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It was founded on February 11, 1858, in recognition of the 50th anniversary of the first successful burning of anthracite coal by Jesse Fell, and was originally named the Wyoming Historical and Geological Society.
Named for the famous coal city Newcastle upon Tyne in England, the area contains large veins of anthracite coal and has a long history of coal mining; strip mining continues there to the present day.
Anthracite existed from 1886 to 1904, during which time extensive coal mining operations were carried out by the Canadian Anthracite Coal Company in the surrounding Banff National Park, which is a World Heritage Site as defined by the United Nations.
Ironworks were set up in the South Wales Valleys, running south from the Brecon Beacons particularly around the new town of Merthyr Tydfil, with iron production later spreading westwards to the hinterlands of Neath and Swansea where anthracite coal was already being mined.
In 1912, the New Jersey Zinc Company located a zinc smelting operation (what is now the West Plant) here, in order to take advantage of the anthracite coal being mined just north of Palmerton and the zinc mines in Franklin, New Jersey.