Eckley, near Hazleton, Pennsylvania, was a typical company mining town, or "patch," which was in existence from 1854 to 1969. Coal companies constructed and operated villages, such as Eckley, for their workers, providing housing, stores, churches, and schools--and by extension making the workers wholly dependent on the company. The workers were originally English, Welsh, and German, and later in the century they were joined by immigrants from Ireland and southern and eastern Europe, forming an ethnically diverse community. The site interprets the day-to-day life of the workers and their families.