Irem Temple Restoration Project, Inc.

The 36,000 square foot Irem Temple Building will serve two main purposes once restored. By returning the Main Hall to its original open-floorplan configuration and leaving the stage and balcony unchanged, it will be an event and performance space unlike anything in Northeastern Pennsylvania. 

In the rest of the building, we will partner Wilkes-Barre based VizVibe (https://www.vizvibe.com/) to create the technical standards for a “open-source” regional history museum. Students from regional universities will help create content by partnering with local historical societies, cultural sites, and high-school AP students. Once projects are complete, they will be vetted by a team of local history scholars, further edited, and placed into a content menu that visitors will be able to activate in the different learning environments. 

And what a history we have….

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The first American democracy governed NEPA, the Six Nations of Haudenosaunee people (AKA Iroquois). The confluence of the Susquehanna and Lackawanna rivers was a critical crossroad between the Haudenosaunee and Algonquin peoples. Few locally understand how powerful and sophisticated the Six Nations were, this story must be told. For the last five years Irem Temple board members have cultivated relationships with members of all Six Nations. This collaboration and others will result in an accurate historical narrative.

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In 1769 Members of the Sons-of-Liberty moved here from Connecticut, immediately after the Six Nations sold the land to the State of Pennsylvania. These “Yankees” named the town Wilkes-Barre which was an act of open rebellion. They engaged in the Yankee-Pennamite Wars until 1776 when they aligned with Pennsylvania to fight the British. The Yankees had good relations with all Haudenosaunee Nations until 1778, when 4 of 6 Nations aligned with the British.

Washington’s Army might have failed without the supplies/soldiers from the 3,000 Revolutionaries of the Wyoming Valley. British Military leaders at Fort Niagara begged King George to let them decimate Wilkes-Barre and the surrounding towns.

July 3, 1778, British Army Rangers lead a coalition of Seneca, Mohawk, and NEPA-displaced Pennamites and Algonquins into the Battle of Wyoming. Over 300 NEPA soldiers were killed that day, all 1,100 structures were burned down, the remaining 2,700 residents scattering in the wilderness causing additional death/suffering.

The fallout from the Battle of Wyoming caused many communities to abandon neutrality and join the fight for independence. Accounts were published in newspapers throughout Europe and turned British public sentiment against the war. Brutal and terrifying frontier warfare ensued until 1782, almost a year after Cornwallis surrendered.

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Denise Dennis, CEO of The Dennis Farm and ITRP Board Member, said “In Northeastern Pennsylvania African Americans has self-agency and were able to live the promise of America. The Wyoming Valley was a fervent stop on the Underground Railroad and heavily supported, fought and died in the Civil War. There is a reason Frederick Douglas said, ‘God Bless Wilkes-Barre.’”

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In the 19th and 20th centuries, anthracite coal industry boomed and immigrants from Europe flocked to the region for jobs and a better life, the Wyoming Valley served as a sanctuary for these workers and families. Local newspapers of the day unfold the often-violent saga of these workers as they organized, unionized and established workers rights with heavy resistance from demanding mine owners. The Wyoming Valley also led the way in efforts to establish child labor safeguards for young “breaker boys” sent to earn mere pennies for their families in often dangerous conditions.

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This narrative barely skims the surface of the relevance of the NEPA contribution to the story of America. Telling these stories in a dynamic and thoughtful way, while partnering with all the local historical societies and universities will lead to a massive increase in regional Heritage Tourism and will cause broad-based economic growth.