Eckley Miners’ Village opened in 1854 as coal mining became the predominant industry in northeastern Pennsylvania, where almost all anthracite for much of the 19th and early 20th centuries was produced. Over the next 75 years, mine owners erected a colliery, houses, churches, a hotel, a school, and a company store, while controlling both the village and its underlying minerals during 115 years of private ownership. Because the owners made few changes or improvements, the village retains much of its original appearance and offers an authentic reflection of life in an anthracite-mining town. Coal from Eckley and other regional mines first went to market by the Delaware and Lehigh Canals, and by the late 19th century railroads had become the primary means of moving anthracite. Paramount Studios bought Eckley as a movie set for The Molly McGuires in 1967-68, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania acquired it in 1971 from a local preservation organization and opened it as a museum in 1975. Today the village retains about 80 buildings, including mine owners’ houses, miners’ and laborers’ houses, two churches, and other service structures, and it is preserved to tell the story of the anthracite region and its people.