Mount Carmel Borough

Northumberland County, Pennsylvania

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Mount Carmel Borough Hall is located at 137 West Fourth Street, Mount Carmel PA 17851.
Phone: 570‑339‑4486.

Beginnings [1]

Incorporated from Mount Carmel Township, November 3, 1862. Both are named for the Biblical mountain in Palestine. The Cartright family were the first settlers, closely followed by Lawrence Lamerson, who made the first substantial improvements on a tract of 406 acres granted to him September 18, 1792; this tract was called Mount Carmel. Richard Yarnell was next, and Felix Lerch, who had removed from Elysburg in 1832, leased the Mount Carmel Inn, first opened in 1824. The town sprang up around The Kings Highway, in 1770, and passed through the borough. The town plat was laid out in 1848 and resurveyed in 1853 by a land company. Alexander W. Rea, the first victim of the Molly Maguires, erected an office building for the Locust Mountain Coal & Iron Company, of which he was general superintendent. The post office was established May 5, 1847, Paul Roth postmaster. The town grew rapidly, as it was surrounded by a deposit of excellent coal. Thomas A. Edison completed some of his earliest experiments here, and the third plant of the Edison System was erected here November 17, 1883.

Mount Carmel was the first town in the world to be lighted exclusively by electricity.

  1. Godcharles, Frederic A., Litt.D., Chronicles of Central Pennsylvania, 1944, Lewis Historical Publishing, Inc., New York

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