Welcome to Ashland |
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Borough of Ashland 150th
Anniversary of Incorporation 1857-2007 |
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Ashland is the western gateway into the Upper Schuylkill Region along PA's Route 54 and 61, which traverses through the heart of anthracite coal culture. |
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The borough is named after Henry Clay's lush estate near Lexington, Kentucky. Ashland was the site of Jacob Rodenberger's old log hotel in 1820. Burd S. Patterson, a prominent citizen of the county, had predicted that some day an important mining town would cover the slope of this mountain. In 1845, Patterson with John P. Brock of Philadelphia and James Hart purchased the land to develop Ashland. The Borough of Ashland was formally established in 1857. Ashland's rolling Main Street features many fine examples of 19th century architecture currently undergoing an exciting renovation and revitalization effort.
Not far off the borough's main thoroughfare is the must-see bronze monument of Whistler's Mother, visible from the intersection of PA Routes 61 and 54. The statue was commissioned in 1937 during the annual Ashland Boys Association (ABA) homecoming, and is based on James McNeil Whistler's famous 1871 painting, "Arrangement in Grey and Black: Portrait of the Painter's Mother." | 
Learn more about Ashland's Downtown Revitalization |
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A plaque at its base proclaims that the statue-completed as part of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's Work Projects Administration - "honors all mothers, past and present, and is the only one of its kind in the country." |
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The Ashland Boys Association, established circa 1901, remains active in the borough, and continues to host its annual Labor Day parade based on the association's age-old tradition of inviting its boys back to their stomping grounds to celebrate fond memories of growing up in the Anthracite Region. |
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Local folk stories tell how scores of Ashland boys, mining lanterns illuminating the evening streets, would disembark from the train at the base of Main Street and make their way home in a procession, which eventually become the annual ABA parade. |
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Our region's anthracite history is further interpreted through the Ashland Museum of Anthracite Mining and Ashland's Pioneer Coal Mine and Steam Train - originally the Pioneer Colliery - where today visitors can enter this authentic coal mine by rail, and learn how anthracite was mined. Guests can also ride the Lokie Henry Clay, a steam locomotive, which once hauled coal and now carries passengers along Ashland's Mahanoy Mountain to experience what life must have been like for the hardworking coal miners of the Upper Schuylkill Region. Pioneer Tunnel Coal Mine and Steam Train is A Pennsylvania Top 10 Attraction visit www.pioneertunnel.com. | 
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Ashland Downtown, Inc.
Main Street Program
Gregory Fisher, Main Street Manager
733 Centre Street
Ashland, PA 17921
570-875-3571
adi@upperschuylkill.com
www.ashlanddowntown.org |
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Ashland Borough Hall
18 South 17th Street
Ashland, PA 17921
570-875-2411
Dennis J. Kane, Mayor
Michael Groody, Council President
Tom Joyce, Manager |
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Elementary, Secondary and Special Education
North Schuylkill Schuylkill District
Trinity Academy at the Father Walter J. Ciszek Education Center (K-6)
Schuylkill Intermediate Unit #29
St. Joseph’s Center for Special Learning |
