Drifton,Hazel Twp,Luzerne Co,Pa

Date: [unknown] [unknown]
Location: Luzerne Co,Pa
Surname/tag: Coal town,patch town,Pennsylvania coal region

Location

• Drifton is located on Rt 940,east of Hazelton,between Jeddo and Freeland

Owners

• Coxe family

Overview

• Exerpt from Bradsbury's History of Luzerne Co,Hazel Twp,

Drifton is the town of Coxe Bros. & Co., and thereby, being the residence and headquarters of the members of the firm, is a noted place. Here was built the first iron and steel breaker; here are the machine shops of Coxe Bros. & Co., and here are the offices of their belt railroad. Mining is carried on here on a vast scale and the place is noted for the neatness of the dwellings of the employes, and on the hill beyond are the elegant mansious of the heads of the house, and the hospital, etc. The company store is a great concern on one side of the street, and is faced by the far more extensive building of the company offices, and Mr. Eckley B. Coxe's experimental shop and fireproof library building. In this building is the postoffice, telephone and telegraph rooms, and in one main room is a corps of book-keepers and clerks, giving it much the appearance of a great banking house. Mr. Coxe has built a neat and comfortable opera house for the benefit of the employes, a hospital for the same, a free library, a schoolhouse, hotel and three elegant churches are in the place. The town has splendid water privileges, the water being brought in mains from springs on the mountain side.