Through an extraordinary collection of photographs, Jim Thorpe tells the story of not only the athlete but its famed coal-mining industry. What was originally named Mauch Chunk, Jim Thorpe was established on the Lehigh River as a shipping depot for anthracite coal in 1818 by Josiah White, a Philadelphia Quaker and brilliant engineer, and his trusted business partner, Erskine Hazard. By 1829, White and Hazard had founded the Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company and built an efficient transportation system that moved coal nine miles over the mountains to Mauch Chunk by Switchback Gravity Railroad, and 46 miles along the Lehigh Canal to Easton. With the arrival of the railroads, the Switchback became a major tourist attraction. As rail excursionists descended on Mauch Chunk to experience a hair-raising ride on America's first roller coaster and enjoy the magnificent scenery, the coal shipping town, billed by the railroads as "the Switzerland of America," became a tourist destination second in popularity only to Niagara Falls. In a story stranger than fiction, the town exchanged its name for the name of Jim Thorpe when the 1912 Olympic hero was laid to rest there in 1954. Jim Thorpe (Mauch Chunk) tells the story of the athlete and his burial, the Switchback Gravity Railroad, the Lehigh Canal, the social scene, and the town's Victorian legacy.

Mauch Chunk, now Jim Thorpe, was established on the Lehigh River as a shipping depot for anthracite coal in 1818 by Josiah White, a Philadelphia Quaker and brilliant engineer, and his trusted business partner, Erskine Hazard. By 1829, White and Hazard had founded the Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company and built an efficient transportation system that moved coal nine miles over the mountains to Mauch Chunk by Switchback Gravity Railroad, and forty-six miles along the Lehigh Canal to Easton. With the arrival of the railroads, the Switchback became a major tourist attraction. As rail excursionists descended on Mauch Chunk to experience a hair-raising ride on America's first roller coaster and enjoy the magnificent scenery, the coal shipping town, billed by the railroads as "the Switzerland of America," became a tourist destination second in popularity to Niagara Falls. In a story stranger than fiction, the town exchanged its name for the name of Jim Thorpe when the 1912 Olympic hero was laid to rest there in 1954. Through an extraordinary collection of photographs, Jim Thorpe (Mauch Chunk) tells the story of the athlete and his burial, the Switchback Gravity Railroad, the Lehigh Canal, the social scene, and the town's Victorian legacy.

Jim Thorpe in the 20th Century examines the causes and effects of a community's decision to relinquish its Native American name Mauch Chunk (“Bear Mountain”) to become the town of Jim Thorpe. In the 19th century, Mauch Chunk rode a wave of prosperity, as coal shipping and tourism turned ordinary men into millionaires. In the 20th century, the mainstays of the town's economy began to tumble like dominoes: mule-drawn coal boats could not compete with the iron horse, ending Mauch Chunk's days as a canal town by 1922; the touristattracting Switchback Gravity Railroad, unable to afford parts, closed in 1932; the coal mines and working railroads collapsed, as industry, home heating, and trucking turned to petroleum. Downand-out by the mid-1900s, Mauch Chunk was looking for a means of saving itself when the widow of 1912 Olympian Jim Thorpe proposed a stranger-than-fiction solution.

Chronicles defining moments in the career of the preeminent American athlete, from his contributions to college football and gold-medal wins at the 1912 Olympics to his role in shaping professional football and baseball, in a portrait that also discusses his private struggles and political views.

A biography of the American Indian known as one of the best all-round athletes in history for his accomplishments as an Olympic medal winner and as an outstanding professional football and baseball player.

"Ingredients: Highly crafted illustrations, brilliant alliterations, illuminated typeface, organically grown vocabulary, science, physics, biology, mysticism, magical thinking, fish, anti-matter, children, cat, generous dash of whimsy and acorns."--Dust jacket.