In 1945 John E. Morgan established a knitwear manufacturing industry in Hometown, 2 miles north of Tamaqua. The company, Morgan Knitting Mills, Inc, grew into one of the largest employers in the area, second only to the Atlas Powder Company. In the mid 1950s, Morgan, working from a design developed by his wife (Anna Hoban Morgan) patented the widely known Thermal Underwear product lines. Since Morgan's death in 2000, the Morgan Trust has donated money to various worthwhile causes in the Tamaqua area. The Morgan Trust also established the John & Dorothy Morgan Cancer Center at the Lehigh Valley Hospital.