Ku Klux Klan Cross Burning at Tower City, 1923

Posted By Norman Gasbarro on May 18, 2018

From West Schuylkill Herald, 28 December 1923, came the first open evidence of the establishment of the Ku Klux Klan at Tower City, Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania:

KU KLUX KLAN BURNS CROSS AT TOWER CITY WEDNESDAY

Wednesday night about 8:30, following a loud explosion, a burning cross was plainly visible on the mountain side north of Tower City, and many people rushed from their homes to see the weird spectacle.

There have been rumors afloat for some time of Klan activities in this community, but the burning cross was the first evidence of its actual existence. Incidentally, there is much discussion pro and con on the worth of the organization.

This post is a continuation of the reporting on hate groups that were active in the Lykens Valley area in the years following the Civil War. It was a widely known fact that the Ku Klux Klan had a significant presence in the Lykens Valley and adjacent valleys during the early years of the 20th Century. This iteration of the Klan was strongly white supremacist and was opposed to equal rights for African Americans, Catholics, Jews, and immigrants.

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