USA > Pennsylvania > Clarion County > History of Clarion County, Pennsylvania > Part 52
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Transe Russ mi
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CLARION BOROUGH.
" As I had come one hundred and twenty-five miles to see the place with a view of making it my future home, I looked around with considerable inter- est. Although disposed to take a favorable view of everything, there was very little I could see to fascinate. Previous to the spring of 1840 it had been a piece of poor pine wood land, and the only money that had ever been made off it had been by John C. Corbett, who some years before had gathered up the pine knots on the site of the town and burnt a tar kiln, and realized out of it eleven barrels of tar. The main street was the Waterford and Susquehanna turnpike, and the sides were occasionally ornamented with piles of half-rotten logs that had been cut and piled when the turnpike was made.
"Quite a number of houses were up along both sides, but if any were finished I did not see them. Generally only enough land was cleared on which to set the building, and the back end was frequently lost in bushes and brush heaps. The town looked to me more like a' camp-meeting than the metropolis of a flourishing county. Mr. Clark's hotel (Loomis House) was open for the accom- modation of strangers and travelers, and I suppose had a bar for the spiritual refreshment of his customers. The house was up, roofed, and partitioned off into rooms and apartments, and the outside doors were hung ; but the carpen- ters and plasterers were still at work, the painters had not begun yet, and I slept my first night in Clarion in a room with a sheet hung up for a door. The window sash had not been put in, but there were sheets and garments hung up so as to partially shut out the view from the outside.
" Dr. Ross had introduced me to Jacques W. Johnson, a young lawyer from Cumberland Valley-somewhere about Carlisle. He was very polite, and in- troduced me to everybody we met. We walked out the west end of the town as far as the turn of the road below where the fair ground now is. It was all woods with a thick undergrowth of bushes. The Diamond looked hard; the pine trees had been grubbed out, and were lying on the ground with roots pro- truding up, some of them ten feet. The masons were building the wall of the jail yard ; the foundation was finished and the court-house had not been com- menced. A thick growth of young white pine extended all the way from the Alexander House to the Loomis House. The streets had generally been cut out and the brush burned, but logs and stumps were everywhere. On the west end of the town a couple of fields had been cleared south of the turnpike, ex- tending back of where the seminary now stands.
"Living in the town at that time seemed very much like camping out. Those who had come to stay were generally young married people, starting in the world on small means, and were from all parts of the State, but in their primitive way of living soon formed acquaintances, and all were busy getting their houses ready for the winter. Thomas Gahagan lived in a little house, still standing, east of the nunnery. Two other small, one-story houses were occupied between that and 7th avenue-one on Mr. Montgomery's lot and
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HISTORY OF CLARION COUNTY.
one on the A. G. Corbett lot. Samuel M. McCamant had a blacksmith shop where the Republican-Gazette office now stands, and the kitchen end of the house was up and occupied by him. James McKee lived in the kitchen end of J. T. Maffet's house. The next building that I recollect was the Great Western Hotel (D. B. Curll's lot); it was up and roofed, but not far enough along to occupy as a hotel. The next was a frame store-room, back off the street on the east side of the Jones House lot. The Jesse D. Porter house was up and occupied by a man named Sloan, a cabinet-maker. Between that and Dr. Pritner's house he had built a long shop and wareroom, which long after- wards was moved to the rear end of the Jones House and made into a kitchen and dining-room. Dr. Pritner was in his house (now the post-office). Lindsay C. Pritner was living in a frame house on the east side of the Kribbs block lot, and had a store in front of it. In the upper end of the town the settlers that I recollect were Andrew Gardner, M. McMurtrie, Wilson S. Packer, Joseph Kelly, William Black. Jonatham Frampton was living in the shell of a house on the lot now owned by Joseph H. Patrick. Ground was broken for the Kerr block, now John C. Reid's. Alexander Reynolds was having the house and store built where Captain Alexander now lives. Wilson & Barber had a store on where the Arnold block now stands. An old Mrs. Empy had the shell of the Colonel Alexander house up and was keeping tavern in it. The lot occupied by the Frampton block was covered with a growth of white oak timber, and the whole square beyond it was virgin forest."
Early life in Clarion presented some curious features, necessarily when an influx of people from the old and civilized communities came in contact with the raw and rude surroundings of an upstart town in the wilderness. For some time people were too much engrossed in securing a roof over their heads, and comparative comfort, to unite in social intercourse beyond that of an every-day character. With the advent of the legal force, mostly pleasure- loving younkers with plenty of spare time on their hands, a new element was contributed to the life of the place. The hotels became the social head- quarters, but the round of gayeties was as circumscribed as the luxuries were limited. Card parties were the rule among the gentlemen. Dominoes were indulged in by both sexes. Yet, hampered as it was, the spirit of polite and social intercourse, centainly less artificial, was perhaps more general in the town's society then than it is now. A couple of balls at the Great Western in the first winters, which attracted a number from Brookville and Strattanville, went far to wrest the palm of social prestige from those older and more aristo- cratic neighbors. The new jail, under the régime of Assistant Sheriff Speer and his comely daughters, and while yet untainted by the presence of crim- inals, enjoyed with the hotels the favor of pleasure seekers. Hither betimes the youth of the town gathered and merrily whiled the hours away with games and dances. The vacant cells rang with innocent laughter, and the prison
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walls and grated windows looked down on the mazes of the cotillion and Vir- ginia reel. Some laughable accounts are preserved of the mishaps of the beaux in piloting their fair partners through the brush and mud, and over the logs, débris, and various obstacles encountered on their return.
One of the amenities of the early years were the house and barn raisings, which were very numerous. No one went round to collect a crowd; when the structure was ready the builder would raise a loud halloo, and every one dropped his work, the clattering? of hammers `ceased, and all ran to the " frolic." While the full complement of workmen were on hand during the construction of the court-house and jail, the village was a bustling one. In the pleasant evenings the men beguiled the time by throwing the sledge and bar, wrestling, and pitching quoits, and Main street was enlivened by the throng of on-lookers, and participants in these impromptu sports.
Intercourse with the outer world was furnished by the stage line over the Bellefonte and Meadville turnpike. A daily coach passed through town, one day east and the next west, thus bringing the eastern mail every alternate day. Prior to 1845 the Pittsburgh mail was carried on horseback from Freeport to Strattanville, and thence brought to Clarion by stage. In July, 1845, James McElwaine, of Freeport, established a tri-weekly hack and mail line between that point and Clarion. A trip to Pittsburgh in those days was a tedious affair of not less than forty-eight hours.
The post-office was opened in 1840, in the store-room of Wilson & Barber, where G. W. Arnold's block now stands ; the building was frame and had a portico front. David Wilson was the first postmaster ; he was succeeded by John Lyon. Clarion's subsequent postmasters were Seth Clover, Hugh A. Thompson, J. N. Hetherington, Miles Beatty, Jesse D. Porter, Miles Beatty again, C. C. Brosius, who moved the office to the small brick building adjoin- ing the residence of N. Myers ; Miller Beatty, and M. M. Kaufman. In 1841 a voluntary census revealed a population of 714; probably one hundred of these were non-resident mechanics and laborers employed on the public build- ings ; 1842 saw a disproportionate increase in the town's numbers ; it became evident that the new county seat had attracted more than it could support, and as a consequence a reactionary exodus in 1842-3 left the town with its normal quota of inhabitants. In 1850 Clarion contained 719 souls. Mr. Sherman Day, compiler of "Historical Collections of Pennsylvania," visited Clarion in 1842, and thus flatteringly describes it : " The court-house is an elegant struc- ture of brick, surmounted by a cupola, and the county prison is very neatly built of sandstone from the neighboring quarries. The land reserved for a public square was shaded by a beautiful grove of oaks - part of the original forest. But it was compelled to bow to the ax of modern improvement. The neatness and good taste which mark both the private and public buildings, and a brisk air of enterprise along the street, make a forcible impression upon the
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HISTORY OF CLARION COUNTY.
traveler. There is a spacious academy of brick at the eastern end of the vil- lage. Presbyterian and Methodist churches are organized, and the Catholics are about organizing, but none have hitherto erected a house of worship."
The trees and bushes in the public squares were taken out by Lot Curll, David Roll, and others, under the direction of the commissioners, in the fall of 1840 and the spring of 1841. Besides Frampton and Craig's sheds, three small temporary frame offices were put up on the Diamond, the prothonotary's and John B. Butler's, immediately opposite the court-house, and a shed for the commissioners on its southeastern corner. These were removed soon after the completion of the court-house. "Gilmore's Row," a group of four humble offices, adorned the eastern side of the north square, on the present property of J. H. Sweny, esq. The corner building was Gilmore & Thompson's legal shop, the next was occupied by the Iron County Democrat ; its neighbor was D. W. Foster's law office, and the old election house was sacred to the guardianship of the peace in the person of George B. Hamilton, esq. Thomas Sutton had a one-story office on the Kribbs corner.
By an act of April 6, 1841, the village was incorporated as a borough, with limits as originally described. The citizens had anticipated the legislative act, and held an election the previous month. Jas. Sloan was chosen burgess ; James McKee, high constable; S. M. McMurtrie, borough constable; George B. Ham- ilton and Jesse Teats, justices; Edward Derby, Hugh A. Thompson, A. Rich- ards, Joseph Shoemaker, J. W. Coulter, town council ; James Goe and John Lyon, school directors; the municipality met in one of the rooms of the court- house, the general place for all kinds of assemblies.
Frampton and Craig, the jail contractors, on their arrival here, put up a rude shanty near the northwestern corner of the public square, to be used as a store for trading with their employees; this was the first mercantile stand in town. The first regular store was opened by John Potter on the east end of the Jones House lot. Potter sold dry goods, groceries, and a general assort- ment of merchandise. Lindsay Pritner started the next shop on the lot cov- ered in part by the annex to the Kribbs block. About the same time Wilson and Barber erected a store-room one door west of the Forest House. Not long after Lyon and Thompson put in a general stock in the room of the Reynolds building, now occupied by J. K. Boggs & Co. The two latter were the lead- ing firms during the first two or three years. Myers and Hetherington were the first to introduce an extensive line of hardware at their general store, now Rankin's. R. and J. McGuffy opened the earliest drug store in a lowly shop, now the office of Hon. W. L. Corbett. John, familiarly known as " Jerusalem " Hysung, a German, started a bakery and pastry shop on Elss's corner in 1841. He was a very ingenious man, going into the woods, hewing the timbers, and constructing the frame of the house himself. Here the leading citizens used to. gather in the evenings and discuss the news, politics, jumbles and spruce beer.
O Kaufman .
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CLARION BOROUGH.
Hysung's successor was George Wesner, who converted the stand into a restau- rant and sort of grocery. It was under this administration that it acquired the name of " Brimstone Corner," and for many years the corner faithfully main- tained its reputation. Wesner, although unlicensed, dispensed liquors on the sly to his regular patrons ; and his stuffy little rooms were the scene of many a jovial carousal, often ending in a free- for-all fight.
Drs. James Ross and John T. Pritner, previously of Strattanville, in 1840 entered into partnership and began practice at Clarion. John H. Boyd, a brother of J. K. Boyd, the attorney, was another of the earliest representatives of the medical profession, but did not remain long. Dr. E. Greene practiced here a short time in 1845.
In the mechanical arts Thomas Gahagan, Richard Wilson, A. Richards, Samuel Whisner, were among the earliest resident carpenters and joiners. Geo. Dale was a plasterer. Provines and Hilbruner, west of Wilson and Barber's store, had the first tin-shop, starting in April, 1841. William Craig, a brother of James M., of Frampton & Craig, had an humble tailoring establishment in a shed adjoining their store on the Diamond ; and Robert Wood soon opened another shop, advertising an offer of ten dollars per month and board for jour- neymen tailors. Thomas Newell was the town's first cobbler ; he was soon fol- lowed by Robert Goble and E. W. Everding. J. A. Kerr kept the first sad- dlery; Henry Gompers the next; the latter had his shop above Wilson and Bar- ber's store. Samuel McCamant, Samuel Holzberry, and Peter Aldinger were Clarion's first knights of the anvil. Aldinger had a shop on the former Leo- pold Guth property, at Sixth and Wood. Holzberry dressed the tools of the stone-masons and mechanics, and clinked the iron in the lot immediately back of the jail. "Sam." Holzberry was one of the characters of the early village. His helpmate, assisted by himself in spare moments, acted as laundress for the workmen, and they might be seen on bright days, pounding away at the soaked garments of the " vile mechanicals," after the primitive fashion, with sticks, in the vain attempt to extract all the dirt from them. It was one of the regular amusements of their patrons to load their pockets with stones and fusillade, with hideous racket, the shanty of their tool-dresser and washerman.
James Sloan and Adam Mooney started chair-making and painting shops simultaneously ; the former in a low building on the J. D. Porter lot ; the lat- ter two doors east of the Centennial House at the house still standing there. Sloan was succeeded by Nichols & Ross, and they by Enoch Alberson, who extended the line to general cabinet-making. D. K. Turney in 1842 opened a cabinet and chair shop at the corner of Wood street and Third avenue, and Will- iam Shaw soon after opened another adjoining the Alexander House. Charles R. Waters established Clarion's first foundry on the residence lot of James Boggs, esq. Thomas West and Jesse Love operated a pottery at a very early date on the northeast corner of Seventh avenue and Wood street. J. B. Loomis kept
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HISTORY OF CLARION COUNTY.
the first livery stable in the rear of the Great Western ; after him were Charles R. Waters and A. Johnson. The original brewery, built about 1845 by a Ger- man named Peters, stood near the head of Knapp's Run, on the east end of Main street, north side. Mr. Tritsch followed Peters.
The first barber shop was presided over by Alexander Johnson, a colored man, who opened it in 1844, in one of the small frame buildings on Main street, where Guth's brick now stands. Johnson had a versatile genius ; in connection with the tonsorial shop he ran a regular eating-house, supplying oysters, tripe, pigs-feet, etc. Later he went into the livery business. John Clark was a hatter, opposite the Porter house, previous to embarking in the mercantile business. Miss Rebecca Corse, afterwards Mrs. J. B. Loomis, first ministered to feminine fashionable wants as milliner and mantua-maker, at the Forest House. John Beck was the first watch-maker ; his shop stood where Kaufman's block was afterwards built. In 186- James Brown fitted up an humble photograph (tintype) gallery in the upper story of Elss's block. He was succeeded by A. Bonnet, he by C. C. Brosius, and finally in 1876, came the present artist, Mr. F. M. Lewis. Much of the early work was done by traveling daguereotypists who had movable galleries.
Hotels .- The first pretense at a hostelry was the cabin and its frame wing, at South street and Sixth avenue, before mentioned, as appropriated and used by William Clark, pending the erection of the Forest House.
Mrs. Empy's tavern and boarding-house was the first finished hostelry and plastered house in the town ; this is now the property of Samuel Frampton's heirs, formerly that of William T. Alexander. It was known as the Eagle House. Mrs. Empy was succeeded in the management by William D. Louden, and he, after a short time, by Joseph G. Shoemaker. In 1843 John S. McPher- son, formerly of the Clarion Exchange, took charge of this house ; finally John Reed became landlord. It next became the property of William T. Alexander, esq , and ceased to be used as a hotel.
The next hotel thrown open for the accommodation of the public was the Forest House, now the Loomis, in August, 1840. The Clarks only managed the Forest House a short time before they returned to Brookville. Robert Barber took the place, ran it a year or so, and in 1843 Seth Clover became proprietor. In 1845 John B. Loomis purchased the property, and under his management the stand attained an excellent reputation. He added the third story. After Captain Loomis's death in 186-, the hotel was conducted for some years by his widow and sons.
The Great Western, whose site is occupied by D. B. Curll's block, was constructed in 1840-1, by Colonel James W. Coulter, from Butler county, and enjoyed with the Forest House the greatest share of patronage. After a short lease to H. M. R. Clark, Sheriff D. Delo became next proprietor in 1847, and McLain. In 1853 the house was burned down and not rebuilt, Mr. Curll buying the property.
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William Alexander and Greenberry Wilson came from Huntingdon county in the spring of 1841, and camped out several weeks under some oaks near Strickler and Ray's foundry, before finding more fixed accommodations. In 1841 Mr. Alexander built the rear part of the Alexander, originally known as the Union House. In the succeeding spring he erected the brick half; the frame end, formerly the residence of Robert Potter, was attached later. Mr. Alexander remained as host here till his death in 1866 or'67. Mr. Joseph D. Thompson then managed it for three years. Since that time the hotel has passed through a number of changes, and was finally destroyed by fire during Mr. F. Dietz's administration, in May, 1886.
The Clarion Exchange, where the McLain dwelling stands, was one of the earliest brick buildings, and was put up in 1840 and '41 by Joseph Foster. Its first landlords were McPherson and McMurtrie, later McPherson alone. Subse- quently Joseph Foster and Andrew Gardner managed it. When D. McLain occupied it as a dwelling-house its existence as a hotel ceased. This building was burned January, 1878.
The Oakland, now the Jones House, was built by William Furgeson. At first only the rear, the house was subsequently brought to the level of the street ; it was two-storied. Mr. Furgeson failing, the property fell into the hands of Rev. George Lyon, one of his creditors, and was purchased from him in 1847, by Mr. H. M. R Clark, who built up a reputation for it as an excellent hostelry, and continued proprietor till 1866, being succeeded by ex-Sheriff S. S. Jones. Under Mr. Jones's management it became the leading inn of the town ; he added the third story, the rear wing, and erected the present com- modious stable ; but these improvements involved Mr. Jones in financial diffi- culties, and the stand was finally sold to A. H. Beck.
Colonel Coulter, after retiring from the Great Western, purchased the upper of the Kerr buildings, and opened a general store. In 1876 he converted this into a hotel, and erected a third story. Colonel Coulter conducted the house till his death in 1882, and afterwards Mrs. Coulter for a while. The Coulter House had a number of managers after Mrs. Coulter's death in 1883, and was sold to the present proprietor, M. Boyce, in 1885.
Mr. Nicholas Tritsch, in 1876, built a new front to the dwelling house erected by John McPherson, and converted the building into a hotel, the Cen- tennial House. After running it a short time, Mr. Herman Sandt became proprietor under lease. Since his exit this hotel has been successively con- ducted by Mrs. Tritsch, his relict, Dietz & Markley, Joseph Fasenmyer, Mrs. Tritsch again, and the present proprietor is Thomas Fleckenstein.
Societies .- Besides the political Hickory and Henry Clay clubs, the most noteworthy of the old non-secret associations of the town was the Clarion Ly- ceum. The Lyceum was a select literary and debating club, formed in De- cember, 1843. The first officers were, president, Charles McCrea ; vice-presi-
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HISTORY OF CLARION COUNTY.
dent, James M. Craig ; secretary, Amos Myers ; reviewer, B. J. Reid. They met weekly, and the quarterly debates held in the court-room were open to the public. This institution, though small in membership, represented no small amount of talent and brains. It lived four or five years.
Women's Christian Temperance Union. The Clarion Union, the first in the county, was organized March 14, 1884, with fifty-four members. The original members were, president, Mrs. P. P. Pinney ; vice-presidents, Mrs. L. J. Shoe- maker, C. Smith, W. H. Mossman, Theo. S. Wilson, James Campbell. Present officers : President, Mrs. James Campbell ; vice-presidents, Mrs. N. Myers, W. I. Reed, Charles Leeper; recording secretary, Mrs. Clara Coblentz ; cor- responding secretary, Mrs. S. Win Wilson ; treasurer, Mrs. J. L. Shallenberger. At present the Clarion W. C. T. U. numbers twenty members, its numerical strength having been diminished by the organization of the Young Women's Christian Temperance Union, May 20, 1886. The Clarion division of the W. C. T. U. in 1886, expended $626.40 in the cause of temperance. Meetings are held the first Tuesday of each month.
The county organization took form December 4, 1884, under the auspices of Mrs. Frances S. Swift, the State president. Since that time sixteen local unions have been established, making seventeen in all. Mrs. J. S. Elder, of Clarion, is president ; Mrs. Keeley, Edenburg, corresponding secretary ; Miss Finley, Lamartine, recording secretary ; Mrs. N. Myers, Clarion, treasurer.
The La Coterie Club, a social organization, was chartered December 30, 1885. It has a suite of pleasant rooms in Kribbs's block. Its active members number twenty. President, F. J. Maffet.
Clarion Athletic Association, organized November, 1885, with John W. Reed, president. It rented Kribbs's Hall and fitted it up with a complete set of gymnastic apparatus. The membership is about twenty.
John B. Loomis Post, No. 205, G. A. R., was established in May, 1881, with H. Wetter, post commander. There were twenty-eight charter members. The present number of members in good standing is forty-five. Present com- mander, John B. Patrick. It meets the 2d and 4th Tuesday of each month in Arnold's (frame) block.
Woman's Relief Corps, whose object is to co-operate in the charitable and decorative work of the G. A. R., was organized in Clarion February, 1886, with fifty-one members. Corps number, 36. Mrs. Nettie Lewis was first president, Mrs. Lucy Alexander senior vice-president. The present officers : President, Mrs. A. H. Alexander; vice-president, Mrs. Maggie Campbell ; treasurer, Mrs. J. H. Patrick. The W. R. C. meets semi-monthly in the G. A. R. Hall.
Knights of Labor, Local Assembly 9881 (Local, i. e., not belonging to a district, and directly subordinate to the General Assembly) was organized in Clarion March 22, 1887, with about fifty members. The officers are not given to the public.
ALITTLE.
Manuel
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CLARION BOROUGH.
I. O. O. F. Clarion Lodge, No. 252, was organized in 1847.
Clarion Encampment, No. 90, I. O. O. F., exists in connection with the above.
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