The temperatures were brisk .. but standing in the sunlight felt warm… that beautiful March parade day in Girardville in 2008 was memorable for a few reasons: Massive crowds, the typical fanfare across the town, and former President Bill Clinton.
Bubba made his appearance to solidify what Democrats hoped would have been a primary victory for Hillary Clinton in Pennsylvania against then Senator Barack Obama. The event paid off, slightly. Hillary Clinton eventually won the Pennsylvania primary a month later–much closer than what party loyalists hoped but enough to keep her campaign on life support. The insurgent Barack Obama seemed to be a force unto himself. We know from history President Obama would take office only a year later in 2009..
But in 2008.. Bill spoke…
Clinton ate Tony’s Screamers and was saddled with green as he marched with Tim Holden. Secret Service agents mixed in with the crowd around Girardville.. It would be curious to know what Bill Clinton thought as he walked the streets of Guntown–though from Arkansas he may have seen similar sights..
And I think my Mom had a youthful vigor as she jumped from her seat to shake Clinton’s hand.
We know at least one more interesting factoid from the August 3 2008 C1 page of the Pottsville Republican: Bill also met someone’s skunk in Girardville:
Bill Clinton’s brief walk through Girardville was another snippet of interesting history for the town.. As another parade day takes place, things have changed wildly since Bill’s walk…Our lives in general have altered greatly.
Not just national and global occurrences, but those local as well.. We have had wars and viruses.. We have all faced personal losses and traumatic events.. We have all been witnesses to history and victims to it at the same time..
It is interesting to consider that Bill Clinton’s walk through Girardville was 7 years after 9/11… As we write this in 2022 we are now two decades after 9/11.
The old history is now just for books. The new history is here..
And the new history looks like a dying town.
We have coined the term previously: Towns that Dread Sundown.
It is loosely based on the horror classic about a killer with a bag over his head that terrorizes a Texas town at night..
The new version of this idea are little villages and once quaint mining row homes that are now filled with drug addiction, blighted properties, and out of state landlords that trample on the history of the area.
Girardville is not alone in this problem. Rural areas have been decimated by meth and other illegal drugs. Once upon a time in nostalgia, drugs and pot were the campfire choices. These days the bush party has run dry–it is replaced by stovetop home recipes for addiction.
Along with that, there are scores of younger people who have moved away from the coal region. Not just Girardville, but most of the towns around. Manufacturing long died away.. industry melted under the pressure of trade deals and time. The remnants of industry tried to pick up the pieces of lost business, but it faced the pressure of reality: It isn’t coming back. Neither are the youth who have abandoned the seemingly empty streets.
In the week prior to the Girardville parade, a number of social media pages pondered if Girardville should have a parade in light of blight and dilapidation.. But those questions are unfair.
The cleanup of a town is not easy, especially when it is the victim of the same plight of blight that others are across America.. The government can throw grant dollars at a problem.. people can promise a brighter future. We all know promises are as good as the “notes” they are written on..
Girardville, for all its issues, is still filled with a number of people that value history and Irish heritage. Yes, they see the same issues others do as they drive through the streets… But for them and visitors, there is no reason to cancel a parade. As a matter of fact, a parade and a showcase of town spirit is the exact thing a village needs to come together..
Even if it’s just for a day.
Girarville has a unique history unto itself.
Girardville was once known as Fogeltown, PA. John Hower developed a community chartered in 1872 from land by Stephen Girard. Girard was one of 10 children and a sea captain at the age of 25. He settled in Philadelphia and became a wealthy coal and lumber businessman. He purchased land in a little place that would eventually become Schuylkill County…
Some old historical records in a 1934 Pottsville Republican fishwrapper point to a busy and bustling town in 1930 with just under 5,000 residents.. schools.. churches… saloons.. and coal mines. As a matter of fact, records indicate in 1930 that the public and Catholic schools combined had 1,442 pupils!! Six churches in town boasted over 6,000 people due to people from Big Mine Run and other hamlets attending..
ALL ABOUT THE MOLLIES
The most famous history of Girardville revolves around the Molly Maguires…
John J. Kehoe, the king of the Mollies as he was called, lived and owned a hotel and bar in Girardville..
Better known then as “Black Jack Kehoe,” he owned the famous Hibernian House on Beech Street.
Kehoe was accused of approving the murders of several mine foreman and company sympathizers… Eventually Kehoe was hanged for his supposed crimes, but eventually got pardoned around 101 years later through the efforts of his great-grandson Joe Wayne.
The viewpoint of the Mollies probably depended on which row you home you lived in, and which side of the fence you were on.
Working class heroes? The original union organizing! Or a band of murderers and domestic terrorists!?
We know this: The Molly Maguires were a group of Irish mine workers that fought to ease the harsh working conditions in the coal mines–tactics and controversy aside. The organization was the unquestionably the forerunner of today’s labor unions.
There was a famous letter–allegedly delivered to mine owners–from Kehoe that read with spelling errors galore: “Shanty hill thursdy your a marked man prepair your coffin at once at once or else leave this place your life is doomed and youll die like a dog if you stay here any longer a mine boss Take Warning by order of Molly maguire.”
In December 1878, Jack Kehoe cried out that he was innocent just as the noose tightened around his neck.
But in 1994, during a mock trial vote, Kehoe was absolved of any past indiscretions. The Allentown MORNING CALL’s Christina Parker wrote this on December 4, 1994:
The wheels of justice creaked forward, and more than a century later, Kehoe was absolved. In a mock trial yesterday, a Schuylkill County jury found Kehoe, who lived and worked in the county, innocent in the 1862 beating death of mine boss Frank W.S. Langdon. The packed courtroom immediately exploded into foot-stomping, rail-banging cheers and thunderous applause. Some of the 400-plus crowd wept. But a few people did not stamp their feet or bang on the rails. Nor did they clap or cheer.
They did not weep with joy. “The verdict is patronizing, as far as I’m concerned,” Kehoe’s great-great granddaughter said. Patrice Monaghan, whose grandmother was Kehoe’s daughter, said the trial was a mockery. “Just now, the judge said he’s a free man, the jury found him not guilty. But my great-great grandfather wasn’t a free man. He sat in jail, and his hanging was hard. It took him a long time to die like that. People just don’t know. They don’t understand,” she said.
Much of the family is angry that the Schuylkill County Historical Society, which sponsored the trial with the county Bar Association, did not consult them before going ahead with the project.
“This just rehashes a lot of pain,” said Kehoe’s great-grandson, Joe Wayne said in 1994. Wayne successfully appealed to then-Gov. Milton J. Shapp in 1977 to pardon Kehoe.
At the time it was reported that the re-enactment of the trial was based on the transcripts from the actual trial. However, the then current standards of legal procedure were used.
“Kehoe would never have been convicted, maybe not even brought into court, under today’s procedures,” said Schuylkill County lawyer Charles L. Bressi. When he was convicted, Coal company president Gen. Charles Albright helped prosecute the case.
As a matter of fact, the evidence used to convict Kehoe was purely circumstantial when it occurred. Three weeks before the murder, he was heard threatening to kill Langdon, and he was nearby at the time of the murder. The 15-year gap between the murder and the trial dulled memories. Some witnesses died, and those that remained contradicted each other. The witnesses — almost all coal company employees — could not place Kehoe at the scene of the murder. Nor was there any other corroborating evidence.
The rest… as they say.. was history.
The history of Girardville is beautiful. Modern times may have blighted a town, but pride is deep.
From personal reflections…
I visited the A Hole several times..
I got drunk and played shuffleboard at the 2nd St Pub. So much so on new years 2004 that a friend worried for my safety and well being 🙂
I attended grade school in Girardville from 6-8 grade.
Had a burger or two at Tony’s and half priced pasta at Marrone’s on Monday nights..
Trick or Treating in town was always the greatest..
I had friends I lost from Girardville… Funerals I attended .. I have family in Girardville..
There are connections.. But so much that was once existed in the town is in the past.. And the present isn’t pretty. We can just hope the future, when Irish parades march down streets, is bright and hopeful…
