Credit: Courtesy NYPL Digital gallery, New York Public Library
Pennsylvania's rich coal deposits provided an abundant and affordable fuel source for electrical generating plants. In the early 1900s the small electrical utilities that operated under Edison licenses in eastern Pennsylvania were bought up and consolidated by Pennsylvania Power and Light Company, (PP&L) which in the 1920s and 1930s helped formulate a plan for the electrification of rural Pennsylvania. PP&L's Harwood plant was located adjacent to the Harwood Mine, about 4 miles southwest of Hazleton, in the heart of the Pennsylvania anthracite coal district.
