Nestling within the four hundred and seventy-five square miles encompassing the Anthracite coal fields of Pennsylvania is the little town of Ashland, Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania came into being with William Penn's acquisition of 47,000 square miles of land from England's King Charles, the second, in the year 1681. It did not include the land where the borough of Ashland now stands or any other territory north of the Broad Mountain. This area joined the Province with the "Indian Purchase" of 1749.

Coal was responsible for the very existence of Ashland. The first map on on which Ashland appears is dated 1863. It's hard to believe that at one time Center street was nothing more than a tangled jungle of virgin forest and thick underbrush, not a fit home for man or beast. Outside of occasional hunters, it was barren of human occupancy. The first real penetration other than white hunters was by early construction gangs hired to build a road through the area. The very first was built in 1770. It was called the Sunbury Wagon Road or King's Highway. It was little more than a foot path, scarcely passable except on horseback.

History tells us the first man to inhabit the land where our town now stands was one Jacob Rodenberger. He built a crude log cabin that became the stopping off tavern for travelers on the Centre Turnpike. In the ensuing years one man began to take notice of the area and its possibilities. His name was Burd S. Patterson. Local history has not deemed it necessary to commemorate his memory, yet this man is the "father"of our town. He induced John Penn Brock of Philadelphia and James Hart to go in partnership with him in the purchase of two tracts of land. Patterson, Brock and Hart made their original purchases in 1845 and named the land the Ashland Estates in honor of Henry Clay's home in Kentucky. Our Ashland, third oldest of 13 such named places in the United States, ranks its Kentucky namesake by one year. At that time in American History our country was importing much of its coal from Wales. When a high tariff on imports took effect, it halted the flow of imported coal.

The streets were named after those in Philadelphia. The new proprietors kept busy. After the crude streets were opened they erected company houses to shelter the workmen. At first immigration to the new village was slow but the owners did not give up hope. Finally, the Mine Hill and Schuylkill Haven Railroad surveyed the possibility of an extension to town and resumed work towards this end in 1851. This gave renewed impetus to settlement and Ashland starated to grow. Other business found their way into town around this period. Employment was now available; the town had something to offer new settlers.

By 1856 Ashland was a thriving community. Two years previously, Bast and Taylor opened a colliery on the outskirts of the village. To shelter their workers they built company houses near the mine. In 1856 George C. Potts and Co. was in the process of mining coal to the west of the town. The following year he too built company houses for his employees and the little town of Locust Dale came into being. Another big advancement of the coal industry was the opening of the Tunnel Colliery by Repplier and Moody in 1856. At the height of the colliery's production it employed over 300 men.

On February 13, 1857, Ashland officially became a borough.
February 14, 1857, in the yellowed files of the Miner's Journal (Pottsville) is the following notation:
"Harrisburg, Feb. 6 - Senate-A bill to incorporate Ashland, Schuylkill County into a borough, passed. It has 2,500 inhabitants and is one and three-quarters of amile long and a mile and a quarter broad."