Klan Conclave at Ringtown Draws From Wide Area

Posted By Norman Gasbarro on September 26, 2018

The Pottsville Republican and Herald, 16 August 1926, reported on a Ku Klux Klan gathering held at Ringtown, Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, that drew people from a wide area of the county, including parts of the county that were adjacent to the Lykens Valley.

Held Meeting at Ringtown.

Ringtown got on the map again on Saturday night when members of theKu Klux Klan from many parts of the region gathered and held a conclave. The Klansmen with their women went to Ringtown in their Klan robes of white. Hundreds of people from town, and other places, hearing of the gathering, motored to Ringtown to see what was going on. Stands were erected and refreshments were sold to the great throng of visitors and members of the organization. Klansmen were present from every section of the county. Services were held in a field, but the field was restricted to members of the Klan only.

Not much more is known about this event.

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 third iteration of 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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