and “I Am Giting Used to Solgering” for only $20.

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Wildfire: A History of the Firemen of the Poconos

By Rose Schoch. 2007. Softcover, 8.5 x 11, 142 p.
The history of local volunteer fire companies is compiled in this collection of memories, newspaper clippings and historical records.

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Devastation on the Delaware: Stories and Images of the Deadly Flood of 1955

By Mary A. Shafer 2005. Softcover, 5.9 x 8.9, 456 p.
The first definitive documentary of this tragic event on August 18-20, 1995, three terrifying days and nights still remembered with awe in the Delaware Valley. …

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By Mary A. Shafer 2005. Softcover, 5.9 x 8.9, 456 p.

The first definitive documentary of this tragic event along one of the country's most beautiful rivers on August 18-20, 1995, three terrifying days and nights still remembered with awe in the Delaware Valley.

August 18-20, 1955: Three terrifying days and nights still remembered with awe in the Delaware River valley. Record-breaking rainfall from hurricanes Connie and Diane abruptly ended a withering drought, but the relief was short-lived. It was soon overshadowed by terror and destruction that tore away bridges and ripped houses from their foundations.

From the river’s headwaters in the Catskills and through the Poconos, excessive runoff surged down steep slopes and through valleys on both sides of the river. Tributaries swelled unbelievably, some rising thirty feet in fifteen minutes. Eventually, they all poured into the Delaware, transforming the usually placid waters into a raging, uncontrollable beast.

Mountain resorts were inundated, leaving cars upended in swimming pools. Entire summer camps were washed away. More than 400 children were evacuated by helicopter from island camps in a tense, unprecedented operation.

In the end, nearly a hundred people were dead and hundreds more homeless. Dozens were missing, some ripped -- still sleeping -- from their beds in the middle of the night. Victims’ bodies were still being recovered thirty years later — some were never found.

Devastation on the Delaware follows the true stories of survivors and eyewitnesses to bring these events to chilling life. More than 100 historical photos and a dozen maps illustrate this narrative nonfiction account of a tragic event that changed life in the Delaware Valley forever.

Better in the Poconos: The Story of Pennsylvania's Vacationland

By Lawrence Squeri 2002. Hardcover, 7.5 x 8.5, 296 p.
When Antoine Dutot opened the the first tourist hotel in the Poconos in 1829, little did he know that he was a pioneer in what would become one of the largest tourist areas on the East Coast. …

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By Lawrence Squeri 2002. Hardcover, 7.5 x 8.5, 296 p. | 90 illustrations, 1 map

When Antoine Dutot opened the Kittatinny Hotel — the first tourist hotel in the Poconos — in 1829, little did he know that he was a pioneer in what would become one of the largest and most diverse tourist and recreation areas on the East Coast. Although his initial venture failed, the tourist industry of the Poconos has been a long-term success, evolving and adapting to change. Better in the Poconos tells the story of Pennsylvania's premier vacationland from its earliest days to the present.

The flourishing tourist and resort industry in the Poconos can be attributed, in part, to the area's splendid mountains, streams, and forests. But the timeless appeal of nature was matched, and even surpassed, by the resorts' ability to redefine themselves. In the mid-nineteenth century, William Cullen Bryant depicted the Pocono region as a hunter's delight, describing abundant game and sublime landscapes.

The Victorian era, however, brought genteel carriage rides and croquet; later, specialized ethnic resorts catered to the minority populations of Philadelphia and New York; and in the 1940s and 1950s, the Poconos earned its reputation as a honeymoon paradise. This evolution continues today: the land of romance has given way to the ski resorts and water slides enjoyed by today's vacationing families.

Poconos resort owners and innkeepers have long recognized the cutthroat competition inherent in the vacation business. Early on, they realized that they were vying not only with each other but also with other resorts — first in the Catskills and on the New Jersey shore, and then in Florida, in the Caribbean, and even in Europe.

Better in the Poconos illustrates the strategies by which resorts in northeastern Pennsylvania responded to these market forces. They were compelled to provide superior service and amenities as well as novel amusements and activities for their guests. In the latter half of the twentieth century, for example, "super-resorts" started to supplant the old hotels: the new resorts could offer year-round activities, thanks to the invention of artificial snow. Similarly, honeymoon hotels declined as couples resorts — retreats that boasted such innovations as the heart-shaped bathtub and the Jacuzzi in the shape of a tall champagne glass — emerged on the Poconos scene.

Better in the Poconos recreates that scene and the people who brought it to life — not only the innkeepers, souvenir sellers, laborers, and service workers, but also the community leaders and visionaries who promoted the vacation economy and sought to guide it. The proper Victorians, the devoted sportsmen, the young newlyweds, the families and singles, the staid ladies of the Women's Christian Temperance Union (and the sinners whose vices they wished to temper), the members of the Ku Klux Klan, the rich Quakers, the Jewish socialists, and the immigrants—all these, and more, make up the humanly rich mosaic of the Poconos.

Lawrence Squeri is professor of history at East Stroudsburg University. He is author of numerous articles and co-author of the book Pride and Promise: A Centennial History of East Stroudsburg University (1993).

CONTENTS
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Preface
1 A Niche Resort: The Antebellum Years
2 Here Come the Vacationers: The Poconos After the Civil War
3 Never Sit Still: Surviving the 1890s
4 The Glory Days, 1900 to 1914
5 City Meets Country
6 An Archipelago of Fun, 1914 to 1929
7 Guess Who's Coming to the Poconos? The Rise of Ethnic Resorts
8 Laurel Blossom Time: Surviving the Great Depression
9 The Poconos at Midcentury: The Last of the Good Old Days
10 Prelude to Reinvention
11 Welcoming a New Millennium
Epilogue
Notes
Bibliography
Index

J. Summerfield Staples .. The Making of a Civil War Celebrity

By Dr. John C. Appel. 1988. Booklet, 5.5 x 8.5, 27 p.
The booklet discusses the enlistment of Stroudsburg resident John Summerfield Staples as a representative recruit for President Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War. ...

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Memoirs of a Country Doctor

By Marshall R. Metzgar, M.D. 1984. Hardcover, 6.25 x 9.25, 169 p.
The autobiography of a general medical practitioner for more than half a century in Monroe County.

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On the Way to Jericho

By William E. Dennis. 1983. Hardcover, 5.25 x 8.25, 70 p.
Fairway Press ISBN 0-89536-959-1

The biography of a Lutheran minister.

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Pocono Weather

By Ben Gelber. Revised Edition. Softcover, 8 x 10.75, 291 p.
Subtitled “A Weather History of Eastern Pennsylvania, the Poconos and Northwest New Jersey,” by meteorologist Ben Gelber, a native of East Stroudsburg.

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The Pennsylvania Weather Book

By Ben Gelber. 2002. Hardcover, 7.25 x 10.25, 269 p.
Meteorologist Ben Gelber, a native of East Stroudsburg, provides the first comprehensive survey of 250 years of recorded weather in Pennsylvania.

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By Ben Gelber. 2002. Hardcover, 7.25 x 10.25, 269 p.

Meteorologist Ben Gelber, a native of East Stroudsburg, provides the first comprehensive survey of 250 years of recorded weather in Pennsylvania. He reports on noteworthy weather happenings by category (snowstorms, rainstorms, cold and heat waves, thunderstorms, and tropical storms) and places them in historical context.

Throughout the book, Gelber defines meteorological terms and explains what creates weather events. The book features appendices and tables containing useful references for average temperatures, precipitation, snowfall, and climate data. It also provides a brief history of the weather watchers who contributed to the state’s meteorological records since the late eighteenth century.

This volume will serve as a valuable resource for weather professionals, amateurs, and local enthusiasts alike.

Did you know that:

• December 25, 1964, was the hottest Pennsylvania Christmas in modern times, featuring a high of 70 degrees in Newell?
•Philadelphia shivered through its coldest day on record on January 17, 1982, when the daylight maximum temperature was zero at 2:48 p.m.?
• Pennsylvania has an average of 30 to 40 thunderstorms annually?
• Although the average annual number of tornadoes in Pennsylvania is 11, a state record of 59 was counted in 1998?
• The winter of 1985-86 brought an odd cluster of holiday floods in western Pennsylvania that occurred on Election Day, Thanksgiving Day, Martin Luther King Day, and President's Day?
• The wettest year in Pennsylvania since the beginning of reliable records in 1895 occurred in 1996, when the state wide average of rain was 56.08 inches?
• Or that that driest year happened at the beginning of the notorious Dust Bowl year in 1930, when the average anual precipitation in Pennsylvania was a scant 25.37 inches?

(Hardcover) Women Who Made History in Monroe County

Edited by Mary Frances Postupack. 1995. Hardcover, 6 x 9, 338 p.
Stories and tales of the live of Monroe County women over the past 200 years.
(Softcover version also available)

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(Softcover) Women Who Made History in Monroe County

Edited by Mary Frances Postupack. 1995. Hardcover, 6 x 9, 338 p.
Stories and tales of the live of Monroe County women over the past 200 years.
(Hardcover version also available)

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The Angels Took Care of Me

By Helen G. Brown. 1997. Softcover, 6 x 9, 171 p.
Autobiography of Helen G. Brown, 1915-2008, a physical education instructor whose work formed the Recreation Department at East Stroudsburg University, and a well-known local travel writer and photographer.

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Civil War Times • August 1997

Civil War Times Illustrated magazine. August 1997.
This issue of the magazine features “At the Front Without a Gun: A Quaker Soldier Tells His Story,” a feature story about a local Quaker man and tales of his service in the Civil War.

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A Chronology of the Belvidere Delaware Railroad and Communities

By Warren F. Lee and Catherine T. Lee. 1989. Hardcover, 8.5 x 11, 390 p.
Subtitled “And the Communities Through Which It Operated.”

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Monroe County Sesquicentennial 1836-1986

1986. Softcover, 8.5 x 11, 192 p.
Commemorative edition noting the 150-year anniversary of Monroe County.

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Pohoqualin: Delaware Water Gap Reflections

By Francis R. Drake. 1999.
Subtitled “A Personal History," this book is an autobiographical history of Delaware Water Gap and was published two years after the death of the author, a former mayor of the borough of Delaware Water Gap and long active in community history. ...

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Lasting Legacies of the Lower Minisink

By Nancy Michael Shukaitis. 2007.
Subtitled “An important history of the Delaware River north of the Delaware Water Gap” ...

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By Nancy Michael Shukaitis. 2007.
Subtitled “An important history of the Delaware River north of the Delaware Water Gap,” the purpose of this book is to honor the history of the place now called Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area.

Nancy Michael Shukaitis spent her first 21 years on the Delaware River at her parent's farm. When utility interests proposed a dam in 1947 they were met with a protest petition she provided for the Federal Power Commission. Tocks Island Dam was approved without public Congressional hearings in 1962, and thus prompted yearly input in House and Senate Public Works and Interior hearings from 1964 to 1978 when the Wild & Scenic Rivers Act precluded damming the Middle Delaware River. She and many others worked to coordinate citizen knowledge and research that led to formation of the Save the Delaware Coalition. It took 30 years to remove Tocks Island Dam from the Congressional list of projects awaiting construction.

Lavishly illustrated with many photographs, illustrations, and maps, the book introduces more than 100 residents whose lives were interrupted by the 1962 and 1965 federal declarations of eminent domain. Inspired by a meeting of the Dutch Hill Gun Club where it was decided that it was necessary to document the unfolding history caused by this second displacement of the Lower Minisink's inhabitants, the book also walks readers through the anxieties of displaced citizens, and difficulties faced when serious attempts are made to alter the course of a flawed federal program.

Through historical research the book also explores the dynamic colonial history of an otherwise scenic, demure portion of Americana.

Monroe County Historical Association

Stroud Mansion Museum & Library • Stroudsburg, Pa.

A History of the Movie Theatres in Monroe County, Pa.

Then & Now: The Stroudsburgs in the Poconos

‘It Has Seamed Like War Today’ – The Civil War Letters of William D. Walton

‘I Am Giting Used to Solgering’ – The Civil War Letters of Lewis Long

BOTH Civil War Soldier Letters Books

Wildfire: A History of the Firemen of the Poconos

Devastation on the Delaware: Stories and Images of the Deadly Flood of 1955

Better in the Poconos: The Story of Pennsylvania's Vacationland

J. Summerfield Staples .. The Making of a Civil War Celebrity

Memoirs of a Country Doctor

On the Way to Jericho

Pocono Weather

The Pennsylvania Weather Book

(Hardcover) Women Who Made History in Monroe County

(Softcover) Women Who Made History in Monroe County

The Angels Took Care of Me

Civil War Times • August 1997

A Chronology of the Belvidere Delaware Railroad and Communities

Monroe County Sesquicentennial 1836-1986

Pohoqualin: Delaware Water Gap Reflections

Lasting Legacies of the Lower Minisink