Forty Fort, Pennsylvania. This odd sounding little borough at the foot of the Pocono Mountains in the northeastern portion of the state actually got it’s name from the first forty settlers who built a fort there during America’s revolutionary days. It became a borough in 1887. During the end of the 19th century and through the first half of the 20th century, Forty Fort was at the center of the coal mining industry. However, by the early 1960’s, coal mining’s heyday was over.

Still, the town endured and made the necessary adjustments many small towns in the region had to make – and reinvented itself.

The Susquehanna River, which had flooded many sections of Wyoming Valley on several occasions over the years, always seemed to spare Forty Fort. But that changed in 1972 when Hurricane Agnes turned it’s furious wrath on the unsuspecting citizens, and the levee system near the Forty Fort Cemetery crumbled under the massive flow of raging water. However, the people of the community banded together and the town enjoyed a renaissance.

Today the borough remains the crown jewel of the west side of the Wyoming Valley.