Anthracite iron charcoal — long the fuel of preference for smelting and glass making, creating a decades long search for alternative fuels. By mid-1792 prominent Philadelphians had formed the Lehigh Coal Mine Company (LHCM Co.) to bring Anthracite to cities reachable via the Delaware River Valley, especially Philadelphia — the nation's largest and most industrialized city, though no one fully understood how to use anthracite as a sole fuel—just that "it 'could' burn 'some' of the time" with a hot enough base fire, so could augment furnace fuels. The LHCM Co. had great difficulty getting many ark-loads of coal to the docks
Anthracite Bank Building For several years beginning in 2002, the building served as the Anthracite Inn Bed & Breakfast operated by owner Donald Serfass. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1978. Anthracite Bank Building Anthracite Bank Building, also known as The Beard Building, is a historic former bank building located at Tamaqua, Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania. It was built in 1850, and is a three-story, three bay wide, brick building in the Italianate style. The first floor exterior is white marble. It housed Tamaqua's first financial institution until 1865. It later served as home of Civil War hero Col.