Once proseperous Mauch Chunk, Pennsylvania became the town of Jim Thorpe to attract tourists but most visitors come today without knowing anything about the famous athlete.
In one of the oddest civic bargains in American history the town of Mauch Chunk traded its name for the deceased body of a tarnished Olympic hero in 1954.
The tale begins in the early 1800s as explorers and entrepreneurs pushed away from coastal cities into the mountains of eastern Pennsylvania. One such new settlement began growing along the Lehigh River where high-grade anthracite coal could be shipped to the growing cities of the Industrial Revolution. First called "Coalville," it soon became known by the Indian name for "sleeping bear," Mauch Chunk.
By the middle of the 19th century the town was a bustling center of railroads, canal boats and coal barons. More than 50 townspeople claimed a personal worth in excess of $50,000 (millionaires many times over today). Mauch Chunk was the wealthiest town in the United States. The railroads took away the coal and brought back tourists who delighted in the rugged terrain around Mauch Chunk that made the region famous as the "Switzerland of America."
But the explorers and adventurers were pressing further west and soon oil was discovered on the other side of Pennsylvania. Coal towns like Mauch Chunk began a long, precipitous decline.
Much like the town of Mauch Chunk, Jim Thorpe had experienced better times by 1950. After dominating the 1912 Olympics, Thorpe was universally celebrated as the world's greatest athlete. But after returning home from the Stockholm games it was discovered that he had played a season of semi-professional baseball while in college for $60 a month. The Olympic Committee stripped Thorpe of all his medals and although, he enjoyed minor success in professional sports, his life was a struggle ever after.
When Jim Thorpe died in Philadelphia in 1953, his widow could not afford to transport his body back to his native Oklahoma. In addition, she learned that the state did not plan a suitable memorial to the man named the greatest male athlete of the first half century by America's Sportswriters in 1950. Joe Boyle, publisher of the Mauch Chunk Times News helped engineer an arrangement whereby Jim Thorpe would be buried in Mauch Chunk - a town he had never visited, nor had any connections to - and the towns of Mauch Chunk and East Mauch Chunk would be united as a new town of Jim Thorpe. Eying publicity and tourist dollars for their wilting community, the plan was voted into being by the local citizenry.
The long lines of pilgrims to Jim Thorpe's final resting place never arrived. But the town of Jim Thorpe has indeed rebounded. Tourists come to see the architectural legacy left behind by the coal barons who built great Victorian mansions on the slopes along the Lehigh River, chief among them being Asa Packer. Packer came to Mauch Chuck in 1833 as a 28-year old carpenter and parlayed his design for a coal barge into a massive $54 million fortune. In the center of town he constructed palaces for both himself and his son, Harry.
The Olde Mauch Chunk portion of town features several blocks of historic buildings which, due to the impoverished town, were never altered or expanded. The center of town is highlighted by the Mauch Chunk Opera House. Designed by Philadelphia architect Addison Hudson, there was once a farmer's market on the first floor and concert hall on the second. It was financed by the townÕs wealthy patrons. Today, after years of disuse, the grand building has been renovated and is again hosting productions.
The Mauch Chunk Museum is a good starting point for a tour of Jim Thorpe. included in its historic exhibits is a model of the famous Switchback Gravity Railroad, an ancestor to modern roller coaster that hurtled its white-knuckled riders down the mountainside. Today the steam tourist railroad is popular, especially during the fall when the leaves ignite the mountains around Jim Thorpe.
Outdoor enthusiasts come for white-water rafting on the turbulent Lehigh River, mountain biking, and hiking. And just outside of town, in the middle of a turn-off from Route 903, is the Jim Thorpe Mausoleum. Once hailed as the savior of a dying town, the memorial isn't high on many tourist agendas anymore. Mauch Chunk could have made it on its own.
