It was of John F. Wolf who was born in Philadelphia January 23,1834. The article that we researched from the 1971 Standard- Observer, said he was 64 years old when he passed away. He went to college to become an engineer and started his career in Philadelphia. He came to Irwin in 1865 as the Penn Gas Coal Company and served until 1884 and then moved to the position of superintendent until his death.

On June 11,1900 representatives of the Penn Gas Coal Company met in the Republican office and organized to raise funds for the drinking fountain in honor of him. They advertised bids and a company from New York was the bid winner.

Why did the workers of the Penn Gas Coal Company want to do this for Mr. Wolf? The research we found stated he was a humanitarian. He bought and distributed food free to mine workers who were out of work. He loved the miners, and they loved him for the respect he gave to them.

This statue was originally on Main Street and later just the top of the statue was moved to Pennsylvania Avenue. You can see what is left after it was vandalized in 1971 at the entrance of Irwin Park. The plaque that was on that concrete stand is located at the Borough Office in a display case. It seemed in 1971 there were talks of fixing the statue but at the time the cost was awfully expensive to fix the damage caused by vandals.

Attached is a link to view the Norwin Historical Societies article on Mr. John F. Wolfe along with Photos. 

https://norwinhistoricalsociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/2019-Winter-Dec-Mar-Newsletter.pdf