sheltered on all sides by hills; on the top of a small knoll is the
public square, with fountain, walks, grass plots, and flower beds; it
contains the Soldiers’ Monument, dedicated in 1894 to “Our Silent
Defenders”; facing the park is the Courthouse, Gothic French style, with
a high tower, stone, built in 1885; architect, James P. Bailey,
Pittsburgh; remodeled in 1908 by J. C. Fulton, of Uniontown; interior
has mural paintings, representing historic scenes in Butler County; the
Woman’s Club furnished a rest room for women here in the basement. Two
interurban street railway lines from Pittsburgh have their terminus near
this point. Within two squares is the Post Office, built, 1914, Grecian;
light brick with granite Ionic columns; architect, Oscar Wenderoth.
Opposite is St. Paul’s Roman Catholic Church, English-Gothic, with stone
tower 180 feet high; constructed of beautifully colored local sandstone
in the rough, trimmed with the same stone dressed smooth; roof,
variegated shingle tile; architect, John T. Comes, Pittsburgh; interior
has mural decorations by the Christian Art Guild; the altars are known
as “Tryptich,” said to be the only ones of their kind in America; the
sanctuary is considered among the richest and most complete in this
country; stained glass windows from George Boos, Munich, Bavaria. St.
Peter’s German Catholic Church has stained glass windows from Munich,
made by Meyer & Company, who also made windows for St. Peter’s
Protestant Episcopal Church.
The county has numerous fine, concrete bridges; Butler Viaduct is the
largest, 1060 feet between the approaches connecting East Wayne Street
with Center Avenue across a deep ravine, built in 1915 by the Fort Pitt
Bridge Works. Two miles northeast of town is a pleasure park of natural
beauty in a wooded valley, well equipped with dining rooms, ball
grounds, lake for boating, etc. Five miles from Butler on the heights
above Herman Station is ST. MARY’S MONASTERY, Gothic, built by the
Capuchin Fathers, of which St. Fiedelis College forms a part. SAXONBURG
was laid out in 1832 by John Roebling, here he lived and manufactured
the first wire cable, which he used in constructing suspension bridges
that made him famous, notably the Brooklyn Bridge across East River, New
York. At EVANS CITY, on a grassy knoll in the cemetery, is the Soldiers’
Monument; Quincy granite shaft, surmounted by an eagle standing on a
globe, the names of forty-five soldiers are inscribed on it; dedicated,
1894.
On the same road is HARMONY, an old historic settlement, founded by
George Rapp of Germany; who organized a society known as Harmonites,
they purchased 5000 acres of best farm land along the Connoquenessing
Creek, amid beautiful scenery, and formed a communistic colony; all
money and goods went into a common fund; all worked together in harmony
and concord; the quaint old cemetery is surrounded by a wall four feet
thick; at the entrance is a gate consisting of one large stone which
turns on a pivot; more than one hundred of the sect are buried here;
high up on the bank, above the creek, is a curious stone formation
called “Rapp’s Seat,” here, tradition relates, “Father Rapp” used to sit
and oversee the work carried on by the community; the tourist is well
repaid for the climb by the beautiful view from that high point. Another
historic place is known as the “Old Stone House” on Mercer Turnpike, ten
miles north of Butler, used as a tavern in the eighteenth century; here
in 1843, an Indian named “Mohawk” killed Mrs. Wigton and her four
children.
A State Normal School with fine large buildings and wide, shady campus
is at SLIPPERY ROCK. About 1792, numerous depredations by Indians were
quieted for some time by General Brodhead’s expedition to the head
waters of the Allegheny River with Captain Samuel Brady’s help, a
notable Indian fighter; his leap of 23 feet over the waters at Slippery
Rock, 20 feet deep, with Indians back and front, gained the praise of
the Indian chief, who said, “Blady make good jump.” At WEST SUNBURY an
agricultural school has lately been established.
[Illustration: VINEYARD HILL
Harmony Rapp’s seat is back of the tree. The path leads to it.]
XXXIV
MERCER COUNTY
Formed March 12, 1800; named for General Hugh Mercer of the
Revolutionary War, who was killed in the Battle of Princeton; rolling
land, well watered with springs and creeks; coal underlying one-fourth
of land in the county; chief industries are iron, steel, and
agriculture; early settlers were Scotch-Irish. In 1812, Mercer County
people were frequently called upon to aid in defense of Erie; the whole
county would be aroused in a day by runners; in a few hours most of the
men, whether militia or volunteers, would be on the march; one call came
on Sunday, while service was being held in the courthouse; the sermon
was suspended, news announced, benediction given, and immediate
preparation for march commenced; at another time, news of threatened
invasion came in the middle of grain harvest; the response was
immediate, only one old man was left in the town.
MERCER, county seat, population 1932; was once an Indian village of
seventy lodges; no settlement was made here until after Wayne’s victory
over the Indians in 1795; it was laid out in 1803, on two hundred acres
of land given by John Hoge of Washington County. The courthouse, built,
1909, colonial; brick, stone, and concrete; is in center of the public
square of three acres; interior finished in white marble; mural painting
in dome by Edward Everett Simmons, represents Power, Innocence, Guilt,
and Justice; in the courtrooms
[Illustration: MERCER COUNTY]
[Illustration: MURAL PAINTING IN THE DOME OF MERCER COUNTY COURT HOUSE
_Painted by Edward Everett Simmons_]
on second floor are symbolic mural paintings, “Criminal Law,” by Vincent
Aderente, and “Civil Law,” by Arthur Foringer, made in 1911; panels 11
by 12 feet; in the judges’ chambers is a portrait of Honorable Henry
Baldwin, former member of the Mercer County bar, and Justice of the
Supreme Court of the United States, 1830-44. On courthouse grounds is
the monument, granite and bronze, to soldiers of Mercer County in the
war of 1861-65.
The Humes Hotel, at the northeast corner of the Public Square, built,
1817, then known as “The Hackney House,” oldest hostelry in the county,
had as guests Marquis de Lafayette in 1824; his room, No. 12, is open to
guests; President Taylor and Buchanan, and General John B. Gordon of
Georgia also visited here. The celebrated Harthegig healing springs,
named after an Indian chief, is near Mercer; Indians claimed it healed
them of many diseases. HOPE MILLS was the birthplace and the early home
of George Junkin, D.D., who was father-in-law of General Stonewall
Jackson; his father was a captain in the War of 1812. GROVE CITY is a
picturesque college town, being the home of Grove City College, founded
by Dr. Isaac C. Kettler. Buhl farm, near SHARON, is a recreation park
for citizens of Shenango Valley and has club house, swimming pool, golf,
tennis, and baseball grounds.
[Illustration: ARMSTRONG COUNTY]
XXXV
ARMSTRONG COUNTY
Formed March 12, 1800, and named for General John Armstrong, who
commanded the expedition against the Indians at Kittanning in 1756, and
destroyed their town; a hilly and well-watered region with fine farming
lands on bottoms and hills. Bituminous coal and limestone are found in
all parts of the county; cannel coal of excellent quality, oil, gas, and
iron ore; the plate-glass industry at Ford City is said to be the
largest in the world. Historic places are, site of Fort Jacob; Battle of
Blanket Hill; and point where Washington and Gist crossed the river, not
marked.
KITTANNING, county seat, settled in 1804; population 7153; on site of an
Indian village of same name; later it was one of the French and Indian
forts, extending via Venango and Fort Le Boeuf to Erie. An Indian trail
left Horse Shoe Bend at Kittanning Point, Blair County, and came through
Cambria County to Cherry Tree, Canoe Point, Indiana County, crossing
from there to Kittanning. The courthouse, jail, and sheriff’s house are
built together, of fine cut stone from Catfish Quarry, Clarion County,
cupola, 108 feet from the ground, foundations, 7 feet wide, sunk in
solid rock 24 feet below the surface; architect, James McCullough, Jr.,
Kittanning, built, 1870-73.
At MAHONING, in 1780, was a fierce encounter with the Indians by General
Brodhead, commander of Fort Pitt, and Captain Samuel Brady, and another
encounter at Brady’s Bend. Captain Brady fought in the Revolution, at
siege of Boston, in the massacre at Paoli, and in 1779 was ordered to
Fort Pitt. FORD CITY, population 5605, has statue of Colonel J. B. Ford,
father of plate-glass industry. Several fine churches are here.
XXXVI
INDIANA COUNTY
Formed March 30, 1803. Named for Indians; early settlers, mostly
Scotch-Irish, who not only had the Indians to contend with, but also
venomous reptiles and beasts of prey, with which the country abounded;
near the cabin door one would hear the quick snap of the viselike jaws
of the wolf, one could see the panther crouching in a tree, or the
catamount glaring from a thicket. Chief industries, agriculture and coal
mining; entire county is underlaid with bituminous coal of finest
quality; glass and brick-making are important; electricity and natural
gas solve the heating and lighting problems.
INDIANA, county seat, laid out in 1805; population 7043; courthouse, in
center of town, brick and gray stone, Renaissance, built, 1871, jail in
same style joins it, built, 1888. Town hall, brick with Cleveland
limestone trimmings, Renaissance, built, 1913, architect, H. King
Conklin, Newark, New Jersey. Savings and Trust Company, white brick,
Renaissance. Presbyterian Church, semi-Gothic, Hummelstone, has fine
windows, one by Dodge, New York, formerly with Tiffany. United
Presbyterian Church, Moorish, brick, built, 1851. State Normal School,
northeast of town on high ground beautifully kept, buildings all of
stone or brick, modern school construction, contains good reproductions
of famous paintings and replicas of celebrated sculpture, distributed
throughout the
[Illustration: INDIANA COUNTY]
[Illustration: THE DEVIL’S ELBOW, EAST OF INDIANA
One of the most picturesque spots in the county
_Illustration loaned by “The Indiana Progress,” Indiana_]
buildings as a decorative and educational element; portrait of Jane E.
Leonard, principal since opening in 1875, artist, H. S. Stevenson,
Pittsburgh, was given by the alumni; and interesting class windows in
Leonard Hall, given by three separate graduate classes, makers, Rudy
Brothers, Pittsburgh; near the borough is Devil’s Elbow, one of nature’s
beauty spots.
Armstrong Spring, an old Indian camping ground, on Indian Trail,
“Kittanning Path,” which passed north of the Rice Hill, west to this
spring, in private property, and through normal school grounds to
Kittanning, Armstrong County; over this trail Lieut. Colonel John
Armstrong was sent with seven companies against Indians, at the battle
of Blanket Hill, Kittanning, in 1756. Two miles west on Kittanning Pike
is site of Clark’s blockhouse, first building in the county, the spring
and part of old stone fort are still there, not marked.
CHERRY TREE, on Susquehanna River prominent point on old purchase line,
in treaty of William Penn with the Indians at Fort Stanwix, 1768, also
called “Canoe Point”; from here, the Indians carried their canoes to the
Allegheny River at Kittanning, sixty miles away; a direct line between
these two points formed part of the boundary of lands acquired from the
Six Nations. Where original Cherry Tree stood is the meeting point of
Indiana, Cambria, and Clearfield counties, monument erected by county
commissioners; designed by E. F. Carr & Company, Quincy, Massachusetts,
unveiled 1894; Governor Beaver made the address; inscription, “This
monument is erected to mark Canoe Place, the corner of the Proprietaries
Purchase from the Indians by Treaty at Fort Stanwix, New York, November
5, 1768.” In the southeast is a tunnel, part of old portage railroad
through spur of Alleghenies, where the Conemaugh makes a bend of two and
one-half miles. Near are Aurora Falls, for sixty feet over rock and
through a picturesque gorge to the Conemaugh River (Kiskiminetas) which
forms southern boundary, tributary streams fall twenty to thirty feet to
the mile.
Near ARMAGH is the old Buena Vista Furnace, one of three operated in
southeast section in the early forties, relic of the early iron industry
when ore was taken from the hills, melted into pig metal, and
transported to the markets over the old Pennsylvania Canal. BLAIRSVILLE,
on proposed William Penn highway, settled, 1819, population 4391, named
for John Blair of Blair’s Gap. First United Presbyterian Church, Tudor
Gothic. LUZERNE is said to have largest electrically equipped coal
(bituminous) operations in the world, and develops power to other
operations within a radius of twenty-five miles. SALTZBURG, settled in
1817 by Andrew Boggs, is near site of an Indian village, beautiful Kiski
Falls are here; several wells producing salt of excellent quality were
put down from 1813 and later. ELDER’S RIDGE, academy, stone, built in
1816, was the first state vocational school in Pennsylvania. The
underground railway was in active operation in Indiana County during the
latter days of slavery.
XXXVII
CAMBRIA COUNTY
Formed March 26, 1804; named by early Welsh settlers for the Cambria
Hills in Wales; has been called the Switzerland of America. Here are
many places of historic and scenic interest. The old Kittanning Trail
crossed the country in the north through Ashville, where there is an
Indian burial ground. Near Carrollton is Hart’s Sleeping Place; he was a
signer of the Declaration of Independence; the British made special
exertion to take him a prisoner, so he wandered through the woods,
sleeping in caves, being constantly hunted by the enemy. South is
LORETTO, a quaint old mountain town with one street, and an almost
entirely Roman Catholic community, founded by Prince Demetrius
Gallitzin, who brought a colony of settlers into the Allegheny Mountains
about 1796, and labored as a missionary in this district for forty
years; he died in 1840; the church he built here has been rebuilt in a
costly manner by Charles Schwab in honor of his birthplace. St. Francis
College has the tomb and monument of Prince Gallitzin in grounds.
Southeast is GALLITZIN at western end of a tunnel two-thirds of a mile
long on the Pennsylvania Railroad, 2160 feet above sea; a bronze statue
of the prince is here. PRINCE GALLITZIN SPRING, with a monument near by,
is along the State Highway near Summit, on top of the Alleghenies.
Beyond is CRESSON, a noted and beautiful summer
[Illustration: CAMBRIA COUNTY]
[Illustration: MONUMENT TO THE UNKNOWN DEAD OF THE JOHNSTOWN FLOOD]
resort; here is Mount Aloysius Academy and the State Tuberculosis
Sanatorium No. 2. EBENSBURG, county seat, laid out in 1805; population
2179, is also a summer resort; through the woods and around the lakes of
this region the rhododendrons grow as tall as trees and are gorgeous in
their bloom. Descending along the upper waters of the Conemaugh,
numerous vestiges are seen of the old Portage Railroad, a series of
inclined planes, connecting the State Canal at Hollidaysburg east and
Johnstown on the west. Dickens wrote of the scenery along the canal,
“Sometimes the way wound through some lonely gorge like a mountain pass
in Scotland.” Many dams, which are really lakes, have been built by
manufacturers, the largest is three and one-half miles long, surrounded
by wooded hills with here and there a waterfall.
JOHNSTOWN, population 67,327, at confluence of the Conemaugh River and
Stony Creek, was founded in 1800 by a Swiss Mennonite, Joseph Schantz
(Johns). A glance at the deep, narrow valleys, with their high inclosing
walls, goes far to explain the possibility of so tremendous a
catastrophe as that which overwhelmed Johnstown on May 31, 1889.
Conemaugh Lake, two and one-half miles long, one and one-half miles
wide, was reserved as a fishing ground by a club of Pittsburgh
engineers, its waters were restrained by a dam 1000 feet long, built by
the state as a reservoir to store water for the state canal during the
dry seasons; a continuance of violent rains filled the lake to
overflowing; the break occurred at three o’clock in the afternoon, a gap
of 300 feet being formed at once. The water that burst through swept
down the valley in a mass one-half mile wide, forty feet high, carrying
everything in its way, completely destroying Johnstown and other towns
and villages in its track, going 18 miles in seven minutes, the distance
between Johnstown and the lake. The mass of houses, trees, machinery,
railway iron and human bodies was checked by the railway bridge below
Johnstown, which soon caught fire, probably burning to death hundreds of
persons imprisoned in the wreckage. About 2205 lives were lost; in the
Grandview Cemetery a large space is dedicated to the “Unidentified
Dead,” with a Westerly granite monument, having heroic size statues of
Faith, Hope, and Charity; sculptor, F. Barnicoat, Quincy, Massachusetts;
there are 778 individual markers for the bodies, largely unidentified,
laid out geometrically, so that from whatever angle the plot is seen,
they are in curved rows.
Johnstown was an important shipping station on the canal connecting
Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. An interesting feature now remaining is the
canal tunnel at bend of the Conemaugh, four miles east of Johnstown;
second such tunnel built in America; constructed by the state about 1828
or 1830; the first is in Lebanon County, made in 1827. The Carnegie
Library received by bequest from James M. Swank, historian and iron and
steel statistician, his books and historical relics. Franklin Street
Methodist Episcopal Church, Gothic, gray sandstone; the sills under the
windows of the auditorium are dressed stones from the abandoned
Pennsylvania Canal Locks, near site of the present Pennsylvania Railroad
station; architect, George Fritz. First Presbyterian Church, at the
corner of Walnut and Lincoln Streets, dedicated, 1913; modified English
[Illustration: THE GAP BELOW JOHNSTOWN]
Gothic, Cleveland gray sandstone and green tile, architects, Badgley &
Nicholas, Cleveland.
The Cambria Steel Company began in 1840, when George S. King and David
Stewart discovered a vein of iron ore about fifteen inches thick, on the
Laurel Run, west of Johnstown; they built the first blast furnace in
Cambria County in 1842, calling it the Cambria Furnace; in 1843 Dr.
Peter Shoenberger bought out David Stewart’s interest; he was the great
ironmaster of his time, conducting a chain of furnaces, forges and
rolling mills, stretching almost 500 miles, from the old Marietta
furnace in Lancaster to the Wheeling, West Virginia, iron works. The
Cambria Iron Works were completed in 1853, and sold to a syndicate of
Philadelphians who selected Matthew Newkirk as president; in 1854 they
rolled the first iron rails; the first steel rails in America were
rolled here in 1867 from blooms imported from England. Iron is the
county’s chief industry.
[Illustration: CLEARFIELD COUNTY]
XXXVIII
CLEARFIELD COUNTY
Formed March 26, 1804; named by the first settlers from a cleared field
in the forest made by the Indians, site of “Chingleclamouche’s old
Town,” said to have been the most considerable Indian village on the
upper West Branch of the Susquehanna, now Clearfield Borough. The whole
county is a continuous prospect of intensely picturesque scenery;
surface mountainous, with ranges broken into innumerable, irregular
spurs, indented by streams; from many hilltops views of the greater part
of the county may be seen; the “Knobs,” its loftiest summit, is
constantly in view, and the intermediate country, a panorama of natural
beauty, ever changing in atmospheric effects; all the creeks,
tributaries of the West Branch of the Susquehanna, have scenery which
beggars description, a veritable feast for the painter, poet, and
romancer; Moshannon and Clearfield Creeks had their beaver dams.
Up Anderson’s Creek, on the old Milesburg and Le Boeuf road, opened
prior to 1802, a detachment of regulars marched against the British at
Lake Erie in the War of 1812. Important Indian trails traversed this
county, crossing the head waters of Clearfield Creek, Chest Creek, near
“Hart’s Sleeping Place,” and the West Branch at Canoe Place. Another ran
from Bald Eagle Creek where Marsh Creek empties, in Blair County, going
west crossed Moshannon and Clearfield Creeks to Chingleclamouche; this
was also called the Trader’s Path; none of the present roads are made
upon the Indian trails. A mortar-shaped stone has been located about
five miles east of Clearfield, on the State Highway, and has been marked
by local Daughters of the American Revolution as site of an Indian mill
for grinding corn.
Early settlers were mostly from older Eastern counties; these were
followed by Germans, Irish, Scotch-Irish, and French. Chief industry,
the mining of bituminous coal. In 1828 Peter Karthaus arrived in
Harrisburg with six arks, laden with bituminous coal from his mines in
this county, it was exhibited in front of the Capitol; not until about
1870 did the industry begin to assume any great magnitude; today the
yearly output aggregates millions of tons, and the lower measures are
not yet developed. Peter Karthaus also started the iron industry, near
KARTHAUS, but it was short-lived; here, it is said, the first successful
attempt was made in Pennsylvania to smelt iron by means of bituminous
coal. Other important industries are vitrified brick, drain tile, and
tanning.
CLEARFIELD, county seat; population 8529; on land owned by Abraham
Witmer, laid out, 1805, in regular squares like Philadelphia; streets
running east and west are named, those north and south numbered. Two
small parks were reserved along the West Branch. Principal buildings are
scattered. Courthouse, brick, Romanesque, built in 1860, architects,
Cleveland & Bachus, contains portraits of former judges, among them
Honorable John Holden Orvis; it is located in center of the original
plan of the borough. Near are most of the churches, of which the
Trinity Methodist Episcopal, Romanesque, and St. Francis’ Roman
Catholic, Gothic, may be mentioned for architecture. The high school is
well lighted and of best school construction; each of the principal
towns of this county has its high school. Prominent men of Clearfield
were, Honorable William Bigler, State Governor, and Honorable William A.
Wallace, United States Senator; they are buried in Hillcrest Cemetery; a
monument to Governor Bigler was erected by the state.
[Illustration: TIOGA COUNTY]
XXXIX
TIOGA COUNTY
Formed March 26, 1804; name, corruption of the Iroquois word “Tiagoa”
(gateway); noted for its high altitude and wonderful views; part of
Allegheny plateau, where it breaks into parallel flat-topped mountains,
supporting, in shallow basins, several isolated bituminous coal fields.
Heritage of timber is being dissipated; the State Tree Nursery at Asaph
is trying to replace the great waste. Chief industry, agriculture, land
for dairy purposes is among the finest in the state, several extensive
milk condenseries. Indian trails crossed the county from Big Tree on the
Genesee, among the Senecas, to the frontier at Northumberland. First
great road was built by Charles Williamson of New York in 1792, agent
for Sir William Poulteney, who had received a large grant of land in New
York State, adjoining Pennsylvania, in the “Genesee Country,” home of
the Seneca Indians; the road, commencing at Loyalsock, passed through
what is now Williamsport, up Lycoming Creek to Trout Run, over Laurel
Hill to “Block House,” now Liberty; here Williamson built a blockhouse
of logs 20 by 40 feet, as place of refuge; to Peter’s Camp, now
Blossburg, where coal was discovered in 1792; ending near Bath, New
York, it opened up to settlers 15,000,000 acres of land in Pennsylvania
north of Williamsport; this road is still used from Williamsport to
Tioga County.