Schuylkill County
Schuylkill County has a a rich history: We fueled the Industrial Revolution.

Schuylkill County has a proud history: The U.S. labor movement got a foothold here.
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Schuylkill Timeline

300,000 million years ago – Coal formation began.
1492 – Columbus “discovers” America. Although other Europeans had been here earlier, this time, “discovery” leads to expeditions, explorations and settlement. Native American tribes had already been here for centuries.
1615 – Leni Lenape Indians settle in the Sculps Hill area
1638 – Swedes become the first European settlers in what is now known as Pennsylvania. They explore part of the Schuylkill River.
1682 – Charles II, king of England, charters the province of Pennsylvania to William Penn, a Quaker.
1710 – Two Indian chiefs from Wyoming Valley (near Wilkes-Barre) visit England. They take with them bags of black “stones” or anthracite coal. The English test the coal for use in blacksmithing.
1720 – George Gottfried Orwig and his wife Gloria establish Orwigsburg, which will later become a temporary county seat.
1733 – Daniel Boone, the famous hunter, is born in Exeter. His family later moves to North Carolina and Kentucky.
1750 – Francis Yarnell builds a gristmill in what is now Orwigsburg. It is the county’s first industry.
1754-1755 – The Red Church (now on Route 61 near Orwigsburg) is the first church built in what is later to become Schuylkill County. Burned by Indians in 1756, the church was rebuilt and dedicated in 1770 as the Evangelical Lutheran Church. << read more >>