Editing Hazleton, Pennsylvania (section)

===Prosperity and tragedy===
{{Main|Lattimer Massacre}}
[[File:Lattimer massacre.jpg|thumb|A picture taken before the September 1897 [[Lattimer massacre]]]]
[[File:Coal miners in Hazleton PA 1900.jpg|thumb|Coal miners near Hazleton]]
As industry and commerce developed, so did the footprint of organized labor. Nineteenth century attempts by the [[United Mine Workers of America]] (UMWA) to organize in the anthracite region were largely unsuccessful.

On September 10, 1897, after several weeks of escalating walkouts and strikes at surrounding mines, the [[Lattimer Massacre]] occurred when 300-400 strikers near Hazleton marched to the Lattimer Mine to support a newly formed UMW local. Nineteen unarmed [[strike action|striking]] miners, mostly of [[Polish people|Polish]], [[Slovaks|Slovak]], [[Lithuanians|Lithuanian]], and [[Germans|German]] ethnicity, were shot and killed in a confrontation with the Luzerne County sheriff's [[posse comitatus (common law)|posse]].<ref name="Anderson">Anderson, John W. ''Transitions: From Eastern Europe to Anthracite Community to College Classroom.'' Bloomington, Ind.: iUniverse, 2005; {{ISBN|0-595-33732-5}}</ref><ref name="Miller">Miller, Randall M. and Pencak, William. ''Pennsylvania: A History of the Commonwealth.'' State College, Penn.: Penn State Press, 2003; {{ISBN|0-271-02214-0}}</ref> Scores more were wounded.<ref name="Wounded">Estimates of the number of wounded are inexact. They range from a low of 17 wounded (Duwe, Grant. ''Mass Murder in the United States: A History''. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland, 2007; {{ISBN|0-7864-3150-4}}) to as many as 49 injured (DeLeon, Clark. ''Pennsylvania Curiosities: Quirky Characters, Roadside Oddities & Other Offbeat Stuff.'' 3rd rev. ed. Guilford, Conn.: Globe Pequot, 2008; {{ISBN|0-7627-4588-6}}). Other estimates include 30 wounded (Lewis, Ronald L. ''Welsh Americans: A History of Assimilation in the Coalfields.'' Chapel Hill, N.C.: University of North Carolina Press, 2008; {{ISBN|0-8078-3220-0}}), 32 wounded (Anderson, ''Transitions: From Eastern Europe to Anthracite Community to College Classroom,'' 2005; Berger, Stefan; Croll, Andy; and Laporte, Norman. ''Towards A Comparative History of Coalfield Societies.'' Aldershot, Hampshire, UK: Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., 2005; {{ISBN|0-7546-3777-8}}; Campion, Joan. ''Smokestacks and Black Diamonds: A History of Carbon County, Pennsylvania''. Easton, Penn.: Canal History and Technology Press, 1997; {{ISBN|0-930973-19-4}}), 35 wounded (Foner, Philip S. ''First Facts of American Labor: A Comprehensive Collection of Labor Firsts in the United States.'' New York: Holmes & Meier, 1984; {{ISBN|0-8419-0742-0}}; Miller and Pencak, ''Pennsylvania: A History of the Commonwealth,'' 2003; Derks, Scott. ''Working Americans, 1880–2006: Volume VII: Social Movements.'' Amenia, NY: Grey House Publishing, 2006; {{ISBN|1-59237-101-9}}), 38 wounded (Weir, Robert E. and Hanlan, James P. ''Historical Encyclopedia of American Labor, Vol. 1.'' Santa Barbara, Calif.: Greenwood Press, 2004; {{ISBN|0-313-32863-3}}), 39 wounded ([[Long, Priscilla]]. ''[[Where the Sun Never Shines: A History of America's Bloody Coal Industry]].'' Minneapolis: Paragon House, 1989; {{ISBN|1-55778-224-5}}; Novak, Michael. ''The Guns of Lattimer.'' Reprint ed. New York: Transaction Publishers, 1996; {{ISBN|1-56000-764-8}}), and 40 wounded (Beers, Paul B. ''The Pennsylvania Sampler: A Biography of the Keystone State and Its People''. Mechanicsburg, Penn.: Stackpole Books, 1970).<!-- ISBN/ISSN needed --></ref> The [[massacre]] was a turning point in the history of the UMW, with over 10,000 new members signing cards in its aftermath. However, the UMW would not be able to capitalize on this momentum and obtain union recognition in the Leigh Valley until the 20th century.<ref name="Blatz">Blatz, Perry K. ''Democratic Miners: Work and Labor Relations in the Anthracite Coal Industry, 1875–1925.'' Albany, NY: SUNY Press, 1994 {{ISBN|0-7914-1819-7}}</ref><ref name=":4" />

Hazleton was also struck by several mining disasters. Notable among these were the cave-ins at [[Sheppton Mine disaster and rescue|Sheppton]], Jeanesville, and Stockton.

Mining disasters were not the only tragedies. In October 1888, a train crash killed 66 people near [[Mud Run disaster|Mud Run]] when one passenger train crashed into the rear of another train on their way to White Haven. It was one of the worst train wrecks recorded in United States history.<ref>{{Cite book|title=History of Hazleton and Area|last=Krause|first=Arthur|publisher=Arthur A. Krause|year=1999|location=West Hazleton, PA|pages=59}}</ref>

In 1891, Hazleton became the third city in the United States to establish a citywide electric grid.{{Citation needed|date=February 2024}} Hazleton was incorporated as a city on December 4, 1891. At the time, the population was estimated to be around 14,000 people.

In the second half of the 19th century, middle class professionals whose industries serviced the mining economy led an effort to diversify the economy in Hazleton and attract large scale manufacturing employers, who could hire from the area's large pool of unemployed women. The local improvement associations who led this initiative were successful in attracting a number of firms, including several mills and a brewery. The Duplan [[Silk]] Corporation opened in Hazleton in 1899, with financial support from local banks, the Lehigh Valley Railroad, and $10,000 from a fundraising drive.<ref name=":4">{{Cite journal |last=Sterba |first=Christopher M. |date=1996 |title=Family, Work, and Nation: Hazleton, Pennsylvania, and the 1934 General Strike in Textiles |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/20093014 |journal=The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography |volume=120 |issue=1 |pages=8–11|jstor=20093014 }}</ref>