Lilly in Cambria County, Pennsylvania — The American Northeast (Mid-Atlantic)

Ku Klux Klan Riot

April 5, 1924

Photographed By Mike Wintermantel

1. Ku Klux Klan Riot Marker

Inscription. Lilly was targeted for a massive Ku Klux Klan demonstration because local coal mines had hired Catholic immigrants and fired Klan members. Four hundred hooded Klansmen arrived by train early on this April evening and paraded to Piper's Hill where they burned two crosses and exploded multiple dynamite charges to intimidate the locals.

But the townspeople were not cowed! During the parade back to the trains, the Klansmen were jeered, pelted, roughed-up and hosed down. Gunfire broke out and lasted for several minutes. The Klansmen then fled in disarray to the trains, leaving Lilly residents Philip Conrad, Cloyd Paul and Frank Miesko to die from gunshot wounds.

Lilly's resistance to the Klan's demonstrations proved to be the beginning of the end of the Klan's advance in the north-eastern United States.

Erected 2008 by Lilly-Washington Historical Society.

Topics. This historical marker is listed in this topic list: Civil Rights.

Location. 40° 25.534′ N, 78° 37.286′ W. Marker is in Lilly, Pennsylvania, in Cambria County. Marker is at the intersection of Railroad Street and Cleveland Street on Railroad Street. Marker is placed at the corner of Cleveland and Railroad streets where the flashpoint

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of the incident being remembered occurred. Touch for map. Marker is in this post office area: Lilly PA 15938, United States of America. Touch for directions.

Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within 4 miles of this marker, measured as the crow flies. Plane No. 4 - Allegheny Portage Railroad (approx. 0.2 miles away); The Coal Miner (approx. 0.4 miles away); Robert E. Peary (approx. 2.7 miles away); Loretto (approx. 2.7 miles away); Admiral Peary Park (approx. 2.7 miles away); Allegheny Portage Railroad Plane No. 2 (approx. 3.3 miles away); Portage Railroad (approx. 3.4 miles away); Cresson Tuberculosis Sanatorium (approx. 3.7 miles away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Lilly.

Photographed By Stephen, 2009

2. Ku Klux Klan Riot Marker

Photographed By Mike Wintermantel

3. Ku Klux Klan Riot Marker

Credits. This page was last revised on May 3, 2020. It was originally submitted on December 25, 2010, by Stephen of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. This page has been viewed 1,392 times since then and 57 times this year. Photos: 1. submitted on May 3, 2020, by Mike Wintermantel of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. 2. submitted on December 25, 2010, by Stephen of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. 3. submitted on May 3, 2020, by Mike Wintermantel of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. • Craig Swain was the editor who published this page.