The renaming did not result in the hoped-for construction of a football hall of fame or a tourism boom. Thorpe’s remains were moved to the town, and a monument was erected in his honor. Looking to turn things around, the town and its neighbor across the river, East Mauch Chunk, agreed to merge and name their new borough Jim Thorpe in honor of the famous Native American athlete. Visitors arrived by train to the station that now hosts the Lehigh Gorge Scenic Railroad.Īs the reliance on coal and railroads declined, Mauch Chunk’s jobs disappeared and the businesses and tourists left. By the Victorian era, Mauch Chunk was second only to Niagara Falls as a tourist destination. The railroad also attracted tourists, who came to ride it as they would a roller coaster. The Switchback Gravity Railroad carried coal downhill from the mines to Mauch Chunk, where it could be transported south via the Lehigh Canal. Originally known as Mauch Chunk (Lenni-Lenape for “sleeping bear”), the borough was founded in 1818 by Josiah White and Erskine Hazard as a company town for the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company (LC&N), a hub for the transport of coal from Summit Hill. Tourism has long been a part of the Carbon County seat-aptly nicknamed “Little Switzerland”-but what draws visitors has changed over the years. With its stunning location in the Lehigh Gorge, its Victorian architecture, and its rich industrial history, Jim Thorpe regularly makes top 10 lists-among them, the most beautiful small towns and the most romantic places to visit.
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