Frackville commemorates Charter Day with time capsule opening, coin flip

FRACKVILLE – Friday marked Charter Day in the Mountain City and a crowd came out to commemorate the day, open a time capsule, and re-enact how the nickname nearly became the official name.

Yes, Frackville very nearly was named Mountain City.

Daniel Frack and Samuel Haupt, the two town founders, flipped a coin to decide between the two names, according to legend.

Frack won, the town became the Borough of Frackville on April 10, 1876 and earned the Mountain City nickname it often shares with another nearby city to the north.

Meanwhile, at Frackville’s Memorial Park on Friday, Frack’s descendent played the part of his forefather, re-enacting the coin flip and winning again. Rodney Artz represented the Haupt family.

This was part of a ceremony to formally kick off the borough’s Sesquicentennial Celebration, opening a time capsule buried at the end of the Centennial in 1976.

The time capsule included a wide variety of artifacts from the time: a charge card for the former W.T. Grant Co., a membership card for the Good Will Fire Co., Frackville Centennial memorabilia, and the Saturday, August 28, 1976 edition of the Shenandoah Evening Herald, the day the time capsule was buried.

The front page article that day remarked that “the most memorable week in the 100-year history of Frackville Borough comes to a resounding conclusion tonight.”

Fittingly, attendees at Friday’s ceremony enjoyed 150 cupcakes, 150 cookies, and 150 tulips.

The article Frackville commemorates Charter Day with time capsule opening, coin flip first appeared on The Shenandoah Sentinel.