1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Tamaqua
TAMAQUA, a borough of Schuylkill county, Pennsylvania, U.S.A., on the Tamaqua (Little Schuylkill) river, about 20 m. above its junction with the Schuylkill, about 17 m. E.N.E. of Pottsville, and about 98 m. N. of Philadelphia. Pop. (1890) 60545(1900) 7267, (625 foreign-born); (1910) 9462. Tamaqua is served by the Central railroad of New Jersey, by the Philadelphia and Reading railway and by an electric line connecting with Mauch Chunk, Pottsville, and other places. Tamaqua is in a rich anthracite coal district, and coal-mining is its chief industry. Among manufactures are foundry and machine-shop products, powder, stoves, furniture, hosiery, &c. The borough owns the water-works. The first settlement here was made in 1799 and anthracite coal was discovered in 1817. In 1829 Tamaqua was laid out and received its present name, an Indian word meaning “land of the beaver.” It was incorporated as a borough in 1833. Between 1869 and 1875 the Molly Maguires were active here.