Carbondale City Hall is located at 1 North Main Street, Carbondale PA 18047.
Phone: 570‑282‑4633.
Beginnings [1]
Carbondale has been an anthracite town since 1814, when William Wurts, a Philadelphia merchant, owner of large tracts in the vicinity, and David Nobles, a hunter who knew the region, opened veins and obtained coal for exhibition and appraisal in New York and Philadelphia. In the winter of 1822, Maurice Wurts, William's brother, mined 800 tons and sent part of it by sleigh to 'the rafting place,' probably White Mills. Within a few years the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company gained control of the mines and adjacent property. Tools and supplies were addressed to the 'dale where carbon was found,' hence the present name. The settlement grew rapidly; Irishmen and Welshmen predominated, and their crowded communities, resembling army encampments, were known as Irish Hill and Welsh Hill. The greater part of Carbondale was consumed by fire on December 15, 1850.
Although rather worn, the city has escaped the worst blights of the anthracite depression; its residential district is more substantial than that of other coal towns. Streets branch haphazardly from the contorted main street, with its prosperous business district, crowded at night with visitors and shoppers from the bleak but well-populated environs. Approximately 1,000 are employed in the Hudson Coal Company's main colliery; the company's four other mines have been leased to independent operators. Many residents work in pits outside the city; others are employed in a dress factory and two machine shops.