The Civil War was anything but civil for civilians in this region. The area was very divided politically during the Civil War. At the time, Wilkes-Barre had a population of 2,723 residents, of which 121 were Black. Many escaped slaves knew there were those here who would aid them to freedom in New York and Canada, thanks to the Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church, founded here in 1848 by free Blacks. It quickly became a center for the Underground Railroad. Many came here because there was work in the coal mines or other types of labor, so they crossed the Mason Dixon line at the border of Maryland and Pennsylvania, marking the border between slave and free states, and found their way to Northeast Pennsylvania and the church.
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When the leaders of Mountain Top Hose Company No. 1 approached Fairview Twp. supervisors three years ago and asked them to enact a .3 mill fire tax to help support the volunteer fire companyâs operation, they never anticipated the financial impact the COVID-19 pandemic would have on the organization.
Hose company president David Hourigan recently expressed the gratitude of the volunteer department to supervisors for their willingness to impose the tax and for their foresight. âIt is difficult for me to imagine where we would be without it,â Hourigan said of the fire tax revenue.
In the fire companyâs November newsletter, Hourigan reported that through October, the tax has generated $115,299 in revenue for the volunteer organization. The department was scheduled to receive another $889 in December, bringing the total to more than $116,000.