Jim Thorpe in Carbon County, Pennsylvania — The American Northeast (Mid-Atlantic)

April Fools!

Photographed by William Fischer, Jr., April 9, 2018

1. April Fools! Marker

Inscription.
Readers of The Times News came to expect it. In every April 1 edition, among the paper's serious news, editor and reporter Joe Boyle planted a well researched practical joke. Clues to the verity of the facts often rested with key players in the story, like reporter E.I. Lasti whose name spells "It's a lie" when written backwards. Boyle, of course, always admitted the trick at the end of the article.

With appropriate irony, however, several of these seemingly far-fetched ideas have come true. Twenty-one years after Boyle's 1953 prediction of a large dam on Mauch Chunk Creek, officials dedicated the Mauch Chunk Lake Park. The major motion picture about the Molly Maguires that he reported in 1965 hit the big screen just four years later. Boyle's jokes, it seems, are no laughing matter.

Erected 1994 by Carbon County.

Topics. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: Arts, Letters, Music • Communications. A significant historical date for this entry is April 1, 1953.

Location. 40° 51.836′ N, 75° 44.247′ W. Marker is in Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania, in Carbon County. It is at the intersection of Packer Hill Avenue and Hazard Square, on the right when traveling west on Packer Hill Avenue. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 2 Hazard Square, Jim Thorpe PA 18229, United States of America. Touch for directions.

Regionally, this marker is in Pennsylvania’s Anthracite Coal Region

and in the Pocono Mountains.

It is also in the American Northeast,

in the Mid-Atlantic,

in Appalachia,

and specifically in Northern Appalachia. Globally, it is in North America,

the Western Hemisphere,

the Western World,

and the Anglosphere.

Historically, it finds itself in what was once the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Confederacy

and also one of the original Thirteen Colonies.

Other nearby markers.

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At least 8 other markers are within walking distance of this marker: Dam Across Mauch Chunk Creek (here, next to this marker); A Novel Solution (here, next to this marker); Joseph L. Boyle (1915-1992) (here, next to this marker); Molly Maguire Film (here, next to this marker); Joe Boyle Made A Difference (here, next to this marker); Train Museum Project (here, next to this marker); Mine Museum Project (here, next to this marker); The Soldiers and Sailors Monument (within shouting distance of this marker). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Jim Thorpe.

Joe Boyle Plaza image. Click for full size.

Photographed by William Fischer, Jr., April 9, 2018

2. Joe Boyle Plaza

Credits. This page was last revised on July 23, 2024. It was originally submitted on July 23, 2024, by William Fischer, Jr. of Reynoldsburg, Ohio. This page has been viewed 173 times since then and 12 times this year. Photos: 1, 2. submitted on April 17, 2018, by William Fischer, Jr. of Reynoldsburg, Ohio. • Devry Becker Jones was the editor who published this page.