Shenandoah is one of the clearest examples of how coal and immigration built the culture of Schuylkill County.

The borough grew rapidly as miners and laborers came to work the surrounding anthracite fields.

Coal under the town

Shenandoah’s own borough history notes that the Mammoth coal vein runs beneath the community and that the surrounding fields were exceptionally rich in anthracite.

Wave after wave of immigration

English and Welsh workers were followed by large numbers of Irish immigrants. Later waves brought people from Lithuania, Poland, Ukraine, Slovakia and other parts of Eastern Europe.

Churches, schools and neighborhood identity

Immigrant communities created churches, parochial schools, clubs and traditions in their own languages. That is one reason a small town like Shenandoah developed such a dense cultural identity.

You can still see the impact today in family names, food, churches and community traditions across northern Schuylkill County.

Source: Borough of Shenandoah — History.