USA > Pennsylvania > Blair County > A history of Blair county, Pennsylvania. From its earliest settlement, and more particularly from its organization, in 1846 to June 1896 > Part 9
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He was right; in 1868 the borough of Hollidaysburg occupied the land which he chose for a farm in that early day and nearly 4,000 people claimed it as their home. It did not require one hundred years to work the change; in 50 years a small village had sprung up and Adamı Holliday's children were enjoying the advantages of a civilized community and the results of their father's labor-Adamı was dead. In 75 years from the date of this remark Hollidaysburg was the largest and most important towin between Harrisburg and Pittsburg, having both a railroad and a canal. At that time only a few cities in the United States could boast of a railroad. The Allegheny Portage being one of the very early ones of this country. One hundred years after the settlement of the place Hollidaysburg was a flourishing borough containing, with its suburbs, and Gaysport 4,000 inhabitants. Having two large iron furnaces, two rolling mills and large ma- chine shops and foundrys, and being the county seat of one of the most important counties of the state. Thus was the prophecy of Adam Holliday fulfilled.
The Holliday brothers, when they started from their early home in the Conococheague Valley, did not intend to locate here, and clearing the ground for the seat of justice of a great county was farthest from their thoughts. They had intended to go to the Allegheny Valley near Kittanning, but could not get through Blair County, the beauty of the situation appealed to them too strongly to be resisted and they resolved to settle here.
Thousands of other people since that time have experienced the same difficulty in passing throughi Blair County, if they stopped long enough to take in all the advantages it offered, they were sure to remain and thus it is that now more than 80,000 people have their homes here and the number is being rapidly augmented. What another half century may bring to the Empire of Blair man knoweth not, but in the innermost thoughts of her friends are visions of future wealth, prosperity and greatness, so vast that they hesitate to give expression to their imaginations, lest they be laughed at as visionary and impossible.
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Semi-Centennial History of Blair County.
Adam Holliday purchased 1,000 acress of land on the eastern side of the river including all of the site of Hollidaysburg and William obtained a like amount on the western side where Gays- port now stands. They bought from the Proprietaries-descend- ants of William Penn, and the price paid was five pounds sterling per hundred acres, equal to $220.20 for each thousand acre tracts. Each built a log house on his tract, as both were men of families and cleared and resided on their land for many years. William is supposed to have kept his until his death but Adam was dis- posessed of liis on account of some imperfection in his title. He was paid for it however, by the government some time after the Rovolution, receiving $17,000 or $18,000, which made him a very rich man for this region and that time.
As to the location of the first houses erected, authorities differ and the exact truth cannot now be determined. Mr. U. J. Jones, writing a "History of the Juniata Valley" in 1855 says Adam Hol- liday's house stood about where the American House now stands, while H. H. Snyder, esq., writing some 25 years later locates it on the southwest corner of Allegheny and Montgomery streets. Adamı Holliday died at or near Hollidaysburg in 1801 leaving but two children, a son John and a daughter Jane. The latter married Willian Reynolds, of Bedford county, proprietor of Bedford Springs Hotel. John Holliday lived the greater part of his life here and here he died in 1843. He had a family of ten children, vis: Adam, born Nov. 9, 1804, who went to Oil City, Pa. Mary born April 25, 1806, married Andrew Bratton and moved to Lewistown, Pa. Sarah, born Dec. 11, 1807, married Soloman Filler and moved to Bedford, Pa. Lazarus L., born Nov. 5, 1809, died in Missouri, July 17, 1846. John, Jr., born Dec. 8, 1811 was a soldier in the Mexican war and died on ship board while enroute from Vera Cruz to Galveston Aug. 2, 1842. Alexander L. born May 7, 1814, resided in Hollidaysburg all his life. Jane born Aug. 27, 1816, married J. L. Slentz and moved to Pittsburg, where she died in 1869. Caroline, born July 12, 1818, married D. McLeary and resided at Hollidaysburg all her life time. Will- iamı R., born Sept. 16, 1820, moved to Massachusetts. Fleming, the youngest, born May 25, 1823, and moved to the west. The names of children and grand-children of William Holliday and what became of them we have been unable to learn, in the short time at our disposal.
The exact date at which Hollidaysburg was laid out, is in some doubt, but it was prior to the beginning of the present cen-
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Semi-Centennial History of Blair County.
tury, probably about 1790; though H. H. Snyder in his historical research came to the conclusion that it was at least ten years ear- lier because a Janet Holliday owned a lot, and a Janet Holliday was killed by the Indians in 1781. It is probable, however, that it was Jane Holliday, daughter of Adam, and not Janet daughter of William, who met so early and sad a death. Whatever may have been the date, the original plot contained but 90 lots 60x 180 feet in size and the streets were Allegheny, Walnut and Mont- gomery a diamond was formed by taking 30 feet off the end of each of the four lots cornering there. As Allegheny street was 60 feet wide and Montgomery street 50 feet, it follows that the diamond was 120X170 feet, and so it has remained to the present time. The original plot cannot now be found and the only copy known is not dated.
The little town did not grow rapidly at first and in 1814 there were but three houses, a small store and a blacksmith shop. In 1830 it was not nearly so large or important a village as Franks- town, but when the canal was finished and the great basin and terminus located at Hollidaysburg the place immediately began to grow and in 1835 it was a very important town, far exceeding Frankstown. The Hollidaysburg Sentinel and Huntingdon, Cambria and Bedford County Democrat, the first issue of which was published Oct. 6, 1835, in a descriptive article said that the population was 1,200 and that no town in the interior of the state enjoyed more advantages than Hollidaysburg. This census in- cluded Gaysport. In 1836, eight daily transportation lines oper- ated on the canal and railroad and the tolls collected on the canal, railroad, and for motive power that year amounted to$154,282.74 . The borough was chartered in August that year and the council held their first meeting at John Dougherty's house Sept. 20, 1836.
Higher vilization soon became apparent for the young bor- ough went in debt in June 1837 for public improvements. One of the bonds, or evidences of debt, reads as follows:
"HOLLIDAYSBURG BOROUGH LOAN.
"This is to certify that there is due to bearer from the Burgess, Town Council, and citizens of the Borough of Hollidaysburg ONE DOLLAR bearing an interest, redeemable in the payment of taxes, by virtue of an ordinance passed by the Town Council June 19, 1837."
"JAMES COFFEE, BURGESS."
$5,342.69 of these "borough notes" were outstanding on the 6th of April 1844, at which time the total indebtedness of the borough was $16,311.30,
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Semi-Centennial History of Blair County.
The "Huntingdon, Cambria and Indiana County Pike" was completed from Huntingdon through Hollidaysburg to Blairsville in 1819 and the canal from Huntingdon to Hollidaysburg in 1832; the first boat coming from Huntingdon Nov. 28. The Allegheny Portage railroad was completed late in 1833 and operated in 1834 making the line of transportation by boat and rail complete from Philadelphia, through Hollidaysburg to Pittsburg, and Hollidays- burg became one of the most important towns between the two points, an extremely prosperous business place. When the new county was formed and Hollidaysburg made the seat of justice, in 1846, it added still more to her prestige and it seemed as if her cup of pros- perity was full to the brim. A few years later, 1851, the Magnetic telegraph as it was then styled, was extended from Bedford to Hollidaysburg and during the following year 1852 the railroad from Altoona was completed.
Until the construction of the canal, the business center of Hollidaysburg was at the diamond but with the advent of the canal it all gravitated to the basin at the foot of Montgomery street. A town hall and market house was erected about 1835, midway between the diamond and canal basin and many stirring scenes have been witnessed where now oppressive quietness reigns since the railroad superseded the canal and the latter was aband- oned. The old market house was abandoned excepting a part which was fitted up for the borough fire company, but later it was entirely disused, and after standing tenantless for several years was finally torn down, at a period still quite recent.
The large warehouses and store buildings which were erected near the basin have been changed to dwellings and in some cases removed since the railroad superseded the caral, and the business part of the town has gone back to its old Iccation around the dia- mond and along Allegheny street. Many of these changes oc- curred before the advent of any considerable manufactures. The furraces, and selling n ille arc con cie ncceit ciigin than the rail- road and even this industry seems to have reached its highest point some years ago.
The canal began to fall into disuse scon after the completion of the Pennsylvania railroad and in a few years more was entirely abandoned as a charrel of con ireice; the water stocd stagnant within its banks a few years longer when it was drained off and the embankments broken down, the stone in the locks taken away for other uses ard now the line is only faintly traceable through the county. The Allegheny Portage railroad began at the west-
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ern end of the basin and continued thence across the Juniata and through Gaysport to Duncansville and "Foot of Ten" where it began its steep ascent of the mountain to another plane, along this plane to another incline and so on to the mountain top, and down on the other side to Johnstown, 39 miles from Hollidaysburg, the beginning of the western division of the canal.
Iron manufacturers had been operating in the upper Juniata Valley for 50 years before any furnaces were erected in Hollidays- burg, but to compensate, in some degree, for this, those built at Hollidaysburg, in 1855, were much larger and more complete than any others and used coke for fuel instead of charcoal as the earlier and smaller ones in the county had done. The first of these fur- naces called the Hollidaysburg furnace but later known as No. 1, was built by Watson, White & Co., at a cost of about $60,000. It stood on the Gaysport side of the river. The prin- cipal contributors to the enterprise were Col. William Jack, Mc- Lanahan, Watson & Co., Robert and B. M. Johnston, David Watson, William Jackson, A. M. White and Samuel S. Blair, Esq. It was first put in blast Nov. 18, 1856, and had a capacity of 120 tons per week.
Chimney Rocks Furnace, later known as No. 2, was built in 1855-6 by Gardner, Osterloh & Co. Although bugan later than the other it was completed first, but was of less capacity. A few years later, owing to financial difficulties, these two furnaces came under one control. The Blair Iron & Coal Company com- posed of Watson, Dennison & Co. and the Cambria Iron Co., of Johnstown. They were thus operated for many years. Quite recently however, the old No. ¿ furnace was abandoned and torn torn down so that now there is but one furnace at Hollidaysburg.
The Hollidaysburg Iron and Nail Company is the name of the corporation now owning and operating one of the rolling mills at Hollidaysburg. The mill is located near the No. 2 furnace and was built in 1869 by B. M. Johnston. In 1866 some new members were taken in and the company char- tered under the above name. The works have been operated almost continuously for thirty-six years.
The other rolling mill was built later and is now operated by the Eleanor Iron Company, R. C. McNeal Secretary and Treasurer. These are both quite extensive works, the Iron and Nail Company employing 150 men. Nails were made here at one time, but the nail department has not been in operation for some years.
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Semi-Centennial History of Blair County.
McLanahan, Smith & Co. have an extensive foundry and machine shop in Gaysport, where they manufacture large quantities of machinery which is shipped to various parts of the country, the Southern States especially. These works were first started in 1857 as the Bellrough foundry and have been enlarged several times since by successive owners.
HOLLIDAYSBURG DATES.
First settlement made in 1768
Janet Holliday and brother massacred by Indians 1790
Town laid out about 1790
Pike completed though . 1819
Canal completed to here and first boat run. 1832
Portage Railroad completed 1833
Population 1,200 in.
1836
Incorporated as a borough.
1836
Great flood . . .1838
Made county-seat . 1846
First court held in M. E. church, July 27. 1846
Magnetic telegraph from Bedford. 1846 1850
Pennsylvania Central Railroad and first train 1852
First foundry 1837
1837
First fire engine (hand engine)
First iron furnace 1855
First rolling mill 1860
First water-works, from Brush Mountain. 1867
Present countail jail completed 1869
Presbyterian church completed
1870
First steam fire engine . 1871
Present Court House built. . . 1877
Largest fire, Wayne and Allegheny streets ; loss, $2,000, 20,000.
April, 14. . 1880
Telephone service from Altoona 1881 Memorable flood, May 31. 1889
Electric Passenger Railroad from Altoona. 1893
Water brought from Blair run. . 1895
Celebration of Semi-Centennial, June 11 and 12. 1896
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Semi-Centennial History of Blair County.
Tyrone.
If some adventurous person had followed the Juniata River to near its headwaters any time between the years 1770 and 1785 he might have seen, shortly after passing through the gap in the Bald Eagle mountains, a level, triangular piece of ground, surrounded on three sides by the mountain, and high hills and from the north a stream of about the same size as the Juniata joining it here; also a smaller stream flowing from a large spring and emptying into the Juniata, and, in a small clearing near this spring. a hut or rude dwelling inhabited by a half civilized Indian. This flat is where Tyrone now stands and the Indian was Captain or Chief Logan, an Indian differing little from others of the Cayugas, to which tribe he belonged, except that he had laid aside the implements of warfare and lived by hunting and fishing and by cultivating some of the land surrounding his cabin. He was not proud, but had he known the post mortem honors that the future had in store for him, that a rich and pleasant valley, a township, a borough, an immense hotel and others of less size, beside numerous lodges, societies, etc., and a great electric railway company would be named after him, he might have been more dignified than he was. Fortunately he never dreamed of these honors and when, in 1785, a white man secured the legal title tojthe land that he had held only by possessory right, and told him to mo. e off, he did so without much objection and journeyed north to near the present site of Clearfield, where he ended his days in peace.
The name of the white man who thus cruelly dispossessed the peaceful old Indian has not been preserved, but he did not hold the lands long. About the beginning of the present century they formed part of a large mineral tract owned by John Glonninger & Co., who in 1806 erected forges at the place now known as Ty- rone Forges. A little village grew up around the Forges and a farmer or two and a man with a saw-mill, Elisha Davis, occupied the Indian's former land as tenants of, or purchasers from, Glon- ninger's. The Forges soon after became the property of Wm. M. Lyon & Co. Jacob Burley was one of the very early settlers here and built a log house in 1820 or perhaps earlier where the Central Hotel now stands.
No town was projected until the Central Pennsylvania Rail- road as the Pennsylvania Railroad was then called, was in process of construction, then Tyrone sprung into being. The first
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Semi-Centennial History of Blair County.
plot was surveyed in the spring of 1851 by direction of Wm. M. Lyon & Co. It consisted of 75 lots only, lying north of Juniata street and west of Main. During that season six or eight small buildings were erected for stores and residences. A frame house built by Jacob Burley in 1850 where the Study block now stands was used as a store and dwelling that year and was the first store in the new town.
No name was given the place by its proprietors at first but it was called Eaglesville by some and Shorbsville by others for the first year or two, but when it became apparent that it would grow into a village it was christened Tyrone City. The latter part of the name to distinguish it from Tyrone Forges, less than a mile distant. Tyrone City grew quite rapidly and in a few years con- tained enough people to entitle it to a postoffice, and F. M. Bell was appointed first postmaster, which office he held until 1857, keeping the office in his store. There has been no halt in the growth of Tyrone, although it has not increased as rapidly as Altoona. In 1870 the population was 1,800, and now, with its suburbs, it is fully 8,000. By an Act of Assembly, approved May 1874, it was divided into four wards, which is the present number.
The completion of the Pennsylvania Railroad through Tyrone from Philadelphia to Pittsburg, opened up a new outlet to market for the products of Center county, and the people were not slow to take advantage of it. A plank road was completed from Belle- fonte to Tyrone in 1853 and in 1856 the project of a branch rail- road to connect with the Pennsylvania Railroad was agitated, and the Tyrone and Lock Haven Railroad Company was organized. This company did not have sufficient capital to build the line and it fell through, but in 1861 the Bald Eagle Valley Railroad Com . pany was formed, and with some assistance from the Pennsylva - nia Railroad Company, completed the railroad to Lock Haven. Connecting also with Bellefonte by a branch from Milesburg.
A road to Clearfield, opening up the rich lumber and coal fields of that county, was projected in 1856. The Tyrone and Clear- field Company, organized to build it found the undertaking too great and were also obliged to obtain assistance from the Penn- sylvania. This road was also built in 1862, and the two branches brought an immense amount of business to Tyrone. The Tyrone Division of the Pennsylvania Railroad, to manage these two branches, was established at this time, and the car repair shops at Tyrone were built in 1868. The Tyrone and Lewisburg branch, which also belongs to this division, was constructed in 1881-2.
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Semi-Centennial History of Blair County.
The Tyrone Gas and Water Co. was authorized by Act of As- sembly March 10, 1865, but no organization was completed until 1869, at which time a company was formed with a capital of $20,- 000, and water works immediately constructed and pipes laid in the principal streets. The Gas Works however, were not built until 1873. Gas was expensive in those days, the rate to consum- ers being $3.50 per thousand cubic feet. A Volunteer Fire de- partment was organized in 1868 and Wm. Stoke, now of Altoona, was the first Fire Marshall of Tyrone. The first steam fire engine and 200 feet of hose was purchased in 1873 and given in charge of the Neptune Fire Co., which had been organized as a Hose Co. in 1871.
The Bald Eagle tannery, one of Tyrone's important industries was erected and put in operation in 1870 by Daniel P. Ray and after his death in 1881 operated by his sons John K. and Daniel P. Ray. The tannery is located close to the passenger station.
The Tyrone Paper Mills, the largest industry in Tyrone and one of the largest of its kind in the state, was built by Morrison, Bare & Cass in 1880 and put in operation in October of that year, and has been running successfully ever since. It is situated on Bald Eagle Creek at the upper end of Pennsylvania avenue. Sev- eral hundred men are employed and immense quantities of wood are used in the manufacture. They make manilla writing, book and news paper, wood being the principal ingredient, being chopped into small chips and reduced to pulp by chemical pro- cesses.
The first Building and Loan Association in Tyrone was or- ganized March, 1870, and called the Tyrone Building and Loan Association. Another, the Bald Eagle, was organized May, 1872. The first hotel erected for the purpose in Tyrone was the Central, built in 1852-3 by John Burley, it was afterward enlarged and is now carried on by C. M. Waple. The Ward House, by the pas- senger station was built in 1859 to 1862 by Mrs. Mary Ward. It is now conducted on by J. T. Rowley.
The first bank in Tyrone was that of Lloyd, Caldwell & Co., established in 1866 and went down with the other Lloyd banks in the financial crash of 1873.
The Tyrone Bank was established April 1, 1871, and the Blair County Banking Co., organized Dec. 15, 1874.
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Semi-Centennial History of Blair County.
TYRONE NEWSPAPERS.
Had there been some deadly miasma in the air as fatal to human lite as the conditions seemed to be to the early newspaper ventures, Tyrone would be an uninhabited spot to-day, but fortu- nately there was not.
The first newspaper started in Tyrone was a weekly in 1856 by D. A. McGeehan and called the Iron Age politics, Demccratic. It continued for a year or a little more when it failed and the pro- prietor was sold out.
The American Era was commenced a little later the same year, owned by a stock company and edited by W. S. H. Keys, politics, Republican. The rival papers maintained a bitter war- fare with each other and both failed about the same time, the press and type of the Era being purchased by Robert Stodard. The town was without a paper for a while and then the Tyrone Herald was started with the same outfit formerly used by the Era.
It failed after a year's struggle against adverse circum- stances and was revived later under the name of the Star, by James Bell, but the Star was not a fixed one and failed after a short period. Again a newspaper was started under the name of the Tyrone Herald, H. R. Holtzinger, editor. It survived six months. Holtzinger being a Brethren minister, soon after started a denominational paper called the Christian Family Companion, which succeeded quite well, but in a few years was moved to Somerset county. Soon afterward the Western Hemisphere was started by J. W. Scott and Cyrus Jeffries, but eighteen months was as long as their finances would support it and it too was carried to the newspaper cemetery of Tyrone and laid to rest sadly by the side of its many equally unfortunate predecssors.
The Tyrone Herald, for the third time, made its appear- ance on the newspaper horizon in August, 1867, but it could scarcely claim relationship to or descent from either of the other two Heralds which preceded it. Holtzinger and J. L. Holmes were proprietors of the Herald this time and it proved a success. In 1868 C. S. W. Jones became part owner which was a guarantee of its stability and success, and it still survives, occupying a building of its own. In July, 1880, the office was burned out but the paper did not lose an issue on that account. It is now published daily and weekly, the daily having been begun in 1887, C. S. W. Jones still editor and proprietor.
The Tyrone Bulletin, by Matthew H. Jolly, was issued from April, 1867, for six months, when it collapsed.
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Semi-Centennial History of Blair County.
The Tyrone Blade was established by J. L. Holmes after his retirement from the Herald. He published it from June 1, 1870, to November 22, 1872, when he sold it to George Stroup who changed the name to the Tyrone Democrat, which was published until July 8, 1880, when the great fire destroyed the office and the paper was never revived.
The Tyrone Times was first begun as a semi-weekly paper June 1, 1880, by John N. Holmes, son of J. L. Holmes and A. M. Wooden, the office being in a building of Mr. Wooden's on lower Main street and the outfit a complete new one. August 10th, the same year, it was changed to a weekly. It passed through several hands, being owned and edited by C. G. Nissely for a long time, but is now published by Harry A. Thompson, who became its owner February 1, 1896.
Bellwood.
This beautiful little town, formerly called Bells' Mills, is noted for its picturesque mountain scenery. It is situated on the main line of the Pennsylvania Railroad, midway between Altoona and Tyrone. It is also the southern terminus of the Pennsylva- nia Northwestern Railroad, formerly the Bells' Gap, which was constructed in 1872 and later extended to Punxsutawney in Jefferson County and passes through a rich coal and lumber region. The town first began to build up around the saw and grist mill of Edward Bell about the year 1828, but only attained a small size until the building of the Bells' Gap Railroad. It was regularly laid out in 1877. The shops of this company are located here and furnish employment to a large number of men. There is also a foundry and machine shop doing an extensive business. The place contains three hotels, several stores, a bank, four churches, Methodist Episcopal, Baptist, Lutheran and Pres- byterian. In 1894 the Logan Valley Electric Passenger Rail- way extended their tracks to Bellwood and that is now the east. ern terminus of the line, although it is likely soon to be contin- ued to Tyrone. The population of Bellwood is now 1,500.
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