USA > Pennsylvania > Luzerne County > Wilkes-Barre > A history of Wilkes-Barre, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania : from its first beginnings to the present time, including chapters of newly-discovered early Wyoming Valley history, together with many biographical sketches and much genealogical material. Volume V > Part 22
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Ashley became a borough on December 5, 1870. The first officers were : Jeremiah N. Gette, burgess ; J. C. Wells, M. A. McCarty, E. L. Diefenderfer, John Campbell, and A. D. Le Bar, councilmen. It was an important railroad point, and an important mining town also, yet though only three miles from the county seat, the new borough was then to all intents "in the backwoods." Between Ashley and Wilkes-Barre there lay heavy dark forests. These have, however, long since given way to continuous streets of houses, without a break, from the county seat to the borough of the inclined planes, so vital to the transportation of coal.
Ashley, in its hamlet and village days, went by many names. It was at different times known as Shunktown, Peestone, Hightown, Newton, Alberts, Hendricksburg, Nanticoke Junction, Scrabbletown, and Coalville. Never, it seems, was it known as Wadestown, though it might with good reason have been, for its first settler was Abner Wade. As Scrabbletown it was known in the 'thirties, when Daniel Kriedler had a forge on Solomon's Creek, and Huntington had a sawmill nearby. Both were closed in 1839.
Some of the oustanding events in Ashley history were: Opening of first tavern by Fritz Deitrick; of first general store by Alexander Gray, of first frame tavern, by Samuel Black ; opening of railroad communication between Whitehaven and Wilkes-Barre in 1843; beginning of plane building at Ashley in 1840; abandonment of "straps" for wire-ropes on planes in 1850; of sink- ing of shaft in 1851 ; building of breaker over old shaft in 1856; tunneling of slope to reach the Baltimore vein in 1856; sinking of Dundee shaft in 1857-59, the village now taking the name of Coalville; building of Jersey Central machine shops; incorporation of village as Ashley Borough in 1870; replac- ing of wooden bridge by iron bridge over tracks of planes in July, 1892; of electrification of street railroad in November of same year, making Wilkes- Barre not more than three "modern" miles away.
The population of Ashley in 1900 was 4,046; in 1910 it was 5.601 ; in 1920 it was 6,520. Ashley had 3,990 taxable inhabitants in 1926, and the assessed valuation of their property then was $6,750,319. In 1926 Arthur Kearney was burgess of Ashley.
Avoca-The borough of Avoca began its corporate existence, as Pleasant Valley, on May 24, 1871, being then taken from Pittston Township. Its first officers were: P. B. Brehorny, president; Robert Reid, and George Lamp- man, councilmen.
Outstanding events in the history of Avoca must include: The coming of the first settlers to this part of Pittston Township, among the earliest being James Brown, Sr., Aaron Riddle, John Mitchel, Jacob Lidy, James L. Gid- dings. A. McAlpin, and William Rau; the building of a box factory by Mr. McAlpin, in 1837; the opening of first Avoca store by Martin F. Reap; build- ing of brick store by him in 1871; the appointment of James McMillan as postmaster in April, 1871, the post office name being "Marr"; the organiza- tion of hose company in 1886; the changing of borough name from Pleasant Valley to Avoca in 1889; the organization of Board of Trade in 1887. The opening of mines were, of course, the most outstanding events in the history of Avoca ; but these have place in other reviews.
The place has had a steady growth during this century. In 1900 the popu- lation of Avoca was 3,487; in 1910 it was 4,634; and in 1920 it was 4,950. Number of taxable inhabitants in 1926 were 2,829. Assessed valuation then
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was $1,566,112. Michael J. Healey was burgess in 1926, Thomas J. O'Malley was president of the school board, and Charles B. Webber was supervising school principal. The new high school at Avoca was ready for the school year 1926-27. There are six high school teachers and twenty-four for graded schools.
Conyngham-See Sugarloaf Township.
Courtdale-The borough of Courtdale began its corporate existence on September 6, 1897, by decree of court, being taken from Kingston Township. It is a mining town and adjoins Luzerne and Pringle boroughs. The borough has almost doubled in population since it was incorporated. In 1900, its inhabitants numbered 1.373; in 1910 its population was 2,183, and in 1920, 2,540. Courtdale has always remained a small borough ; it had only 420 inhabi- tants in 1900, 548 in 1910, and 600 in 1920. In 1926 Courtdale had 439 taxables, and its assessed valuation then was $424,889. John H. Fralick was burgess in 1927, and William C. Rowett was the president of school board. James H. Goodwin was principal of school.
Dallas, a borough of more importance than many that are ten times larger in population, was incorporated on April 21, 1879, but had long before made itself the principal community of that upland part of the county. Its early his- tory is part of that of Kingston and Dallas townships.
The first settler was Ephraim McCoy, a Revolutionary soldier, who built the first log cabin in 1797, near the site of old McClellandsville, by which name Dallas Borough was once known. To all intents the township center, the village developed steadily, its trading radius being wide. The region is almost entirely agricultural, and for decades Dallas has been an agricultural center of importance. It was the logical course of events that a strong agri- cultural society should develop at Dallas. The Dallas Union Agricultural Society, organized in 1884, held some memorable fairs on its eighty acres of grounds.
For very many years Dallas has been, and still is, an important educational center. Indeed, the village owed its advancement to borough status to the importance that the high school within its bounds gave to it. The first bor- ough officials were: Dwight Wolcott, burgess; Jacob Rice, Ira D. Shover, William Snyder, Theodore Fryman, Charles Henderson, and Philip Raub, councilmen ; Charles H. Cooke, clerk.
The population of Dallas Borough in 1900 was 543; in 1910 it was 576, and in 1920 it was 581. The high country of that part of Luzerne County has, however, drawn a considerable summer population during recent decades. The taxables of Dallas in 1926 numbered 1,288, with assessed valuation returned as $591,152.
The burgess of Dallas in 1926 was J. H. Anderson; H. Stanley Doll was president of school board, and Harry F. Doll school principal. At Dallas is the College Misericordia, to which reference is made in Chapter LIV.
Dorranceton, a suburb of Wilkes-Barre and contiguous to Kingston, was incorporated as a borough on June 20, 1887. George H. Butler became the first burgess of Dorranceton. and Colonel Charles Dorrance became presi- dent of council. The name of the borough, like that of Dorrance Township, was chosen to honor the Dorrance family, which has had such notable con- nection with the county since settlement days. Colonel Charles Dorrance was eighty-two years old when he became president of the borough council of Dorranceton, and his worthy life ended five years later ; but his influence con- tinued in the place wherein he had spent almost all his long life. He was born in the Dorrance homestead at what became Dorranceton, and lived practically
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his whole life in it-a life marked by commendable public service. For fifty years or more, Colonel Dorrance was one of the leading bankers of Luzerne County, latterly as president of the Wyoming National Bank. His father, Hon. Benjamin Dorrance, was the original president of that bank-the oldest in Luzerne County-and was probably the most influential of its founders, in 1829. Lieutenant-Colonel George Dorrance, grandfather of Colonel Charles Dorrance, fell, severely wounded, at the Battle of Wyoming, July 3, 1778, and was slain next day by his relentless captors. The Dorrance family, however, has lost the distinctive place in municipal history that the incorporators of Dorranceton intended it should have, for that borough itself has passed away, or at least has lost its entity and name by merging with its older neighbor, Kingston. The consolidation took place in 1921, at which time Kingston's population was 8,952 and that of Dorranceton was 6,334.
Dupont-In 1910 Dupont was a mining village of Pittston Township, and, therefore, included in statistics and review of that township. In 1920 Dupont Borough had 4,576 inhabitants, and since March 26, 1917, had been a borough. In 1926, its taxables numbered 2,290, and the assessed valuation then was $1,054,- 307. Albert Struck was burgess; Albert J. Casper was president of school board, and Theron Davis was principal of a staff of twenty-one teachers.
Duryea-On May 28, 1901, Duryea, then incorporated as a borough, absorbed the whole of Marcy Township. Necessarily, therefore, it takes to itself the history of Marcy, and earlier political divisions of that territory.
It is alluringly historic ground. In 1754, Conrad Weiser, then an Indian interpreter, found an Indian village, which he called "Asserurgney," on the bank of the Susquehanna River between the month of the Lackawanna River and Campbell's Ledge, near the site of the Lehigh Valley Railroad Station. There the Indians hunted and fished, and upon Campbell's Ledge, 2,000 feet above, could they establish their scouts and build their signal fires. Camp- bell's Ledge was the inspiration for an Indian legend, which is elsewhere referred to. The ledge also connected with Campbell's work, "Gertrude of Wyoming."
The first white man to settle within what is now Duryea was Zebulon Marcy, who came from Connecticut in the spring of 1770 and settled about three miles above Pittston Borough, "on the left side of the road leading up the valley." There he built a log house, wherein, as the years passed, he gave shelter and hospitality to many travellers. In January, 1772, Zebulon Marcy was elected constable, upon the organization of Pittston Township.
The mining village of Duryea developed somewhat nearer Pittston Bor- ough, in the vicinity of the mine workings that were established. With the building of the Phoenix, Columbia and Babylon coal breakers, Duryea became assured of growth. On January 19, 1880, Marcy Township was formed, tak- ing territory from Pittston, Ransom and Old Forge townships. In 1880, its population was 1,159; in 1890 the census was 2,904; in 1900 it was 5,541. In 1901, Marcy Township became Duryea Borough. In 1910 the borough had 7,487 inhabitants and in 1920 7,776.
In 1926, Duryea taxables numbered 3,973, its assessed valuation was $3,942,224, its burgess was Ladislaus Wyoworksi; its school board president was Peter C. Fidula, and its supervising school principal was John P. Gibbons. Duryea schools employed eighty-two teachers in 1926.
Edwardsville-Edwardsville and Kingston are quite contiguous boroughs, the boundary line being "simply one of the prominent streets." Both are min- ing communities, and both, consequently, are prosperous. As a post office town, Edwardsville was known as Edwardsdale, the change in last syllable
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being generally accepted only with the chartering of the mining town as Edwardsville, on June 16, 1884.
The first borough officials were: Fred Williams, burgess; James Curry, president of council; Herbert S. Jones, secretary ; John Vahley, treasurer ; Jacob Linn, John Lohman, David Baird, councilmen.
In 1900, Edwardsville had 5,165 inhabitants ; in 1910 the census was 8,047, and in 1920, 9,027. Until the consolidation of Kingston and Dorranceton, in 1921, Edwardsville was a larger community than its older neighbor. In 1926 Edwardsville had 4,875 taxables, and the assessed valuation of their property then was $6,986,272. Harry E. Jones was burgess in 1926, John R. Hatten was president of school board, and Victor E. Lewis was supervising school prin- cipal. Edwardsville schools in 1926 had a staff of ten high school teachers and forty-nine graded school teachers.
Exeter, the Sturmerville of Revolutionary days, one of the historic com- munities of settlement days in the Wyoming Valley, has necessarily been the subject of many references in the general narrative of the county. The com- munity, however, had lived for more than a century before it became a borough, Exeter not being incorporated until February 8, 1884. Formerly, it had been a part of the township of Exeter.
Its industrial history is comparatively recent, and its prosperity has come mainly from the operation of collieries within or near the borough-the Schooley, the Mount Lookout and the John Hutchins mines. Two railroads, the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western and the Lehigh Valley pass through the borough.
James S. Slocum, a descendant of Johnson Scovell, who owned the land at Sturmerville in 1776, was the first burgess of Exeter Borough. He was elected in 1884, and reelected every year for eight years. The first borough council consisted of Matthew Dougher, Abraham Hoover, Colonel A. D. Mason, Isaac Carpenter, J. B. Carpenter, J. J. McCalley.
An immense power plant-the largest in northeastern Pennsylvania-is now being erected at Ransom. It is probably the most important development in that neighborhood during recent decades.
Exeter Borough, however, has more than doubled its population in twenty years. In 1900 the population was 1,948; in 1910 it was 3,537; in 1920 it was 4,176. In 1926, Exeter taxables numbered 3,109, with property valued on assessment basis at $5,162,336. Lewis N. Jacobs was burgess of Exeter in 1926, Steven Skrinok was president of school board, and Elizabeth Dougher was supervising principal of schools. Teachers numbered thirty-six, including twelve for high school.
Forty Fort was the place at which the first forty Connecticut settlers in the Wyoming Valley built a fort to protect them from the Indians. No attempt, however, will here be made to enter into this early history, for it has been amply covered in the preceding volumes.
Forty Fort rivaled Wilkes-Barre in the early years of jurisdiction by Penn- sylvania. Indeed, Forty Fort hoped to be chosen as the county seat; but, losing this distinctive place, the village grew slowly.
One of the first merchants within the limits of the existing borough was Robert Shoemaker, whose store stood at the corner of River and Wyoming streets. Shoemaker's store, and that later conducted by Samuel Pugh, was patronized by river men. They would tie their craft here, and step ashore for supplies, before going down the Susquehanna, perhaps as far as tidewater. A famous old tavern was the Forty Fort Tavern, also on the river bank, and also probably frequented by river men. The raftsmen of the Susquehanna were a bibulous fraternity. The old Forty Fort Tavern was kept by Henry Stroh, whose descendants are still in the borough.
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The village was given borough status in 1887, the first borough officers being: Abram Live, burgess; George Shoemaker, president of council ; Crandall Major, secretary ; L. A. Barber, treasurer ; J. Shook, Adam Heisz, and A. C. Stout, councilmen.
Forty Fort was then a place of eight hundred or nine hundred inhabitants ; a growing suburb of Wilkes-Barre. Its population in 1920 was 3.339. It has evidently grown rapidly since, for in 1926 the school children of the borough numbered about 1,200. At Forty Fort is a cigar factory which is said to be the largest in the world; certainly, it is the largest of the fifty factories of the General Cigar Company, a corporation of National scope. In the Forty Fort plant they employ about 1,300 workers, mostly girls. At Forty Fort also is one of the leading preparatory schools of northeastern Pennsylvania, the Wilkes-Barre Institute, established three-quarters of a century ago.
The public schools of Forty Fort use a teaching staff of fifty-one, including twenty-seven high school teachers. The supervising principal is A. A. Kil- lian, and J. Milton Rossing is principal of high school. President of school board is J. H. Evans.
Population : 1900, 1.557 ; 1910, 2,353 ; 1920, 3.389. Taxables in 1926 num- bered 3,868. Assessed valuation, $6,259.786. Robert Rozelle is burgess of Forty Fort.
Freeland, standing 2,190 feet above sea level, a vigorous, healthy and beau- tiful borough, owes its life to mining, though it is not a mining town. Many mines are nearby, in the valley, but the mine workers, who were the pioneers in Freeland, preferred to live on the hilltop. Incorporated as a borough on September 11, 1876, Freeland held its first borough election on October 10, 1876. The first officers were: Rudolph Ludwig, burgess; Henry Koons, president of council ; Manus Connaghan, John L. Jones, Patrick McGlynn, Hugh O'Donnell, and Christopher Weigand, councilmen.
The outstanding events of Freeland history before and since its incorpo- ration are: Purchase in 1842, by Joseph Birkbeck. of land within and con- tiguous to the later site of borough; opening of Howe farm, westward of Birkbeck's, about same time for a similar purpose; coming of William John- son, laborer, the first to settle within borough limits; purchase of townsite by Mr. Donop, clerk to George B. Markle at Jeddo, in 1868; building of house by Donop, and platting of village, which he called Freehold ; opening of first schoolhouse in 1868; opening of first store, by Joseph Lindsey, in 1875; incor- poration as borough in 1876; completion of waterworks system in 1883, with Joseph Birkbeck as president; organization of hook and ladder and hose companies in 1885; laying of sewers, 1890; establishment of bank, 1890.
Woodside Colliery was the nearby mine that gave Freeland its first spurt of prosperity. At one time Woodside was the village name. It became Free- land appropriately after Eckley B. Coxe gave to the town ten acres of land for park purposes to the south. The Coxe mines of the vicinity have considerably added to Freeland's trade and inhabitants.
Population : 1900, 5,254 ; 1910, 6,197 ; 1920, 6,666. Number of taxables in 1926: 3,856. Assessed valuation, 1926: $2,409,899. Burgess: Thomas J. Lewis. President of school board: Joseph Saricks. Supervising school prin- cipal is N. P. Luckenbill, heading a teaching staff of forty-five. Salary of high school teachers ranges from $1,400 to $1,800, and the maximum in the grades is $1,400.
Hazleton, the logical trading center of a most progressive, prosperous and populous part of Luzerne County, owes some of its prosperity to the physical difficulties that obstruct the way to Wilkes-Barre. the county seat.
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The topographical features which make Wilkes-Barre inaccessible to the people of the southern part of the county have given Hazleton a natural advantage. Nevertheless, her prosperity has come, mainly, by the initia- tive, industry, and enterprise of her own people, in successfully mining and marketing the minerals which are of no value until taken from the ground and which, in the mining and marketing, might have brought disaster to the operators had they not been alert and capable captains of industry. Coal mining gave Hazleton her start in municipal life, carried her forward to civic dignity, and, in all probability, will sustain her in increasing civic importance for many, many decades, because her coal mining operations are in the care of executives of the same high order-technical and commercial-as those who so firmly set the basis of her prosperity. A stranger entering Hazleton is at once impressed by the many evidences of substantial prosperity that surround him. The magnificent public buildings, the lofty modern office buildings of the banking institutions, the well-lighted and well-appointed stores, the well- dressed shoppers, and that surest of all indications of commercial activity, the new million dollar hotel-an investment which would not have been made without good reasons-are sufficient indications that Hazleton has genuine present prosperity and an assured future.
Historically, Hazleton has no share of the colorful settlement history that centered about Wilkes-Barre. She had no part in the Battle of Wyoming- no Revolutionary history, in fact. Almost the whole of southern Luzerne was still the land of the Indian, or at all events wilderness almost untrodden by white men, as the eighteenth century passed into the nineteenth. The only connection Hazleton can struggle to hold with the romantic first decades of the Republic is in the statement that, in 1780, Captain Klader, with his com- pany of minute men, passed over the site of Hazleton along an Indian trail to ambuscade and death "in the ravine at the base of Buck Mountain, a short distance below the country clubhouse." Very few doubt that Captain Klader passed this way, or that other white men were in the vicinity earlier. Hazle- ton owes its name, it is said, to the naming of a swamp by Moravian mis- sionaries to the Indians of the region. Hackwelder Mack and other mission- aries of his time knew the spot upon which Hazleton now stands as "Hazel Swamp." Still, Hazleton was a place of only two or three houses fifty years after Captain Klader passed by.
As the eighteenth century closed, plans were being made to construct a turnpike road from Berwick to Elmira, New York. A road was to run from Mauch Chunk to Berwick. The route of the road in Luzerne County was through Nescopeck Township, which at that time embraced all of Luzerne that is south of the present Nescopeck Township. To be more exact, the route would pass along that unsettled southerly part of Nescopeck which is now Broad Street of Hazleton.
The road builders reached this spot in 1804, but, of course, were only tem- porary settlers. A few years later, however, when this highway was com- pleted and stage coaches used to pass along it, there was need of wayside taverns-no so many perhaps as were opened along the first American turn- pike, which soon after its construction in 1792, could count along its sixty- two miles, between Lancaster and Philadelphia, no less than sixty-one tav- erns. Nevertheless, some taverns, or "stage stands" as they were sometimes appropriately called, were established along the Berwick Turnpike. One such hostelry was, in 1809, to be found near the "Forks," within what became the borough limits of Hazleton, but then had no other significance than that there the road from Wilkes-Barre intersected the Berwick Turnpike.
The tavern-keeper was Jacob Drumheller, and his log house stood on East Broad Street, Hazleton, for many years after Hazleton was platted. How- ever, another generation was to pass before this was done. No other house
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was raised near Drumheller's until 1817, and in 1834 there were only four houses in the vicinity. According to Daniel P. Raikes, who became an early resident in Hazleton, and who had known the "Forks" much earlier, the sec- ond building, which was called the "Old State House," stood "at the crossing of the turnpike by the old State road running from Wilkes-Barre to McKeans- burg." This tavern, or "stage stand," stood "where Henry Dryfoos once lived, on the northwest corner of Broad and Vine streets," where the new Schultz Garage now is.
If the village at the "Forks" was slow of growth, the same cannot be said of some other places in the neighborhood. Beaver Meadows, in the 'thirties, promised to outstrip Conyngham, and Whitehaven was the village of lumber- men. Earlier, it seemed that a village inight develop nearer Hazleton. In 1810, a sawmill was built on Mill Creek, approximately at what is now the intersection of Mill and Broad streets. Many men were engaged in lumbering at that point, in all probability, but with no more intention of settling than have the lumbermen of today who go into the virgin forest. They would camp near the standing timber, and get their logs to the mill, and from there, by team, to the Lehigh and Schuylkill rivers, in time for floating down- stream, to the lower counties, during the spring freshets. That done, they would return to their farms for the growing season. So there was only a slight chance of permanent settlement developing rapidly out of lumbering.
Another element, however, was soon to show itself in the region. In 1813 some Welshmen had come from the Panther Creek Valley. They were look- ing for coal. They found it at Spring Mountain, which was soon to be known as Beaver Meadows. Following them, came Nathan Beach and Tench Coxe, prepared to exploit the discovery. What is now No. 3 Hazleton Mine was the site of Beach's operations. Tench Coxe had such faith in the future of anthracite that after the "stone coal" had been found in Mauch Chunk, after it had been tried and pronounced unburnable, he bought nearly eighty thou- sand acres of land in the direction in which he thought the coal measures must lie. All the land he purchased was not coal land, but his intuition, based on more than a superficial knowledge of geology, laid the basis of an enormous fortune for his descendants. Hon. Eckley B. Coxe, grandson of the great economist, Tench Coxe, did not begin to mine coal in the Lehigh coalfield until 1865, but when he did so, it was upon land inherited from his grand- father-land that had been leased, for mining purposes, to others in the time of his father, Judge Charles S. Coxe, and operated, in most cases, with dis- couraging results by the lessees.
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