The book · free digital edition
The Coney Island
The story and the record of Pottsville's Coney Island
The Coney Island — the book — tells the story of Pottsville's Coney Island and lays out the record behind it: the restaurant's century on the town's counters, the people who kept it open, and the newspaper pages, directories, censuses, and certificates that document it. The digital edition is free to read here — the same file placed on deposit with the town's library, the county historical society, and the State Library of Pennsylvania.
First edition · July 2026 · by Peter M. Palles
- Free to read, keep, and share — no sign-up, nothing to enter.
- A 36-page PDF, about 10.5 MB, laid out on letter-size pages — comfortable on a computer or tablet, and readable on a phone.
- Prefer paper? The same book is printed as a paperback, and the printed volume is on deposit at the three institutions below.
What's inside
The story, told plainly
Ten short chapters carry the restaurant from a downtown counter in 1917 to the 24-hour room on West Market Street today — written for reading, not for the archive.
The record behind it
Part two reproduces the documentary record — the exhibits, scans, and transcriptions, each with its citation, its confidence label, and what it does and does not show.
Check it yourself
Every exhibit names its source, and the same record lives on this site — the evidence register keeps the scans, transcriptions, and citations one click deep.
The paperback
The book is also printed as a paperback, published by Schuylkill Hub and sold on Amazon. It is the same book you can read free above, printed and bound.
- Paperback · 34 pages · 8.5 × 11 in
- Schuylkill Hub · July 2026
- ISBN 979-8-234-12048-9
$19.99
The listing carries the cover's full title: "The Coney Island: The Documented History of Pottsville's Coney Island."
The digital edition above stays free.
On the permanent shelf
On deposit
The printed volume and this exact file are on deposit with three institutions, so the record outlives any one shelf or server.
Schuylkill County Historical Society
Pottsville, Pa.
Pottsville Free Public Library
Pottsville, Pa.
State Library of Pennsylvania
Harrisburg, Pa.
The hosted file's SHA-256 matches the registrar record on the deposit certificates, so any holder can verify a copy against this one.
SHA-256 8b034f5772a1fab19bc1bbeadd6efee7966e76659d34ccbb2bc1485578185bee
As featured
Featured in the Republican Herald — the front of the Sunday Living section, August 9, 2026. The coverage record keeps the entry.