Ashland Boys' Association, Ashland, Schuylkill County

Today I'm a bit distracted by the fact that it's my grandfather's birthday. He would have been 91 today, and I miss him a lot. He would, I think, really have loved what I'm doing with this blog; he was fascinated by history (that's probably where I get it) and I'm sure that he would have been bugging me to go on marker-hunting road trips with him. But he's the one who taught me to drive, so in a sense he always goes with me.

Of course, I'm not always the driver. On a recent road trip, my husband Kevin was driving; we missed a turn and were in the process of correcting the course when he asked, "Hey, are we near any of your markers?" We were in a Schuylkill County community called Ashland, and I remembered there was one. Much to my surprise, I turned my head to glance up a side street and there it was. So this week's post is a little bit of serendipity.

The marker sits beside the memorial on North Hoffman
Boulevard, at the "Welcome Home" Plaza

Like many towns in "the Skook," as locals like to call Schuylkill County, Ashland had a large coal mining population back in the mid 19th century, and was reasonably prosperous. As the century waned, however, so did employment; the economic downturn caused by the failure of various mines led to a slow but steady loss of jobs. This culminated in an event known as the Panic of 1893, an economic depression caused by (among other things) the failure of the Philadelphia & Reading Railroad. It affected every corner of the United States economy, and railroads were hit especially hard due to having been over-built; as a result, the coal mines were likewise hit hard. The situation only lasted for four years, but they were four difficult years.

With job prospects drying up in the area, many young Ashland men struck out in search of options elsewhere. Doing so meant leaving behind their hometown, their homes, and likely their parents or other loved ones who were unable or unwilling to relocate. Neither the departing young men nor those who remained knew whether they would ever see each other again; it's probable that many did not.

In 1901, with the Panic of 1893 behind them and the community still surviving, a group of those remaining in Ashland came up with the idea to establish a reunion, and call all those "boys" back home. From this idea was born the Ashland Boys' Association, which proceeded to hold annual reunions on Labor Day weekend complete with an informal parade. Even after only a few years, the reunions became wildly popular, and the call went out for miles to summon native Ashlanders back to their hometown. The group's motto, "Come on home," reverberated in chapters of the A.B.A. which were established in Philadelphia and other less local places.

It was during the 1933 reunion that the idea was put forth to erect a memorial, honoring all the Ashland mothers who had watched their sons strike out in search of a better life. The exact nature of the memorial took some discussion - some wanted a library built with the funds - but it ultimately emerged as a statue at the summit of a magnificent stone staircase. The committee formed in 1936 to design and raise funds to build the memorial. The design was proposed by Dr. John L. Hoffman, who was then president of both the Ashland Borough Council and the A.B.A. He was inspired by one of the most famous works of American art, James McNeill Whistler's Arrangement in Gray and Black, No. 1: Portrait of the Artist’s Mother - or, as most people know it, Whistler's Mother. The painting had recently toured the United States and had been featured on a 1934 postage stamp honoring Mother's Day. Harold Burmeister, the borough manager, and John Maley drew up the plans, and the A.B.A. voted to accept the design at their 1937 reunion.

Fundraising efforts brought in more than $6,000 to pay for the memorial, which is situated on land donated by the borough of Ashland for the purpose. It was constructed under the auspices of the Works Progress Administration, which provided the necessary labor for the stonework and landscaping. The statue of the mother was designed by Emil Siebern, an artist from New York City; it was sculpted by another New Yorker, Julius Loester. The mother is seven feet tall and cast in solid bronze. She sits at the apex of the memorial, and the four-foot granite base of the statue is engraved with a line from a poem by Samuel Taylor Coleridge: A mother is the holiest thing alive. It was dedicated on September 4, 1938, in a ceremony attended by some 2,500 people. The unveiling of the statue was performed by the two oldest mothers living in Ashland at that time, aged 88 and 91.

In 1965, the local chamber of commerce added a plaque at the base of the stairs, lest anyone forget the significance of the memorial. As seen at right, it notes that "This is a reproduction in bronze of Whistler's famous painting. It honors all mothers, past and present, and is the only one of its kind in the country." The PHMC marker, which stands to the right of the stone staircase, was added to the "Welcome Home" Plaza in 2013.

The Ashland Boys' Association continued to conduct its annual reunions all the way until 1976; the parade which became part of the celebration lasted a while longer. However, the organization lingers in the form of a Facebook group, which is open to anyone who wants to share the nostalgia.

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Sources and Further Reading:

Galle, Karen. "Spotlight Series: The Ashland Mother's Memorial." From the official blog of the Pennsylvania State Historic Preservation Office, May 8, 2013.

Frantz, April. "Mothers' Memorial, Ashland." Pennsylvania Heritage magazine, Spring 2020.

Author unknown. "Whistler's Mother Statue, Ashland, Pennsylvania." From RoadsideAmerica.com: "Your online guide to offbeat tourist attractions."

Ashland Boys' Association at the Historical Marker Database

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Except where indicated, all writing and photography on this blog is the intellectual property of Laura Klotz. This blog is written with permission of the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission. I am not employed by the PHMC. All rights reserved.