Blessing Little Children”; other churches that may be mentioned for
architecture are St. Paul’s Protestant Episcopal and First Presbyterian,
both Gothic; St. Matthew’s, Evangelical Lutheran, Trinity Reformed, and
St. Columba’s Roman Catholic, colonial. In 1869, this was made the
educational center of northeast Pennsylvania, with the State Normal
School, corner-stone laid by Governor Geary in 1868. Normal auditorium,
colonial; and other extensive buildings. CATAWISSA, originally a Quaker
settlement; scenery fine and picturesque; was laid out in 1787 by
William Hughes from Berks County; has an old Friends’ meeting house.
John Hanch was one of the first to build an iron furnace here on the
Catawissa in 1816; earlier the Piscatawese or Gangawese (Kenhawas) had
wigwams here. Fort Jenkins, near mouth of Briar Creek, on the
Susquehanna, was attacked and burned by Indians, 1779-80; a house is now
on the site of the fort. BERWICK was settled by Evan Owen in 1783. Here
in 1826 the steamboat _Susquehanna_ blew up while ascending the Nescopec
Falls. Also ground was broken here for the North Branch Canal.
L
PIKE COUNTY
Formed March 26, 1814, named for General Zebulon Pike, killed in Canada,
1813. When the chronicler takes up his pen to write of the glories of
Pike County in works of art, architecture, and monuments to the departed
“Great,” in peace or war, he is somewhat appalled at the dearth of them;
the landmarks are what God made, softened and beautified by time.
MILFORD, county seat, population 768, was laid out by John Biddis, 1793,
in squares, after pattern of Philadelphia; it rests high above the
Delaware River, overlooking a valley of myriad hues that have made the
town notable for its quaint, umbrageous beauty and repose. Pioneer
settlers were substantial people whose descendants still reside here. It
is a popular resort for trout fishing in the spring, vacationists in the
summer, and for deer and bird hunting in the fall. Courthouse, brick,
French design, built in 1873, in center of town, facing the public
square; two mortars from the Civil War are in the front lawn; opposite
is the jail, built in 1815 as courthouse and jail, made of native
boulders carefully selected for shades and tints; some are opalescent
and show brilliantly in certain lights; a wooden trout, five foot long,
pointing the way of the wind, is as old as the building.
Forestry building, probably handsomest village structure of its kind in
the United States, erected in 1900 by the late James Wallace Pinchot,
Normandy
[Illustration: PIKE COUNTY]
design; native stone; architects, Hunt & Hunt; in niches are busts of
Washington and Franklin; mortised in alternately are bas-reliefs of F.
A. Michaux, 1746-1802, author of “Flora Boreali Americana”; General
Lafayette in 1777; and Bernard Palissy, 1506-89, potter, and writer on
botany and forestry; sculptor, J. F. Weir. The Homestead Library,
formerly home of Cyrille Pinchot, pure colonial, is in center of town;
to the rear is Normandie Cottage, an architectural gem, replica of a
peasant’s home cottage.
Gray Towers, the Pinchot estate, native stone, reproduction of a
baronial castle in the Scottish Highlands, crowns the hill about 1000
feet above Milford; the old Scotch garden, with high stone wall, is of
rare beauty; Yale School of Forestry is on the Pinchot estate, within
echo of the Sawkill Falls. Monument to Tom Quick, the avenger of the
Delaware, is on his birthplace; he killed ninety-nine Indians to avenge
the death of his father, who was the first settler in Milford, in 1733.
The principal denominations are represented in the churches. Old inns
are, the Crissman House, built, 1810; the Sawkill House, 1823, southern
colonial; the Dimmick House, 1828, Horace Greeley stopped here in 1840
and later; one of his fondest hopes was the coöperative, community of
interest settlement, known as the “Sylvania Society,” which he, with
others, organized in 1842 at Greeley; founded on the “Sacredness of
toil,” but the young men, sons of affluent parents, who had been sent
there by New Yorkers who bought stock, did not know how to work, nor did
they wish to learn, and so they deserted.
The Bluff House on the banks of the Delaware, built, 1876, commands a
fine view; lawn of Milford Inn is planted with rare shrubs and trees
from all parts of the world; the Hermitage has three unique bronze
sundials, sculptor, Louis F. Ragot; the one depicting Father Time with
upraised reaper, is beautiful. The Hermit’s Glen, so a legend goes, is
where an old French hermit of profound knowledge and benevolence found
the water of life after a world-wide search; these waters now flow into
the lake through two bronze masques; two cement giants hold up the dam
that feeds the lake. Wells Glen lies along the Sawkill Brook;
rhododendrons, wood flowers, and giant hemlocks make it beautiful.
Childs Park, back of DINGMAN’S FERRY, given in perpetuity for use of the
public by Mrs. G. W. Childs, is a rugged mountain stretch, woodland and
meadow; cataracts and deep pools are in the trout stream that comes
through it.
BUSHKILL, another haunt for nature lovers, and SHOHOLA, all remarkable
for beautiful falls, glens, caves. In writing of the Delaware Valley,
Edmund Clarence Stedman says: “But here there is no swooning of the
languid air, and no seeming always afternoon; it is a morning land with
every cliff facing the rising sun; the mist and languor are in the grain
fields far below; the hills themselves are of the richest, darkest
green; the skies are blue and fiery; the air crisp, oxygenated,
American; it is no place for lotus eating, but for drinking water of the
fountain of youth, till one feels the zest and thrill of a new life that
is not unrestful, yet as far as may be from the lethargy of mere
repose.” Among the artists who have painted here are, William M. Chase,
J. Alden Weir, Swayne Gifford, Carroll Beckwith, Henry Satterlee,
Charles C. Curran, W. A. Rogers, and Benjamin Constant, France.
[Illustration: SAWKILL FALLS, MILFORD]
LI
PERRY COUNTY
Formed March 12, 1820; named for Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry; lying
between the Tuscarora and the Blue Mountains, it abounds in beautiful
scenery, low hills, rich valleys, and abundant streams. Chief industry,
agriculture.
NEW BLOOMFIELD, county seat, settled in 1820; streets run due east and
west, north and south. Courthouse faces the center square; colonial with
cupola, brick; built in 1868; fireproof annex, built, 1892. Soldiers’
Monument in the square, memorial to soldiers and sailors of Perry
County. Among the good church buildings may be noted the Methodist;
architect, M. A. Kast, Harrisburg. SHERMANSDALE was in 1720 an Indian
village. At MARYSVILLE a long stone arch bridge on the Pennsylvania
Railroad line crosses over the Susquehanna River from Rockville, Dauphin
County. The Marysville Civic Club has done much for the improvement of
the town, and has beautified the town square and schoolyard.
Beyond DUNCANNON, where an immense traffic in coal and iron is carried
on, one goes through the valley of the beautiful Juniata; the scenery
along this river, as one crosses ridge after ridge of the Alleghenies is
most picturesque, and the region traversed is full of historical
reminiscences of the struggles of the early Scotch-Irish colonists with
the Indians, and of the enterprise of David Brainard and other
missionaries. At MILLERSTOWN one threads the Tuscarora Gap, where the
railway, river, road, and canal squeeze their way through a narrow
defile; this lay in the land of the Tuscarora Indians.
[Illustration: PERRY COUNTY]
JUNIATA COUNTY
LII
Formed March 2, 1831; name, from the Juniata River, was given by the
original people who lived in this region, and who were obliterated by
the Iroquois; root of word means “a stone.” “Standing Stone” may be
regarded as translation of “Onojutta-Haga” or the Juniata people. A
mountainous country with many fertile valleys, situated between the
Tuscarora and Blue Ridge Mountains, famous for its scenery, with the
blue Juniata making a wide sweep. The old Pennsylvania canal followed
its banks throughout its whole course. First settlers were mostly
Scotch-Irish.
The old homestead of Francis Innis, one and a half stories, stone, east
of McCoysville, is still in possession of descendants, now used as a
spring house; his two children, captured by the Indians, were recovered
among those delivered to Colonel Bouquet in 1764. Another old landmark,
eight miles away, is the D. B. Esh house, on east Waterford Road, built
by Mr. Graham in 1802; has an open stairway carved by hand. First road
laid out in 1768, was from Sherman’s Valley to Kishecoquelas Valley. The
historic road between Harrisburg and Pittsburgh, through the famous
Jack’s Narrows, over which stage coaches traveled, is now part of the
William Penn Highway. Sites of Forts Bingham and Patterson will soon be
marked by the General Thomas Mifflin Chapter,
[Illustration: JUNIATA COUNTY]
Daughters of the American Revolution. Chief industries, agriculture and
manufactories.
MIFFLINTOWN, county seat, population 1083, joined with its twin borough,
MIFFLIN, on Pennsylvania Railroad main line, by bridge over the Juniata,
was laid out in 1791 by John Harris, and named in honor of the governor
of the state, General Mifflin. Courthouse in center of town on Main
Street, built, 1874, brick, Georgian, with Ionic porch and cupola; in
the yard is a monument, surmounted by a spread eagle, to Civil War
soldiers from Juniata County, erected in 1870. The churches are of good
architecture, and the graded high school is said to be the best between
Harrisburg and Huntingdon.
[Illustration: MONROE COUNTY]
LIII
MONROE COUNTY
Formed April 1, 1836; named in honor of President James Monroe. The
Pocono Mountains and long, fertile valleys cover the surface. Chief
industries, farming, lumber, and manufacturing. In the southeast, where
the Delaware River turns suddenly at Mount Kittatinny, towering 1600
feet above it, is the Delaware Water Gap, with views of great distance
from the highest point; near are the Wind Gap and Smith’s Gap; William
Penn’s famous Walking Land Purchase ended near here. The Milford Road,
laid out about 1800, from Easton, leaves Delaware River at Water Gap
village, thence four miles to Stroudsburg, then to Bushkill and beyond.
STROUDSBURG, county seat; population 5278; first settled by Jacob
Stroud, laid out at right angles, with a liberal plan of broad avenues,
and houses set back thirty feet from the sidewalk, resembles a New
England village. Courthouse, built, 1890, of rough stone, with high
chimneys and belfry, contains portraits of judges; with jail and county
house forms group facing the public square. Churches are of all
principal denominations. The National Bank and other buildings are
chiefly by Lacy & Son, architects. A fine stone and iron bridge, built
by the state, over Broadhead Creek, connects the two boroughs of
Stroudsburg and East Stroudsburg; it replaced a wooden one, over one
hundred years old, carried away by the freshet in 1862. In 1755,
Indians crossed over the old bridge, burned Dansbury Mission and other
buildings, leaving Stroudsburg without a house or resident. Ephraim
Collver, who had a grist mill there, escaped with his family to the
Moravians at Bethlehem.
About 1756, a line of forts were erected to protect the frontier
settlements; sites are unmarked; Fort Norris at Greensweigo, Eldred
Township, on road toward the Minisinks, eighty feet square, was
completely stockaded. Fort Hyndshaw, at the mouth of Bushkill Creek, was
built for the Revolutionary War. Fort Hamilton was built in 1757, some
one hundred feet beyond the Lutheran Church in western part of the town.
Fort Penn, center of town, was residence of Jacob Stroud, who died in
1806; here in 1778, he cared for thirty or more persons, fugitives from
the Wyoming massacre, who crossed the Pocono plateau with great toil and
distress, later proceeding to their former homes in Connecticut. At
Locust Ridge in Wyoming Valley, a battle was fought called the Pennamite
War, between Connecticut claimants and Pennsylvanians. General Sullivan
and his troops, in 1779, laid out a road through this county, from Wind
Gap to Stoddartsville, Wilkes-Barre, and on, continuing an expedition
from Easton to Genessee Valley, against the Indians; it may still be
traced almost the entire way. General Daniel Brodhead and most of his
male relatives from Monroe County, were in the Revolutionary War.
Monroe County was a portion of the lands of the Minisinks; there were
several Indian villages; the Delaware chief, Tedyuscung, born on the
Pocono Mountains, resided here. It is said that the first white
settlement in Pennsylvania was at Shawnee, by the Low Dutch or
Hollanders, in “Meenesink,” many years before William Penn’s charter.
When Nicholas Scull surveyed the land for the province, Samuel Depui was
here; he purchased land in 1727 from the Minsi Indians, now site of
Shawnee, an attractive village, five miles east of Stroudsburg; and the
same property later from William Allen, 1733, for whom the oldest survey
in the county was made.
[Illustration: CLARION COUNTY]
LIV
CLARION COUNTY
Formed March 11, 1839; named from Clarion River. The scenery is
beautiful and diversified; at the highest point, over 1600 feet above
sea level, a flagstaff has been erected; from here, on a clear day, may
be seen the bridge at East Brady and four villages in the far distance.
Hills and valleys are dotted here and there with oil and gas wells.
There are beautiful views along the Clarion and Allegheny rivers and
Redbank Creek; the scenery at East Brady is notable on account of the
precipitous hills and winding streams. First white settler was Captain
Samuel Brady of Revolutionary fame; his parents having been killed by
Indians, he swore vengeance against them. He conducted an expedition in
1779 under General Brodhead, who had started with a large force from
Fort Pitt. The Indians had become troublesome along the Allegheny River;
Brady, in advance with scouts, discovered them on a flat rock at a place
which is now East Brady; he took possession of a narrow pass, and when
the Indians arrived, he opened fire, with the main army in the rear;
escape was impossible, and nearly all were killed or taken prisoners.
In early days this region was called “The Iron City,” on account of its
many furnaces; forty were in operation at one time, they are now cinders
and banks of earth. The oil production in this county has been
wonderful; 5000 oil wells were drilled in Clarion after 1870, and there
is still much wealth in it; other industries are gas, coal, and
agriculture. Two long tunnels are at Madison Furnace on the railroad
between Clarion and Franklin; it is said there are but two longer ones
in the world. The first bridge was built across Clarion River in 1834.
The present one, which is of fine construction, is the third.
CLARION, population, 2,793, made county seat in 1840; is finely located
on a hill 1500 feet above sea level, on the Bellefonte and Meadville
Turnpike. Public buildings face the park; Courthouse, third
reconstruction, completed in 1882, Georgian; architect, Mr. Betts;
contains portraits of judges. Jail, Norman architecture, stone with
brick front, was built in 1874. Connected with the State Normal School
is a stone chapel containing busts of Abraham Lincoln and Henry W.
Longfellow; also Navaree Hall, Spanish architecture, stone, brick, and
concrete; architects, Allison & Allison, Pittsburgh.
Among the six churches are the Methodist and Presbyterian, stone, Roman
architecture. The Woman’s Club has accomplished much for civic
improvement, changing the cemetery from an unsightly spot to a place of
beauty, planting the park with shrubbery and flower beds, and starting a
free public library; in the park is a monument to Civil War soldiers. At
FOXBURG is a fine free, memorial library; colonial; native sandstone;
architect, Arthur H. Brockie, Philadelphia. In the “Memorial Church of
Our Father,” native sandstone; architect, James Sims, Philadelphia; is a
painting by Edwin Howland Blashfield, “The Angel of the Resurrection.”
LV
CLINTON COUNTY
Formed June 21, 1839; named for DeWitt Clinton. Has superb scenic
beauty; lofty mountains, rolling hills, and highly productive valleys
border the West Branch of the Susquehanna River. About one-fourth is
State Forest Reserve of mountainous wilderness, where large and small
game, trout, and other fish abound. Chief industries are in vast deposit
of commercial clay, from which is made fire, building and paving brick,
tile sewer pipe, and concrete blocks; and a large chemical plant, very
important in war chemicals; agriculture, including tobacco growing;
several creameries and a large milk condensery.
LOCK HAVEN, with advance road signs, county seat; population 8559.
Through the efforts of the city government, Board of Trade, and Women’s
Civic Club, John Nolen, of Cambridge, Massachusetts, was engaged to
prepare a formal “City Plan” for the future growth and development of
the city. This plan includes no radical changes or extravagant
improvements, but conforms to the requirements of a small community.
Embraces simple, but definite plans for the esthetic improvement of the
fronts of the Susquehanna and Bald Eagle Rivers, between which Lock
Haven is situated. The proper location and grouping of future public
buildings, with a civic center at Monument Place, the intersection of
the two main thoroughfares.
[Illustration: CLINTON COUNTY]
[Illustration: THE SUSQUEHANNA TRAIL
River front of Lock Haven]
The installation of modern street lighting systems with underground
wires. And the gradual improvements in store fronts and business places.
[Illustration]
It calls for the establishment of drives, playgrounds, and parks; the
acquiring of a woodland reservation, adjoining Highland Cemetery, at the
edge of the town, for a public park; and purchase of an outlying
mountain top for future recreation. Much of the plan has been carried
out. A unique and beautiful parkway has been made by utilizing the
abandoned basin of the old canal, which cut through the heart of Lock
Haven; it had become a dump heap, but under the Nolen plan was filled,
and has blossomed into one of the show places of the city, with flower
beds, lawn, trees, and special landscape garden effect at each end. The
river front has been made into a park, at entrance to the bridge, over
the Susquehanna, a modern structure built by the state, which replaced a
picturesque, covered bridge built, 1855, about 800 feet long; it
includes the old toll house, pronounced by Mr. Nolen a valuable asset
for the city. A smaller, quaint, old covered wood bridge, same period,
about four miles from Lock Haven, spans Bald Eagle stream, on Bald Eagle
Valley Road; near is the Clinton “Country Club” house, artistically
built of cobblestones, architect, Lester Kintzing, New York.
The Courthouse, red brick and brownstone, surmounted by two dome-shaped
towers, built in 1869, on site of an earlier one built, 1842, is on
Water Street facing the river. On the river front is a stone marker,
inscription, “Located in the stockade of Fort Reed, built, 1775, for
defense against the Indians.” On the river road, leading to
Williamsport, near McElhattan, is site of Fort Horn, stone marker, both
placed by the Hugh White Chapter, D. A. R., to mark the last two, of the
trail of stockade fortifications, built along the river in defense of
the pioneer settlers. Where Lock Haven stands was original site of
several Indian villages; burial places; and marked one of their great
thoroughfares from the north to the coast. Granite monument to 1938
soldiers of Clinton County in the Civil War is in center of city.
St. Paul’s Protestant Episcopal Church, stone, Gothic, with spire,
built, 1852, on Main Street, has memorial windows by Tiffany and Lamb,
New York, and chancel window from England. The Immaculate Conception,
Roman Catholic Church, built, 1905, and rectory, 1915, Gothic, with two
towers, Hummelstone brownstone, architect, J. A. Dempwolf, York, Pa.,
corner of Water and Third Streets, is on site of an earlier church,
built in 1857, dedicated by Rev. John C. Gilligan, pioneer missionary.
Central State Normal School, on ground given by Philip Price of
Philadelphia, founded, 1871, includes twelve buildings, on thirty-two
acres of land, commanding extended view; the main building was erected
in 1890, architect, A. S. Wagner, Williamsport; art course includes the
theory and practice of teaching art; industrial art and lectures on art
history; reproductions of paintings, and European architecture, also
replicas of sculpture, are placed about the buildings.
Ross Memorial Free Library, on Main Street, opened, 1910, further
endowed by the late Wilson Kistler, sends traveling libraries to rural
schools; contains painting by E. H. Shearer, “Ole Bull’s Castle in
Potter Co.”; a noteworthy collection of North American Indian relics,
10,000 pieces, owned by Dr. T. B. Stewart, has been offered as a loan to
this library, the collection is especially rich in local relics of
domestic life and implements of war. “The Fallon House,” built in 1855,
still in excellent condition, is said to have been built with funds of
Queen Isabella II, of Spain, who invested largely of her private fortune
in Pennsylvania, for a retreat in case of revolution. In Highland
Cemetery is an exact reproduction of the St. Martin’s Cross, 16 feet 8
inches high, on the Island of Iona, off the coast of Scotland, erected
in 1914, in memory of Samuel Richard Peale.
[Illustration: WYOMING COUNTY]
LVI
WYOMING COUNTY
Formed April 4, 1842; named from the Wyoming tribe of Indians who
occupied the land when the white settlers came; name signifies extensive
flats.
Lies in the northern opening of the wonderful Wyoming Valley, celebrated
for its fertility and beauty; surface diversified by numerous spurs of
the Appalachian system, which tower into lofty peaks; Mount Solecca,
1000 feet above the river; Mount Chodano, nearly opposite, about the
same height; Mount Metchasaung, still higher, at La Grange. Several
lakes are well stocked with fish; the largest, Lake Cary, three miles
long, one mile wide, is surrounded by lofty pines and hemlocks. Glen
Moneypenny, six miles below Tunkhannock, is a wildly picturesque
location; many such are to be found among the mountains of this country.
This beautiful setting was the scene of Indian plottings that culminated
in the Wyoming Massacre in 1778 (see Luzerne County). The following year
General Sullivan’s army passed through this region, on march to subdue
the Six Nations, and encamped on the shore of the Susquehanna River at
Tunkhannock, where the tannery now stands. Forty years ago passenger
pigeons were so plentiful that when they flew across a town in dense
flocks, they obscured the sun; one colony occupied a strip of woodland
in Wyoming County, seven miles long by three miles wide; Alexander
Wilson wrote of counting ninety nests in a single tree. Chief
industries, agriculture and manufacturing.
TUNKHANNOCK, county seat; population 1736, first called Putnam, after
General Israel Putnam of Revolutionary War; settled, 1790; was
incorporated 1841. Lies due north and south, east and west. Courthouse
on Courthouse Square has two marble tablets in the corridor, with names
of Revolutionary War soldiers buried within the limits of Wyoming
County, placed by Tunkhannock Chapter, Daughters of the American
Revolution. The Soldiers’ Monument is on the same grounds. Among the
churches of different denominations, the Methodist may be mentioned for
Gothic architecture. At FACTORYVILLE is the Keystone Academy. Crossing
Tunkhannock Creek, near Nicholson, is the Tunkhannock Viaduct, said to
be the largest concrete bridge in the world, 2375 feet long, 240 feet
high, above water level; height from bedrock 300 feet; carries the
double tracks of the main line of the Lackawanna Railroad from mountain
to mountain across the valley.
LVII
CARBON COUNTY