Jim Thorpe - Mauch Chunk Museum

Mauch Chunk is the town that changed its name to Jim Thorpe in the 1950s. Exhibits lead visitors from prehistoric times to present. Topics include the Lenape Indians, the discovery and mining of "black diamonds" (coal), the settlement of early Mauch Chunk, the building of waterways and railroads to transport coal to eastern seaboard cities, the Switchback Railroad, Mauch Chunk in its industrial golden age, its decline and revival as the town of Mauch Chunk which is today's Jim Thorpe-repository for the body of the great Native American Olympian.