Lehigh Valley Railroad Engine House, White Haven
Introduction
Text-to-speech Audio
Images
Original engine house
Rehabilitated engine house as public library
Backstory and Context
Text-to-speech Audio
Many Eastern European immigrants worked on the railroads due to the harsh work environment and little pay. Many of these immigrants were Slovak, who typically lived and worked together. Many Slovak's prior to emigration, worked outside in the brutal heat, which transferred well to the hot and heavy labor required in the mines, mills, and on railroads. The purpose of the engine house was to serve as a repair shop for the Lehigh Valley Railroad Company, which followed the Lehigh River. Today the building is still standing, but has been converted into a public library, funded partly by the Delaware & Lehigh Corridor Commission.
Sources
Engine House Project, White Haven Area Community Library. Invalid date. Accessed April 24th 2020. https://www.whitehavenlibrary.com/about-us/engine-house-project/.
White Haven, Delaware & Lehigh National Heritage Corridor. Accessed April 24th 2020. https://delawareandlehigh.org/map/town/white-haven/.
Laurence, Patricia Ondek. The Garden in the Mill: The Slovak Immigrant's View of Work. MELUS, ser. Expressions of Ethnic Identity, vol. 10, no. 257 - 68. 1983. JSTOR.
White Haven Library
White Haven Library