In 1674, before there was a Lonaconing, the Iroquois Indians subjugated the Susquehannocks, the Delawares and their allies, the Shawnees, and several smaller Algonquin groups in the region. Artifacts found in “Indian Hollow,” a depression in Dan’s Mountain between Pekin and Lonaconing on the east side of George’s Creek, indicate that there may have been a Shawnee settlement in that area—a significant number of arrowheads, tomahawks, and similar items have been found there.

“Con” was the Indian word for creek; Aliconie (Allegany) refers to people of the mountain streams. Many scholars accept the translation of Lonaconing as “the meeting place of many streams.” A suggestion that Lonaconing may derive from the name of a Delaware Indian guide, Nemacolin, seems far fetched.

The earliest white settlers—farmers, hunters, and woodsmen—came to the Lonaconing area in the latter half of the eighteenth century. They came with their families, prepared to stay, although the area at that time was a forest broken only by a wagon trail. The memory of those pioneers survives in the names of their descendants who live in Lonaconing to this day.

Lonaconing can trace its beginning as a town and commercial center to the arrival of the George’s Creek Coal and Iron Company, a Baltimore and London syndicate. The company purchased 11,000 acres along George’s Creek and built a furnace complex there to manufacture pig iron in 1837. The Lonaconing iron furnace was the first in the United States to successfully use bituminous coal and coke in the smelting process.

The furnace produced pig iron from 1839 until 1855, when, for a combination of reasons, the operation ceased. By then, the mining of coal had assumed a dominant industrial role, and the George’s Creek Coal and Iron Company, which owned the mineral rights on its thousands of acres, turned to coal mining as its sole interest.

Lonaconing now is a community consisting mostly of retirees. The town has always been a friendly, happy place, where a warm welcome and a helping hand in time of need are ever present. It holds a unique place in the hearts of its people, whether they still live there or have gone to far away places. To them, Lonaconing will always be “home.” Their loyalty attests to the solidity upon which Lonaconing was built and still stands.