CHAPTER XLIX
HISTORY OF CLARION BOROUGH
Few of the county seats of the Commonwealth arose under circumstances similar to those of Clarion. It came into existence on a spot, which, a year previous, was destitute of a single occupied habitation; its origin was purely political, the very site having been determined by the commissioners. A town erected under such circumstances, with a forced growth we may say, is one of the rare exceptions to the rule which makes a rapid rise followed by a rapid decline. But its selection as the seat of the law’s administration assured for it a permanency that will endure as long as the execution of justice remains a part of our social existence.
The land on which the county seat now stands lay on each side of a notably level stretch of the turnpike, which had been at times utilized by rural horsemen as a racing ground. On either side extended a thicket of pines of medium growth, interspersed by some goodly oaks and chestnuts. There was a small but abandoned clearing on the old academy lot. The only opening beside the turnpike was a path which led off southwardly through the dense underwood to the “old camp ground “on the hillside, north of South street, and east of 5th avenue.**
Some time in the fall of 1839 (the date cannot be exactly ascertained, but it was probably early in October, soon after the delivery of the deeds), the town plot, containing two hundred acres, was surveyed by John Sloan, Jr.
The original bounds of the village – rectangular in form – were, on the north, the line of the outlots north of Liberty street and parallel thereto, except an offset fifty yards wide, and the length of an outlot, at the western end of Liberty street, and another, the width and length of an outlot occurring at the corner of P. Slattery’s Heirs; on the east, the western side of 8th avenue; on the south, a line parallel to and the width of two outlots, or 32 rods back of South street; on the west, beginning at the southwest corner of the Protestant cemetery, the eastern side of, the yet unopened 1st avenue. The streets running lengthwise were Liberty, Main, Wood, South; those crosswise, 2d East (7th avenue), 1st East (6th Ave.), Market (5th Ave.), 1st West (4th Ave.), 2d West (3d Ave.), and 3d West (2d Ave.) Main and Market streets were made 80 feet wide; 4th and 6th avenues 70 feet, and all the others 60. The alleys are each 20 feet in width. The inlots, 275 in number, measure one-fourth an acre each, being 60 feet wide and 180 in length; the outlots, of which there were 50, averaged an acre and a half in area. The lineal angle of the town is 62 degrees west of north.
The public sale of lots began October 30, 1839, and continued three days. The underbrush had been cleared out and the streets were opened through the trees. The commissioners and their crier proceeded along these avenues, stopping at each lot and offering it for sale to the highest bidder. Many sales were made, a large crowd was present each day, and the bidding was spirited. Lots went off at what were considered very good figures for a town in embryo. No. 25, now covered by M. Arnold’s block, brought the highest price; it was purchased by William Jack, of Westmoreland county, for $757.50. No. 1, the Kribbs corner, opposite, was the next in value, selling to Jonathan Agey for $560. The town was named by Commissioners Pritner, Potter, and Hamilton.
Early in May, 1840, people began to arrive and erect houses. The sudden advent of a population, composed chiefly of the mechanics and laborers engaged by the jail contractors, prospective merchants, tradesmen, hotel and boarding-house keepers, found the place unprepared to shelter them all. Those who could not find accommodation at the four houses which I shall presently mention, went to Strattanville for the night. After the frames were up, rough boards were hastily clapped on, shanty fashion, to answer the demand for shelter, and the work of putting on weatherboards, then wrought by hand, and requiring much time and labor, was deferred till more pressing wants were supplied. People were packed in half-finished houses, windowless, doorless, and with the, merest modicum of furniture; everything much as in a new oil town so far as “roughing it” amid discomfort, mud and disorder were concerned – the comparison extends little farther.
In 1838 a rather large cabin, having two or three rooms on the ground floor, a loft, and with a log stable in the rear, stood on what is now the southwestern corner lot at South street and Sixth Avenue, near the spring on South street. Traces of the foundation and chimney yet remain. Who built it and when it was built, is uncertain, but it probably dated back to camp meeting times. In 1838 Philip Clover, Sr., put James Brinkley into it to hold possession against McFadden and the Kellys who had set up a claim to the land. Brinkley and his family occupied it till the winter of. 1839, and it gave accommodation to some of those who attended the sales. It appears then to have been deserted until it fell into the hands of William Clark in the spring of 1840. Clark built a shed addition to it, to be used as a kitchen and dining room. Under his proprietorship and that of George Lightner, a German, besides the family of the host, this house sheltered between fifteen and twenty-five unhappy boarders.
Samuel Garvin, in the early ‘30’s, had taken down a small frame-house at Clugh’s Mill, moved it and put it up on a little property he had purchased east of the future town. It stood on the lot now belonging to nearly opposite J.E. Wood’s residence. Here Mr. Garvin plied his trade of shoe-maker, cleared a few fields for cultivation, and occasionally burnt a tar-kiln, and boated the product to Pittsburgh. This house and the South street cabin were the first houses worthy of the name on the site of Clarion. It is doubtful to which belongs the priority; probably to the former.
As soon as the county-seat had been located, a Mrs. Kate Empy, who had lived a short time in Strattanville, and kept a shrewd eye on the prospective town, began to erect a frame dwelling just outside of the town limits; it is now the residence of Dr. Strickler. Here she opened a cake and beer shop, and entertained many during the sales, realizing in the three days the snug little sum of $100, quite a bonanza for those days. This is the earliest new building within the present limits of the borough. Subsequently, when the town actually began, Mrs. Empy sold this property and opened a public-house in a more central situation.
In 1839, before the laying out of the town, Peter Clover built a log house of one story and a half, at the west end of Main street, and soon after sold it to John R. Clover, who with his family first occupied it. It stood where Martin Meisinger’s dwelling now stands. Amid a number of new buildings that sprang up almost simultaneously in May, 1840, it is difficult to ascertain the very first one. It was probably Empy’s tavern, afterwards the residence of Colonel William T. Alexander, now the property of S. Frampton’s heirs. The first brick house was J. Kerr’s block, now owned by J.C. Reid, commenced in 1840, and completed early in ‘41; the next was McLain’s brick building near the corner of Third Avenue and Main street, since destroyed by fire. The first house on Wood street, was Jos. Kelly’s, at the corner of Third Avenue, now the dwelling of William Forkum. Money did not abound in those days; none of the first corners were wealthy, and the majority were of very limited means. As a consequence a great many were compelled to begin at the wrong end in building houses, erecting a small building or shed first, back from the street, as a rear wing, and leaving the front in expectancy. For the first year or so most of the private houses were small, mean structures of this sort, set back among the pines and underwood. The uncouth appearance of the infant town may be gathered from the following description by an old citizen who arrived in August, 1840:
“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 interest. 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 accommodation 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 carpenters 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 introduced 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 protruding 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 commenced. 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, extending 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 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 afterwards 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. Jonathan 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 everyday 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 headquarters, 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; certainly 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 aristocratic neighbors. The new jail, under the régime of Assistant Sheriff Speer and his comely daughters, and while yet untainted by the presence of criminals, 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 walls and grated windows looked down on the mazes of the cotillion and Virginia 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, debris, 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 adjoining 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 buildings; 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 structure 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 building, and .a brisk air of enterprise along the street, make a forcible impression upon the traveler. There is a spacious academy of brick at the eastern end of the village. 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, Wsq. 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. Hamilton and Jesse Teats, justices; Edward Derby, Hugh A. Thompson, A. Richards, Joseph Shoemaker, J.W. Coulter, town council; James Goe and John Lyon, school directors; the municipality met in one of the rooms of the courthouse, 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 assortment of merchandise. Lindsay Pritner started the next shop on the lot covered 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 leading 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. Hysung’s successor was George Wesner, who converted the stand into a restaurant and sort of grocery. It was under this administration that it acquired the name of “Brimstone Corner,” and for many years the corner faithfully maintained 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 journeymen tailors. Thomas Newell was the town’s first cobbler; he was soon followed by Robert Goble and E.W. Everding. J.A. Kerr kept the first saddlery; Henry Gompers the next; the latter had his shop above Wilson and Barber’s store. Samuel McCamant, Samuel Holzberry, and Peter Aldinger were Clarion’s first knights of the anvil. Aldinger had a shop on the former Leopold 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 latter 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 William 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
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 German 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. McPherson, 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.
William Alexander and Greenberry Wilson came from Huntingeon 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. Subsequently 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 commodious stable; but these improvements involved Mr. Jones in financial difficulties, 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 Centennial House. After running it a short time, Mr. Herman Sandt became proprietor under lease. Since his exit this hotel has been successively conducted 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 Lyceum. The Lyceum was a select literary and debating club, formed in December, 1843. The first officers were, president, Charles McCrea; vice-president, 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. Shoemaker, 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; corresponding 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 commander, 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 cooperate 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.
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.
Clarion Lodge (Blue) of Free and Accepted Masons, No. 277, was chartered in 1853, with J.P. Brown, worthy master; Wm. B. Brown, senior warden; James E. Johnson, first junior warden. Its present W.M. is A.H. Sarver.
Clarion Lodge, No. 213, A.O.U.W., was organized by J.E. Fisher, March, 1886, with thirty-one charter members. Past-master workman, J.E. Fisher; master workman, Joseph H. Partrick. Meetings every Thursday night at G.A.R. Hall.
The Knights of Maccabees have also an organization here. The Sons of Temperance, Artisans’ Order of Mutual Protection, and Red Men, secret societies, once existed in Clarion, but are now defunct.
Churches. – Methodist Episcopal. – The Methodist was the first organized denomination in Clarion. In 1840 Mr. John R. Clover formed a society of this church here. Strattanville was the name of the circuit of appointments, and Mr. R. Peck was the preacher. Still it is supposed Dr. James Goe (the first prothonotary) who was a local preacher, first preached for the Methodists of Clarion. Before the jail was finished the house of Mr. Jesse Teats, on Wood street, now occupied by Samuel Pickens, and the Thomas school-house, now A.G. Corbett’s Main street residence, were the places of assembly. In July, 1841, the appointment received conference recognition, and H.N. Sterns was appointed pastor. A lot was purchased in 1842 from Jno. N. Purviance, for $300, and in 1844 a brick structure was formally dedicated. The revivals of 1842, 1850, and 1851, were marked periods in the history of this church. The church was incorporated December 5, 1851. The trustees named in the articles of incorporation are James Goe, John Beck, Miles Beatty, Enoch Alberson, Peter Conver, E.W. Everding, Jno. A. McCloskey, Samuel Whisner, George Dale. Present membership 130 communicants. The old building has become antiquated and a new church which will cost from $12,000 to $16,000 is projected. For this purpose the lot at, the corner of Wood street and Sixth avenue has been purchased from L. Guth. The following have been the pastors of this church since its beginning here: H.N. Sterns, J. Graham, J.W. Klock, S.C. Churchill, J.W. Hill, D.H. Jack, J.K. Hallock, R.M. Bear, W.F. Wilson, W.F. Day, E.B. Lane, J.R. Lyon, J.T. Boyle, N.G. Luke, D.S. Steadman, T.P. Warner, J.J. Bently, T. Graham, R.F. Keeler, D.A. Crowell, S.S. Stuntz, W.F. Warren, E.R. Knapp, C.C. Hunt, O.M. Sackett, C. Wilson, M. Miller, H. Henderson, W.H. Mossman, C.M. Darrow, B.F. Delo, present pastor.
Presbyterian. – The Presbyterian Church at Clarion was organized in the upper story of the jail building, May 15, 1841, by Revs. J. Core and D. Polk, the former of Licking church, the latter of Brookville. Sixteen members were present; Hugh A. Thompson, Thomas Sutton, and John Clark were installed as presiding elders. In 1844 the church building was completed. Rev. James Montgomery had been called to this ministry in February, 1842; Mr. Montgomery was an exceptionally pious, amiable and scholarly pastor. He continued to officiate till January, 1868, when his failing health compelled him to resign. He died August 10, 1871. The present pastor, Rev. James S. Elder, took charge February 28, 1868. Mr. Elder is a native of Elder’s Ridge, Indiana county, a graduate of Jefferson College, and previ9us to his installation here had filled the pastorate of the Greenville and Corsica churches. The present parsonage was secured in 1870. Some valuable improvements and additions to the church property were made of late years. In 1884 a pipe organ and stained windows were. put in, and in the succeeding year a water motor was attached to the organ. The membership is 176. In connection with this church are the Women’s Missionary (Foreign and Domestic) Society, and the Young Ladies’ American Missionary Society, organized in 1873, and 1872; both are in active existence. For the past year the former expended $500 in missionary work.
Roman Catholic. – St. Mary’s Immaculate Conception Church. In 1842 there was a mere handful of Catholics in the town, and their spiritual wants were first ministered to by Rev. Joseph Cody of Sugar Creek, Armstrong county, who came once every two or three months, and held divine service in the private houses of various members of the church. Subsequently this mission was successively supplied by Rev. Fathers Kleineidam, Brown, Gallagher, Skopez; and finally in 1846, P. Hoy was sent out as the first resident pastor. Clarion, however, was only the central of a number of outlying missions which he attended. Father Hoy becoming enfeebled, his place was taken by Rev. Jos. F. Deane, June, 1847. In the early part of 1850 Rev. James Slattery succeeded Mr. Deane as pastor here and at the “Wilderness,” in Farmington township. During this pastorate the church was erected on a lot donated by the proprietors of the land at the instance of General Levi G. Clover, and conveyed by the commissioners, January 8, 1841, to Bishop Kenrick, of the See of Philadelphia, in trust for the future congregation. The church property was afterwards enlarged by the gift of an adjoining lot by J.C. Reid. Exclusive of furniture, the cost of the church was $2,500. On Sunday, June the 15th, 1856, the structure was dedicated by Right Rev. Josue M. Young, of Erie. Father Slattery having gone to the West, the church was attended for three or four years by priests from other points, among whom were Revs. Ledwith, A. Skopez and Mollinger. The latter was relieved of Clarion in August, I 860, by Rev. John Koch, as permanent pastor and visitor for the Wilderness, Voglebachers, Sligo and other points. Under Fr. Koch’s administration the church, previously almost bare, was pretty thoroughly furnished with pews, organ, bells, etc. Rev. H.A. Deckenbrock, a native of Westphalia, Prussia, arrived here September 1, 1876. No outside congregation was included in his charge. Under his direction the parsonage was built, the church extended, stained glass windows put in, and an elegant new altar purchased. An imposing front extension is to be executed in 1888. The congregation numbers about five hundred souls.
Baptist. – The Reidsburg Church, of which Rev. Thomas E. Thomas was minister, was the nearest place of worship for the few Baptists of the early town. About thirty years ago there was an attempt at Baptist organization here, but it proved only partially successful. Amos Myers, Samuel Frampton, C.E. Beman, and Nicholas Shanafelt were its promoters. There was occasional preaching in the upper story of the bank building by Rev. Wolf, and other foreign clergymen. A Sunday-school was formed which met in the same room. In the course of a few years, on the death and departure of some of the leading spirits, the movement died out. In 1875 a reorganization was effected, and in 1876 a new edifice erected at the cost of $9,000, on a lot donated by Rev. Amos Myers. For some years the place could only support a pastor at half time. The resident pastors have been Revs. Swigart, Snyder, Shoemaker, and A.J. King. The membership is one hundred.
Schools. – Education received early attention in the infant burgh. The first common school – a free one – was opened in the autumn of 1841, in the house of its teacher, B.H. Thomas, which stood on the lot now occupied by A.G. Corbett’s residence on Main street. School was held only during the winter term; the balance of the year the house was used as the temporary academy. In 1845 a small one-room structure, the “White School House,” was built on lot No. 21, fronting on South street. It stood near the upper end of the lot, and was approached from Fifth avenue. The building is now used as a dwelling. School was held here till 1867, and then transferred to the academy.
The academy became dilapidated, unsightly, as well as too small, and after a great deal of agitation, the citizens of the town, by popular vote, decided to erect a new school-house. On September 6, 1885, the contract for a three-storied brick building was awarded to S.S. Wilson, at $15,000. School was opened in the winter of 1886, with Prof. Yingling, principal, and all the pupils from school No. 2, the engine-house, transferred to the new building. The structure is a very creditable one, and the architecture on the whole is pleasing. It contains ten rooms.
In 1865 the first Catholic school was held in the sacristy of the church; Miss Allebach was its teacher. The front of the school-house was erected in 1869, and the rear in 1878. Lay instructors were employed till 1876, when the Benedictine Sisters took charge of the school, and have remained ever since.
Clarion Academy was incorporated by an act of Assembly June 12, 1840, with Amos Williams, Hugh Maguire, Lindsay C. Pritner, Robert Potter, Geo. B. Hamilton, Peter Clover, Sr., John H. Groce, William B. Fetzer, and Charles Evans, trustees. The treasurer, Judge Evans, received $2,000 as a State appropriation. Lots Nos. 45 and 46 were purchased from the first regular commissioners for $202.50. Early in 1841 Lyon and Thompson received the building contract for $1,800. The building was not completed ready for use till January, 1843; in the mean time the sessions were held in B.H. Thomas’s frame school-house. Beside the ordinary branches, Latin and some of the higher mathematics were embraced in the school’s curriculum. Rev. Robert W. Orr was the first principal; he was succeeded by James V. Reid in 1845. In that year the annual State appropriations were discontinued, and the academy, unable to support itself; ceased to exist. The building was utilized for various purposes; select-school, lodge-rooms, etc., till 1867, when it was converted to the use of ‘the common schools.
The Clarion Female Seminary began in 1843, in an humble frame structure on Fifth avenue, previously a tailor shop, now the kitchen of the old B.J. Reid homestead. Miss Stebbins, a sister-in-law of attorney John B. Butler, was its first teacher; Thomas M. Jolly was president of the board of trustees. The institution failed to realize the expectations of its projectors, and after a couple of terms the Clarion Female Seminary became a thing of the past.
Carrier Seminary and the Normal School. 1866 being the centennial year of American Methodism, the Erie Conference, determined to commemorate it by the inauguration of two educational institutions under the, patronage of the church; one at Randolph, N.Y., and the other at Clarion, Pa. Rev. R.M. Bear was appointed financial agent to solicit donations. The first board of trustees was elected by the contributors March 18, 1867, and were George W. Arnold, Samuel Wilson, Jacob Black, John Keatly, James Ross, M.D., Hiram Carrier, Nathan Carrier, Jr., David Lawson, William Young, James B. Knox, Hutchman Torrence, John D. Coax, Nathan Myers, Martin Kearney, John R. Strattan. The corner-stone was laid June 16, 1868, and the building, a massive three-storied brick structure, sixty feet wide by one hundred and ten in length, completed in the fall of 1871. The grounds comprised ten acres. The total cost, inclusive of furniture, was about $75.000. In the mean time the school had been organized in the bid, academy building. The name Carrier Seminary was adopted in honor of the Carrier family, who agreed to donate $ 6,000 for the building. The first term of Carrier Seminary was opened September 10, 1867, with Rev. J.G. Townsend as principal, who remained one year. He was succeeded by Rev. S. Stuntz, who remained at the head of the school two years; in the fall of 1870 Miss E.J. Haldeman became principal, remaining one year. The fall term, of 1871 opened in the new building, Prof. J.J. Steadman, principal. The institution started out prosperously, but after a few years a decline set in, from which it never revived.
In 1874 some of the leading citizens of the borough – stockholders, endeavored to change the Carrier Seminary into a State Normal school, and succeeded in having the thirteenth district set apart for Clarion; but the M.E. Conference, on discovering that in the event of the change, the institution would pass out of its control, opposed the project, and it consequently fell through.
In the summer of 1886 several teachers succeeded in getting the substantial citizens of Clarion interested in the design of establishing a Normal School. The scheme soon took practical shape; $40,000 were subscribed, and at the session of the Methodist Episcopal Conference, beginning September 15, 1886, the transfer of the seminary from that body to the provisional trustees of the Clarion State Normal School Association was effected for the consideration of $25,000. Ground was immediately broken for the erection of two large dormitories adjoining the, main building; the work was rapidly pushed, and the State committee, having examined the structures February 15, 1887, formally recommended them the same day, thus perfecting the establishment of the school as a State institution. The interior of the seminary building was remodeled and renovated throughout; the partitions of the third story were taken out and the whole converted into a magnificent hall. The ladies’ dormitory consists of two wings, each forty by one hundred and twenty feet, and three stories high; the lower story contains the dining-room, thirty-eight by ninety-six feet, and capable of seating 250. The main wing of the boys’ building, likewise three stories in height, and with seventy rooms, measures forty by one hundred and two feet; the annex forty by sixty-four feet. All the buildings are fitted with water, steam, and gas, and in interior arrangements and facilities are unsurpassed in the State. About $60,000 has already been expended in improvements; the total cost will exceed $90,000. School opened April 12, 1887 with 140 students. Prof. A.J. Davis, the principal, is assisted by a select faculty of eleven. While of course the art of teaching is made a special feature, the school instructs in all the branches of a liberal, education; classic, scientific, commercial, the modern languages, music, painting and civil engineering. The general management is vested in the principal, subject to the State regulations and the supervision of the State superintendent. The principal is assisted in maintaining discipline by the teachers and commissary. The trustees have an indirect control of the institution, each department being entrusted to one of the three committees, viz.: on instruction, on finance, on supplies.
The Press. – Clarion’s first periodical was the Republican, established by William T. Alexander and Robert Barber, on the ruins of a sheet of the same, name, published at Strattanville for a few months by J.T. McCracken. The first number of the Clarion paper, in size 14 x 21 inches; a four-column double-sheet, was issued in May, 1840. We will let the editor, Colonel Alexander, describe its auspices in his own words: “When it was determined to issue the first number of the paper, the building intended for the printing-office, 18 x 20 feet, was still uncompleted and was minus a roof and a floor. It stood upon the site now occupied by Schott’s meat market, and the old Ramage press, which was either the one used by Ben Franklin, or its facsimile, was brought from Strattanville and placed upon the ground within the walls of the building. The old, worn-out type from Strattanville, with a font of new ones, were laid in cases, and the racks stood upon the then open ground, now occupied by Klahe’s hardware store, with a leafless oak tree and the blue sky for a roof; and all ‘out of doors’ for elbow room. There was set the first type for the first paper printed in Clarion, and the first number was issued from the press in the roofless and floorless building above referred to. It required from three to five hours each week to tighten its props, retie the platen, renew the leather used for springs, and make other necessary repairs about this Ramage press; but for years it served all purposes in working off the paper, and doing all the job work turned out by the office. The subscription list of the paper gradually increased from two hundred to five hundred, and its publishers were content with the assurance that the country produce taken in exchange would pay for boarding, while the cash payments would keep up the stock of paper.”
The Republican (Democratic in politics) found a formidable, but transitory rival in the Visitor, imported from Butler by a faction of the Democratic party, to support their ticket, which was opposed by the Republican. It was published by Charles McLaughlin, ably edited by one Lindsay, and was a comparatively handsome sheet. After the defeat of all its ticket except the sheriff, the Visitor remained long enough to print his official blanks and then decamped.
The Iron County Democrat was started in September, 1842, by B.J. Reid and Samuel Duff, and first saw light on the 27th of that month. It was created by a demand for a non-bolting Democratic organ. The Iron County Democrat in size was considerably larger than the Republican, at its head was displayed the legend, “All kinds of marketable produce taken in exchange.” Reid & Duff were succeeded by B.J. and J.C. Reid, and in February, 1844, the conflicting wings having buried the hatchet, the Republican and Iron County Democrat were consolidated under the name of the Clarion Democrat, B.J. Reid and William T. Alexander, proprietors and editors; Captain Barber having in the mean while retired. The old material of the Republican was disposed of to start the Emlenton Gazette, and torture the eyes of the Emlentonians.
In August, 1845, differences arose between the editors concerning the choice of two tickets presented by a disrupted county convention. Neither yielding, a deadlock was the result, and the paper suspended publication. The difficulty was at length solved by Mr. Reid selling his interest to Alexander, and after a break of six weeks the Democrat again appeared, October 11, 1845. In a few months Colonel Alexander took in Geo. W. Weaver, of Bellefonte, and the firm so continued for about seven years; for a succeeding period of ten years Alexander remained sole proprietor. July 10, 1858, the Democrat was enlarged from a five to a seven-column sheet, and other typographical changes made. Early in June, 1862, James T. Burns, Esq., became a partner in the paper, but in the following December his interest was purchased by R.B. Brown, of Brownsville, Fayette county. In 1864 Mr. Brown became sole proprietor, Colonel Alexander retiring after an editorship of twenty-four consecutive years. Mr. Brown introduced the first steam press in the county, for the office of the Democrat, in January, 1872. In November, 1877, George F. Kribbs became owner and editor of the Democrat, and in September, 1885, Mr. W.I. Reed, formerly of Beaver, Pa., was taken into partnership. Under the present management the circulation of the Democrat has been much increased, extensive reforms made in its typographical appearance, and it is now one of the most substantial and prosperous country weeklies in Western Pennsylvania. In January, 1887, the old press was replaced by an improved Cottrell & Babcock, with a capacity of 1,500 copies an hour.
The Democrat Register, the Whig organ, was inaugurated by D.W. Foster, Esq., and issued its first number April 26, 1843. It was inferior both in matter and make-up to the opposition journals. Foster, in 1845, resigned the editorial chair to Parker C. Purviance, an attorney from Butler, and later it was conducted by his brother-in-law, A.J. Gibson.
The Register was purchased in 1852 by Colonel Samuel Young, who infused some life into its columns. In 1856 the sheet was enlarged and its name changed to the Independent Banner. In 1869 C.W. Gilfillan, the Republican nominee for Congress in this district, was opposed by Young in the Banner. To get rid of this enemy and have the Republican press unanimous in his favor, Gilfillan bought out Young in the fall of 1869, changed the paper’s name to the Republican, and sent J.T. McCoy, of Franklin, to edit it. McCoy, after a few months was succeeded by George O. Morgan, of Meadville.
In 1871 the Republican was purchased by Jos. H. Patrick and William S. Alexander, who, edited it jointly for a few years, when Patrick retired. This management, in 1873, procured a steam press. William Alexander continued to act as editor till 1876, when a handsome new office was erected, and the concern passed into the control of the Republican Printing Company, composed of William S. Alexander, George W. Arnold, Theo. S. Wilson; Mr. Alexander, business manager, and W.R. Johns, editor. In 1879 Johns left to start the Foxburg Gazette, owned by William L. Fox, and his place was filled by A.A. Carlisle, till the consolidation of the Republican and Gazette, September 9, 1880. Mr. Johns remained editor for three years, and on September 9, 1883, John B. Patrick, Esq., having bought Theo. S. Wilson’s interest, and leased the others, assumed editorial charge.
The Independent Democrat, started in 1854, by John S. Maxwell, was a short-lived sheet, expiring in about six months.
A. Cameron Foster, assisted financially by J.B. Watson, Esq., in 1872, established the Clarion Jacksonian in 1872.
After some years it was leased by West & Ray; T. West, editor. Being shortly sold at sheriff sale, the paper was purchased by West & Ray, and in January, 1881, sold to A.A. Carlisle, who soon after brought it out in a new, and much more attractive garb.
Banks. – Clarion’s first financial institution, the First National Bank, was chartered January 18, 1865, with a capital of $100,000. William L. Corbett was first president, G.W. Arnold, cashier; the latter has retained that position ever since. The First National occupied the old building now leased by Ed. L. Fox, till 1882, when their present elegant fire-proof structure was completed.
The Discount and Deposit Bank was established in 1871, with James Campbell, president, and T.B. Barber, cashier, succeeded by N. Myers. Capital $100,000. In 1880 the institution was reorganized as the Discount and Deposit Bank, limited, and the office was removed to Kribbs’s block. September, 1883, it became the Second National Bank of Clarion.
Military. – Back in the ‘50’s several ineffectual attempts were made in Clarion to raise a volunteer militia company. A number of the Perry Infantry in 1876 were recruited from Clarion and vicinity, but no home organization was reached till November 15, 1878. The Perry township company, first commanded by A.J. Davis, later by O.E. Nail, having, disbanded, both those gentlemen, on coming here to fill their respective offices, canvassed the formation of a military company and brought about the existence of Company G, Sixteenth Regiment, N.G.P.; A.H. Beck, first captain; William S. Alexander, lieutenant. Captain Beck was succeeded by O.E. Nail; he by J.J. Frazier, and on the latter’s promotion, M.A.K. Weidner, was elected to the command. On Weidner’s resignation May 8, 1887, A.J. Davis was chosen captain. In 1881 the company was transferred to the Second Brigade, Fifteenth Regiment, and became Company D. It took possession of the present armory in the winter of 1878. The strength of the company is fifty-eight.
The town grew very slowly between 1845 and 1875; in fact the advancement was scarcely perceptible. The population of the village in 1860 did not exceed that of 1850, while the census of 1870 showed a falling off of fifteen from that of 1850. For the space of twenty-five years, improvements, too, were almost at a stand-still. Among the few notable additions in those years was the Myers mansion erected by Thomas Sutton about 1845; the Catholic Church in 1854; E. Alberson’s residence (now J.L. Shallenberger’s), about the same time; G.W. Arnold’s residence and block in 1856; the latter was the first three-story residence in the town.
Five companies mustered at the county seat and marched thence away to war – Lemon’s, Knox’s, Reid’s, Loomis’s, and Mackey’s, leaving in the order given. In those trying times Main street, the public squares, and the fair grounds resounded to the drum, the “spirit-stirring fife,” and the martial tread of the volunteers in drill and tactics. The panting recruits swept along the chief thoroughfare of the village from end to end, marching, counter-marching, charging, and toilsomely but heroically performing all the evolutions of the drill. Sometimes they were armed with old muskets, oftener with sticks and canes. The Fair Ground was used for practice and as a camp. Captain Knox’s and Reid’s companies underwent a three days’ drill encampment there, bivouacking in the sheds. The companies on their departure would assemble in front of the court-house, listen to a patriotic address and receive the benediction of one of the ministers of the town. Then amid tears and cheers, they wheeled down Fifth avenue, and the declivity of the road shut them out from view; some, forever.
The close of the war was appropriately celebrated by the townspeople. The following extract is taken from the issue of April 15, 1865, of the Clarion Democrat, which, though it was hostile to the war, and bitterly attacked Lincoln’s policy during its continuance, joined in the general rejoicing over the triumph of the Union.
“CLARION REJOICING OVER THE GOOD NEWS.
“On Monday and Tuesday the news of the surrender of Lee’s army was received and confirmed. The court-house and church bells were rung, a salute fired, and preparations made for holding a meeting. On Tuesday evening almost every house in Clarion was brilliantly illuminated, and flags displayed in great numbers. A large meeting of ladies and gentlemen was held in the court-house; William L, Corbett, Esq., was chosen president, Dr. James Ross and James Sweeny, esq., vice-presidents, and R.B. Brown and Samuel Young, secretaries. The exercises were opened by the audience standing up and singing the doxology, ‘Praise God from whom all blessings flow, etc., and prayer by Rev. Graham. Appropriate and patriotic speeches were made by Corbett, Reid, Graham, Montgomery, Barr, and Myers; Guth’s brass band, and a company of young ladies and gentlemen accompanied by a melodeon, enlivened the occasion by playing and singing patriotic airs. The rejoicing was general and heartfelt, and all look forward with great hope to a speedy termination of the war, and a return of our brave soldiers to their homes and friends, so that all may enjoy the blessings of peace and harmony.”
This intelligence, as well as all war news of importance for two months previous, was received by telegraph. The Democrat of, February 18, 1865, says: “The telegraph office in Clarion is now open, and dispatches can be sent to all parts of the country. When we get a railroad through the county, we will then be out of the woods.” The first office was in one of the front rooms of the upper story of the court-house, and there remained for a number of years. Mr. Armstrong was the first operator.
Early Cycling. – A Democrat of 1869 says: “A couple of velocipedists from Meadville, we are informed, attempted to raise a school of instruction in the art of riding the velocipede, in Clarion, but not meeting with sufficient encouragement, gave up their efforts.” Clarion has made wonderful progress in rapid locomotion since, as the numerous cycles, of all descriptions, seen on our streets testify.
About 1868 there was a craze among the youth of the town for battles with “fire balls,” that is, balls of ignited paper, or rags, which could be picked up and hastily thrown without burning the fingers. They were only indulged in at night, and as the fiery projectiles streamed through the darkness, to and fro between the contending lines, the effect was very striking. The sport, however picturesque, was too dangerous to life and property to be long tolerated. Main street was also the theatre of many a stubborn foot-ball contest.
Conflagrations. – Several times the forest fires, which blasted most of the noble timber along the hillside overlooking the river, threatened to wipe the county seat out of existence; and the citizens were compelled to turn out and fight the flames. The most severe of these fires was that of 1865.
Clarion has been singularly blessed in its exemption from epidemics, riots, murders, and disastrous storms. Large fires have been exceedingly rare. The only ones outside of the court-house, which may be dignified by the name of conflagrations, were the fire of March 2, 1874, which destroyed the residence and store of N. Myers, and the store of T.C. Wilson, involving a loss of $30,000; and that of December 24, 1884, which burnt the store and dwelling house of B.H. Frampton, and A.H. Sarver’s store, destroying property to the amount of $15,000.
In 1871 the spirit of improvement reawakened, and stimulated by the opening of the Clarion oil field and the increased prosperity of the community, it has progressed favorably ever since. For the past fifteen years Clarion has had a gradual, but healthy and permanent development. In that time the value of real estate has doubled. In 1870 Cottage Hill was a collection of uninhabited outlots, and there was not a single house fronting on Seventh avenue. The years 1875 and 1886 were the leading years in building in the former the aggregate value of improvements, exclusive of the new prison, was $72,250; the buildings commenced and completed in the latter year represent more than $100,000. Among them are Frampton’s Block and Opera House, the new public school and the Normal School structures.
A comprehensive ordinance, passed September 6, 1873, enacted a number of reforms in town matters, the most notable being that section requiring each property holder on Main street to maintain a brick pavement.
The contract for the water works was awarded August 20, 1875, to P.H. Shannon, of Titusville, and completed in November of the same year, at a cost of $25,000. At the station two Eclipse pumps force the water to the 2,400 reservoir on Seminary Hill, a vertical height of 481 feet above the river level. The total length of the mains, composed of four and six-inch pipe, is above 9,000 feet; average pressure on the mains, forty-three pounds to the square inch. Ten Hutchinson fire-plugs were located throughout the town. The original officers of the Clarion Gas and Water Company were James Campbell, president; N. Myers, treasurer; R.D. Campbell, secretary; R.B. Thomas, superintendent. The present officers of the organization are, president, William L. Corbett; treasurer, N. Myers; secretary, William H. Ross; superintendent, James Knox.
The fire company was the natural outcome of the water works. It was organized December 18, 1875, with A.H. Beck, captain. Major Henry Wetter’s liberality furnished the company with a hook and ladder truck, and it thereupon took the name of the Wetter Hose Company. The small hand-engine, purchased by the town council the year before, was discarded for hydrant power. The services of the company were first called upon in February, 1876, to quench a blaze at Mrs. Evans’s house. John G. Meisinger is the present captain.
The growth of the town, and the public and private improvements which 1875 saw, made that year an era in its history.
The engine house and council hail was erected in the spring of 1877, by T.C. Wilson, contractor.
The first railroad train entered Clarion December 4, 1877. The formal opening of the Emlenton, Shippenville and Clarion Railroad, on December 24, was a gala day for the good people of Clarion. About 400 excursionists, including notable railway officials and editors, were met at Edenburg by a delegation from the town, and on their arrival escorted to the music of several bands to the court-house, where they were addressed by Colonel Knox, and others. The guests were then dined, and a return excursion started for Emlenton, the other terminus, where the festivities concluded with a ball.
The Clarion Light and Heat Company was chartered in December, 1882, with a capital stock of $3,600; W.W. Greenland, president; F.M. Arnold, treasurer; J.F. Brown, secretary; R.D. Campbell, superintendent. In July the stock was increased fivefold. After an ineffectual attempt to revive a famous old gasser at Black’s Forge, the company struck a fair vein, August, 1883, near the “Fountain Well,” on the river, east of the town, and in November, 1883, the people of Clarion began using natural gas. In course of time, this supply proving insufficient, a number of fruitless endeavors were made to obtain an additional well – five wells in all being drilled. In the winter of 1884 the gas was at a very low ebb, and a re-enforcement for the next winter was absolutely necessary. On August 25 Stewart & Ogden’s gas well, near Mechanicsville, was purchased for $1,200; 30,000 feet of three inch casing purchased, and the gas piped to Clarion, a distance of five miles. This well yielded an abundant flow of the aerial fuel.
August, 1886, the Citizens Gas Company, a rival association, struck a. strong vein of gas near the Stewart & Ogden well. Negotiations resulted finally, October 27, 1886, in the union of the two companies, and a reduction in rates. The company bears the old name, though controlled by the stockholders of the Citizen’s Gas Company. Hon. James Campbell is president; F.M. Arnold, treasurer; Samuel K. Clarke, secretary; George Banner, superintendent. The corporation is about to issue their first dividend. There are now very few houses in the borough which do not use gas.
On August 21, 1884, upon the petition of numerous citizens, and the recommendation of the grand jury, the borough limits were widely extended. The chief aim of this enlargement was to secure the better maintenance of the roads leading to the town. The general outline of the present boundary is a line embracing the Fair Ground, and thence taking a northeast course across the turnpike to the river, a little west of the upper bridge; thence up the river to the mouth of Corbett’s (or Knapp’s) Run; thence by a broken line in a southeastern course to the east boundary of E. Knapp; thence through lands of W.R. Curll and Samuel Sloan’s heirs south to the northern boundary line of the Agey farm; thence a general western line through the Sloan lands to their western boundary; thence by the same north to the railroad; thence along the railroad, west to the avenue crossing; thence northeast sixty degrees to the 4th avenue extension; thence by the same to the old southern boundary line, and along that and the western one to the place of beginning.
Population, 1870, 709; 1880, 1,169; present about 1,800.
*By George J. Reid.
**See Methodist Church in Clarion county.
SOURCE: Page(s) 474-496, History of Clarion County, A.J. Davis, A.J.; Syracuse, N.Y.: D. Mason & Co. 1887
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