PHILIPSBURG – The Osceola Mills Historical Foundation’s annual dinner will be held Dec. 6, at 6 p.m., at the Elks Country Club in Philipsburg.
Each person attending will be able to order individually from the available menu.
After dinner, Richard Hughes of Clearfield, who has deep family roots in the Osceola Mills area, will present a program tracing and detailing the history of coal mining in the once thriving coal mining town of Powellton, adjacent to Sandy Ridge, in Rush Township.
Powellton was the site of the first, large-scale coal mining operations in the Moshannon Valley area, on the western slopes of the Allegheny Front.
The operations began to grow with the John Nuttal-owned mines in the years immediately after the Civil War. Coal mining then spread throughout the southeastern section of Clearfield County, making it, locally, the driving economic force in the region for a century.
Hughes is a renowned local historian who is a member of the Clearfield County Historical Society and the Osceola Mills Community Historical Foundation.
The public is welcome. Those wishing to attend should call 814-378-5748 for a reservation.
