On March 10, the PA Historical and Museum Commission approved 23 new historical markers recognizing people and events as varied as  Chinese Workers in Beaver Falls, the first large workforce of Chinese in Pennsylvania; Dr. James Oscar Cooper, a founder of one of America’s first Black fraternities; Ephrata Female Composers and the classic Christmas song Winter Wonderland.

Two of the markers were related to Pennsylvania's environmental heritage--

-- Anna Morris Holstein (1824 - 1900), Upper Merion Twp., Montgomery County: Holstein was the lead organizer in acquiring and restoring Washington's Headquarters and its surrounding acreage and in the establishment of Valley Forge as a State Park (eventually a National Historical Park).  Read more here.

-- Rolling Mill Mine Disaster, Johnstown, Cambria County:  Explosion at the bituminous coal mine owned by the Cambria Iron Co. in 1902. It is cited as one of several in the first decade of the 1900s – the deadliest in the history of US mining – that contributed to the establishment of the Pennsylvania Department of Mines. The 112 miners who died were nearly all immigrants from eastern Europe.  Read more here.

For more information on how to nominate people and events for markers-- those familiar blue and gold signs-- visit PHMC’s PA historical Marker Program webpage.  Click Here to search for approved historical markers.

Visit PHMC’s ExplorePAHistory website to learn more about Pennsylvanians and the Environment.

The PA Conservation Heritage website features stories, videos and teaching materials on a variety of conservation events and leaders in Pennsylvania.

(Photos: Anna Morris Holstein; Aftermath of Rolling Mill Mine Disaster.)

[Posted: March 13, 2021]

3/15/2021