Hazelton, PA

Is it Pennsylvania or Appalachia? The coal mining history of the town is evident everywhere-strip mining and tailings. The city itself still shows some traces of a classic past- old Victorian houses- now run down and inhabited by the town’s growing Hispanic population. This was the city that John’s great-grandfather lived in for 30 + years. We lucked across the gravestones of a number of his relatives in the city cemetery and spent time in the local library and historical society. The two elderly women who ran the Historic Society/Museum sat in their little “library” and told us stories of the changing town and the horrors of life as a miner. They showed us the mining histories detailing the countless deaths reported annually. Then, they told us of the changes in their town today- with the influx of Hispanics coming in for social programs, the growth in drugs and gangs and the shootings in the city. Like so many US cities, the downtown store fronts are empty, the streets full of litter, and the beautiful old houses in disrepair.

We had further confirmation of the decline talking with the locals at the “Roadhouse” were we had a huge burger and some wine. One of the locals, a CFO at a a program for kids with problems, told us of the spike in psychiatric problems. He told us that the incidence of schizophrenia and severe mental illnesses as well as drug problems have grown so dramatically in the past years.