Penn-Craft
Luzerne Township, Fayette County, Pennsylvania
Marker Inscription
This experimental community for coal miners unemployed during the Depression was developed, 1937-43, by the American Friends Service Committee. On the 200-acre tract, fifty families built their stone houses, a cooperative store, and a knitting factory. A model for other self-help projects elsewhere, Penn-Craft was a successful example of the back-to-the-land movement of the 1930s.
Erected by Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission
The Story
During the depths of the Great Depression, the American Friends Service Committee launched Penn-Craft between 1937 and 1943 as an experiment in dignity for coal miners thrown out of work. On a 200-acre tract, fifty families raised their own stone houses, opened a cooperative store, and built a knitting factory to earn a living close to the land. The Quaker-led venture became a widely copied model of self-help and the back-to-the-land ideal of the 1930s.
Why it matters
Penn-Craft shows how Depression-era Americans, aided by Quaker reformers, sought to rebuild shattered livelihoods through cooperation and self-sufficiency rather than charity alone.
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Related people
- · American Friends Service Committee
Themes & tags
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