History of Northumberland Co., PA - Chapters 18-19



CHAPTER 18 - Pages 655-676
MT. CARMEL
OLD HOTELS - THE TOWN PLAT - FIRST IMPROVEMENTS AND SUBSEQUENT GROWTH -
THE FIRST MERCHANTS, PHYSICIANS, AND LAWYERS - THE POSTOFFICE -
RAILROADS - MUNICIPAL ORGANIZATION AND GOVERNMENT - THE MT. CARMEL COAL
TRADE - GENERAL INDUSTRIAL INTEREST - FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS - WATER AND
ELECTRIC LIGHT COMPANIES - SECRET AND OTHER SOCIETIES - THE PRESS -
SCHOOLS - CHURCHES - CEMETERIES.

    The borough of Mt. Carmel is situated in the extreme southeastern
part Northumberland county. The site is an elevated plain, extending
from the Shamokin creek on the west to Locust mountain on the east, and
surrounded by a mountainous region of vast mineral wealth and natural
scenery of the most picturesque character.

OLD HOTELS

   The old Reading road, which leads from Sunbury to Reading, was opened
in 1770 and passes through the present site of Mt. Carmel. Although thus
situated upon the line of an important public highway, this locality
presented few inducements to invite settlement, as it possessed but meager
agricultural advantages and its mineral resources were unknown. The first
permanent improvements within the borough limits were made by Lawrence
Lamerson, whose daughter, Mrs. Rebecca Reeder, died at an advanced age.
Several years previous to her death she was interviewed by Dr. J. J. John,
of Shamokin, to whom she gave the following interesting particulars:-

    A man by the name of Cartwright was the first settler at Mt. Carmel.
He lived in a small house on the Yarnall tract. I knew but little about
him. My father was the second settler.
    My father, Lawrence Lamerson, emigrated from Holland some years
previous to the Revolutionary war. He first settled in Virginia, but
soon after moved to New Jersey. About 1776 he joined the American army
and served through the war. William Tietsworth, of Shamokin township,
was his comrade in these campaigns. Upon the close of the war he married
in New Jersey, and, with many others from that State, immigrated to
Northumberland county. He first settled at Sunbury, but soon afterward
purchased a tract of two hundred acres of land in what was then Shamokin
township, but now the southern part of the town plat of Mt. Carmel. He
built a log house near where the old Reading depot stood. The orchard may
still be seen near the present park.
    I was born in 1808 at the old house in "the Orchard." We had no
schools in those days. Our nearest neighbors for some years were Isaac
Tomlinson and John Thompson, who had settled down the valley some miles
towards Shamokin. We visited each other occasionally, and were always
glad to meet each other. We felt like neighbors toward each other. Game
was very plentiful at that time. My father in one year shot forty deer,
six bears, and three panthers, besides smaller game. At nights, we would
hear these wild animals scream. Their noise was frightful to hear.
Wolves were very troublesome to us. One night they dug under the stable,
dragged out a sheep, and took it away. It was not safe to be out after
night without fire-arms. Shamokin creek abounded with fish, and in a
very short time we could catch a nice, string. We followed the Indian
paths In traveling to Catawissa and other points.
    My father kept a number of cattle for the farmers of Maiden creek,
Berks county, during the summer seasons. The pasture in the mountains
was good, and the animals fattened on it. He charged fifty cents per
head to take care of them. They were under complete control, and would
come home when he would call them. It was the custom for each farmer to
bring a fresh cow and some salt with his herd. We had plenty of milk in
those times.
    Shortly after we started the hotel a quack doctor from Philadelphia
with two or three Indians spent some time at our place in searching and
collecting medical plants. Indians stopped with us several times when we
first settled here. They ate at our house and spoke in broken English.
They traveled over Indian paths that passed through Mt. Carmel. Lawyer
Bradford, of Sunbury, who was a noted attorney of those times, frequently
stopped at our hotel. When the turnpike was opened large numbers of
Conestoga teams stopped with us over night Bradford once watched one of
those teamsters eating his supper; he said that he drank fourteen cups of
coffee and ate in proportion.

    Richard Yarnall was the next settler. His father, Jesse Yarnall,
kept a hotel on the old Minersville road at the crossing of Mahanoy
creek, near Otto's forge, Schuylkill county, about four miles south of
Mt. Carmel. He married Hannah Penrose, of Rearing Creek township,
Columbia county; an Indian path led from that locality to his hotel, and
in the early official records of Northumberland county it is referred to
as "Yarnall's path." Richard Yarnall, son of Jesse and Hannah (Penrose)
Yarnall, was born on the 10th of April, 1791. He learned the trade of
carpenter, and married Mary, daughter of John King, of Ralpho township.
About the time he reached manhood the Centre turnpike was constructed
resulting in a large increase in the travel between Danville and Sunbury
on the north and Reading and Pottsville on the south. A favorable
opportunity was presented for the erection of a hotel on this important
thoroughfare at the present site of Mt. Carmel, which is about
equidistant from Danville and Pottsville, and, prompted by these
considerations, Mr. Yarnall erected the Mt. Carmel Inn, a two-story log
structure situated on the southeast side of the turnpike immediately
northeast of the Commercial Hotel. He opened a hotel therein and
conducted the business with fair success for several years, when, having
become surety for a friend who failed to meet his obligations, the
property was sold and he removed to the vicinity of Bear Gap, where he was
variously employed for several years. He then located on a small cleared
tract on the old Minersville road, and also resided at the Tomlinson farm,
after which he engaged in hotel keeping at the Riffert tavern, where he
died on the 14th of October, 1847. Jesse and John Yarnall, two of his
sons, reside at Mt. Carmel and are among the oldest citizens of the place.
The former was born near Bear Gap, July 7,1815, and the latter at the
Tomlinson farm, February 15, 1828.
    Who erected the Riffert tavern can not be definitely stated. It
was a log structure, situated on the east side of the turnpike and north
of the Lehigh Valley depot. John Riffert and a Mr. Kunkle were among the
first who conducted this hotel, which bore a bad reputation throughout
the surrounding country. It was not until Mr. Yarnall became proprietor
that it received the confidence and patronage of the traveling public.
    The Mt. Carmel Inn, which had become the property of E. G.
Bradford, a well known attorney of Sunbury and, subsequently judge in
York county, was conducted by various parties after Mr. Yarnall left it.
Oscar and Albert Bradford, sons of the proprietor, had the management of
the property after their father removed from Sunbury. Oscar Bradford
inserted the following advertisement in the Sunbury Gazetteer of
February 25, 1832:-

   FOR RENT.- A valuable tavern stand, situate on the Centre turnpike, now
in the occupancy of Thomas Osborne, known by the name of the Mt. Carmel
Inn, containing two hundred acres, about thirty of which are cleared and
in good farming order. For terms apply to the subscriber, near the
premises, or E. G. Bradford, Columbia, Lancaster county, Pennsylvania.
  
OSCAR BRADFORD

   This advertisement was responded to by Felix Lerch, a native of Lower
Saucon township, Northampton county, Pennsylvania, where he was born in
1794. He was employed as a blacksmith and farmer in his native county
until 1826, when he located at Bloomsburg, Columbia county, and engaged in
farming and teaming. Thence he removed to Elysburg, Northumberland county,
in 1830, and opened a hotel, and in the spring of 1832 he leased the Mt.
Carmel Inn at an annual rental of two hundred dollars. At that date the
hotel sign bore the legend, "Mt. Carmel Inn, 1824." Water was conducted to
the buildings by underground wooden pipes from springs on Locust mountain,
to which Bradford is said to have claimed a right "as long as the sun
shines and water runs." The patronage was considerable. This was the
regular stopping place at dinner for persons traveling between Danville
and Pottsville; the stages between Sunbury and Reading also stopped here,
and, although surrounded by a comparatively uninhabited mountain region,
the old hotel was often a scene of great bustle and activity. In 1839 Mr.
Lerch removed to Paxinos, where he kept hotel ten years; he was the
proprietor of the Douty House at Shamokin one year, and in 1850 again took
charge of the Mt. Carmel Inn, which he conducted until his election as
justice of the peace in 1855. He performed the duties of this office until
his death, August 6, 1857. Abraham and William H. Lerch, two of his sons,
reside at Mt. Carmel.
    When Felix Lerch left the Mt. Carmel Inn in 1839 he was succeeded
as proprietor by his brother-in-law, Solomon Fagely, formerly a farmer
in Shamokin township and a brother of William and Reuben Fagely, the
well known coal operators of Shamokin. He was followed by Paul Rhoads;
from Numidia, Columbia county, J. C. Perkins, Joseph Keeler, Felix
Lerch, William H. Lerch, Abraham Lerch, Joseph Keeler, Charles Culp,
etc., which brings the history of this old hostelry down to about the
year 1865. After its removal the Commercial Hotel was erected, which,
although it does not occupy the same site, is virtually the successor to
the old Mt. Carmel Inn.
    The Mt. Carmel House is the oldest of the present hotel buildings
of the borough. Its erection was begun in 1853, but the framework was
completely demolished by a wind storm on the 14th of March, 1854. The
work of rebuilding was at once begun, and in the following August the
hotel was occupied by its first landlord, Joseph Feger, now proprietor
of the St. Elmo Hotel, Philadelphia. This building was erected by the
Mt. Carmel Plot Company under the superintendence of John H. James.
  
THE TOWN PLAT

   Tradition asserts that the idea of laying out the town of Mt. Carmel
originated with the Bradfords. The earliest town plat that has come to the
knowledge of the writer is a large and handsomely printed map now in the
possession of Professor E. E. White. It bears the following indorsements:-

    Plan of the town of Mt. Carmel, in the Middle coal region,
Northumberland county, Pennsylvania, 1848. Application for lots to be
made to C. W. Hegins, Esquire, Pottsville, Pennsylvania.
    The town [of] Mt. Carmel is situated on tableland on the north
side of Locust mountain in the center of the Middle coal region and
midway between the towns of Pottsville and Danville, eighteen miles from
each place. The Centre turnpike passes through the town. Mt. Carmel is
supplied with an abundance of pure water from a never-failing spring on
Locust mountain. The situation of the town is most healthy, the land is
good for cultivation, for gardens, etc., and good clay for making bricks
exists on the premises.
    This plat shows Creek, Mill, North, Taylor, Market, Webster,
South, Oak, and locust streets extending east and west in order from the
north, intersected at right angles by Clay, West, Columbia, Main,
Washington, East, and Penn, in order from the west. A map on a smaller
scale shows the location of the town with reference to the Schuylkill
and Susquehanna valleys, and the railroads "made or contemplated to be
made in its vicinity." It is needless to remark that the word
"contemplated" was a very necessary modifier.

   In 1853 the plat of the town was relocated by P. W. Sheafer, of
Pottsville, and the plan is recorded in Northumberland county Deed Book
S. S., p.584. Mt. Carmel avenue, Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth, and
Sixth streets extend east and west in order from the north; Vine, Maple,
Oak, Hickory, Market, Chestnut, Walnut, Locust, Spruce, and Pine streets
extend north and south in order from the west. All the streets are
seventy-five feet wide, except Market, of which the width is one hundred
feet. The survey of 1858 was made under the auspices of a company,
composed, as accurately as can be ascertained, of Charles W. Hegins,
William L. Dewart, Alexander Jordan, Francis W. Hughes, William L.
Helfenstein, Thomas Baumgardner, David Longenecker, John Anspach, and
John M. Bickel.
   Hough's and Baumgardner's additions, both situated west of the
original town plat and adjacent thereto, are the only regularly laid out
additions to the town. Stuartville, Diamondtown, Bell's Tunnel, The
Mountain, and Beaver Dale, all of which are small mining hamlets, adjoin
the borough and are virtually part of it in everything except political
organization.
  
FIRST IMPROVEMENTS AND SUBSEQUENT GROWTH

   When the town plat was resurveyed in 1853 the improvements in
this locality consisted of the Mt. Carmel Inn, of which Felix Lerch was
proprietor; Bradford's steam saw mill, then in full operation; a small
frame building east of the mill, occupied by the teamster; a frame
double-house near the Inn, also erected for the employees at the mill;
and the old Riffert tavern (no longer kept as a public house), in which
Jesse Yarnall resided. The Lamerson improvement had been abandoned.
   These buildings were erected in 1853. Alexander W. Rhea and George
Schall built a two-story frame office nearly opposite the Mt. Carmel
Inn: Rhea was a civil and mining engineer in the employ of the Locust
Mountain Coal and Iron Company, and was killed by Mollie Maguires, for
which Hester, Tully, and McHugh were hung at Bloomsburg; Schall was
general agent for the New York and Middle Coal Field Company, and
subsequently a member of the firm of Schall, Donohoe & Company, pioneer
coal operators in the Mt. Carmel region. David J. Lewis built a two-
story frame house at the southeast corner of Mt. Carmel avenue and Oak
street and opened therein the first store in the town: and David Davis,
a miner, erected a two-story frame house at the southwest corner of
Market street and Mt. Carmel avenue. These three buildings were erected
in the year 1858; they were completed about the same time, and were the
first houses built at Mt. Carmel after the survey of the town plat.
   For some years the growth of the town was very slow. Mining hamlets
were built at the different collieries of the surrounding region, and the
uniform policy of the coal companies in this respect was not favorable to
the concentration of population at one point. In 1860 the collieries upon
which Mt. Carmel depended were Colonel Hough's, Green Ridge, Diamondtown,
Stuartville, and Coal Ridge, and the villages of Stuartville, Green Ridge,
and Beaver Dale were scarcely inferior to Mt. Carmel in size and
importance. At that date the Centre turnpike crossed the borough
diagonally from southeast to northwest. A growth of scrubby underbrush
covered a large part of the town site, with cleared fields between Third
and Fourth, Oak and Poplar, and Chestnut and Oak streets, respectively.
The improvements were principally on Oak street. There was one church
edifice, a brick structure at the present site of the Methodist building
on Hickory street, and one school house, a one-story frame structure at
the present site of the Second Street building. There were two hotels, the
Mt. Carmel Inn and the Mt. Carmel House, and three stores: David J.
Lewis's, Samuel John's, and David Heiser's. The Northern Central was the
only railroad. With the exception of the coal mines, the only local
industrial establishment was the blacksmith shop of David Evert, which
stood near the Mt. Carmel Inn. Bradford's steam saw mill was not in
operation.
   The following is a list of residents of the town in 1860(1):-
   Maple Street.- West side: Jacob Malick, carpenter, between Second
and Third; Anthony Buddinger, carpenter, corner north of Fourth; Isaac
Duttery, butcher, corner south of Fourth.
   East side: Jesse Yarnall, teamster, between Mt. Carmel avenue and
First Street; John Yarnall, carpenter, corner north of Second; David D.
Davis, miner, corner south of Second; John Blair, engineer, between
Third and Fourth.
   Oak Street.- West side: Mt. Carmel House, corner south of Mt.
Carmel avenue; George Schall, of Schall Donohoe & Company, who operated
Coal Ridge colliery, between Mt. Carmel avenue and Second street;
Frederick Fahrion, butcher and hotel keeper, corner north of Second
street; Samuel John's store, corner south of Second street; George
Kehler, teamster, between Second and Third; Enoch Musselman, tailor,
between Second and Third; William Ewing, shoemaker, between Second and
Third; Amelius F. Stecker, foreman of repair work on the railroad and at
the collieries, between Second and Third; Abraham Lerch, between Second
and Third; John Dietrick, laborer, between Second and Third; Dr. William
J. Haas, corner north of Third; George Art; teamster, between Third and
Forth; Abraham Martin, mason and plasterer, between Fourth and Fifth;
Joseph Hughes, blacksmith, between Fourth and Fifth.
   East side: David J. Lewis, merchant, corner south of Mt. Carmel
avenue; Jonathan Klinger, outside foreman at Colonel Hough's colliery,
between Mt. Carmel avenue and Second street; Jonas Stine, between Mt.
Carmel avenue and Second street; David Heiser, merchant, corner north of
Second; Charles Bolich, shoemaker, between Second and Third; Samuel
Schmeltz, teamster, between Second and Third; Frank Persing, teamster,
between Third and Fourth; David Evert, blacksmith, between Fourth and
Fifth.
   Hickory Street.- West side: Isaac Hollister, shoemaker, between
Mt. Carmel avenue and Second street; John Raup, outside foreman at
Scholl, Donohoe & Company's colliery, between Second and Third; Henry
Sharpe, mason, between Second and Third; William Biles, mason, between
Second and Third.
   Market Street.- West side: David Davis, miner, corner south of Mt.
Carmel avenue.
   East side: Alfred Ford, miner and engineer, corner north of
Second; Thomas East, miner, between Fourth and Fifth.
   At that time (1860) there were but two brick buildings in the
town, the Methodist church, on the west side of Hickory street between
Second and Third, and David Heiser's store building, at the northeast
corner of Oak and Second. With these exceptions the houses were all
constructed of wooden materials and almost uniformly two stories high.
   The town received considerable additions to its population as the
result of the great impetus which the coal trade experienced during the
civil war, but for some years thereafter it remained practically
stationary.
   On the 24th of July, 1873, all the houses on the west side of Oak
street between Second and Third, with two exceptions, were destroyed by
fire; they were replaced by buildings of improved appearance and more
substantial construction, and the calamity thus resulted indirectly to
the advantage of the town.
   While the prosperity of the town is dependent entirely upon the
coal trade, building and loan associations have probably contributed to
its growth more than any other agency. As a result of the operation of
these associations improved property is almost entirely in the hands of
resident owners, a condition of affairs highly conducive to the
stability and permanence of general business interests.
   By the census of 1890 the population of the borough was eight
thousand two hundred fifty-four.
  
THE FIRST PHYSICIANS, AND LAWYERS

   The first store at Mt. Carmel was opened in 1853 by David J. Lewis at a
two-story frame house which he erected in that year at the southeast
corner of Mt. Carmel avenue and Oak street. His first consignment of goods
was hauled from Pottsville by wagon. The next stores were those of Samuel
John and David Heiser; the former occupied a frame building at the
southeast corner of Second and Oak streets, and was in charge of U. F.
John, a son of the proprietor; Heiser's store was located at the northeast
corner of Oak and Second Streets in the second brick building erected at
Mt. Carmel.

   Dr. Joseph C. Robins, of Elysburg, was the first physician who
practiced at Mt. Carmel. There was no resident physician until 1855,
when Dr. William J. Haas located here and continued in practice until
his death.
   The first resident lawyer was Jefferson M. John, a son of Samuel
John, who was admitted to the bar in 1874 and was in active practice at
Mt. Carmel until his death.
  
THE POSTOFFICE

   Paul Roth was appointed postmaster of Mt. Carmel, June 13, 1848;,
Richard Yarnall, May 5, 1847; Jeremiah C. Perkins, November 26, 1847. The
office was discontinued on the 6th of July, 1849, and not reestablished
until April 20, 1850; since the latter date its incumbents have been
appointed in the following order: Felix Lerch, April 26, 1850; William H.
Lerch, March 23, 1855; David J. Lewis, September 1, 1856; Frederick
Fahrion; September 8, 1858; James B. Welch, July 2, 1860; John Hough,
December 26, 1860; David Heiser, April 4, 1861; Abraham Lerch, December
21, 1863; Charles Bolich, September 27, 1865; Amelius F. Stecker, February
10,1868; Andrew J. Gallager, August 4, 1868; Abraham Ayers, December 4,
1868; Ann Ayers, June 14, 1879; John Brophy, April 6, 1886; George A.
Stecker, August 17, 1889.

RAILROADS

   A section of the Danville and Pottsville railroad was partially
graded between the Bellmore and Morris Ridge collieries, two miles east
of Mt. Carmel, probably as early as 1833. The next railroad opened to
the town was the Northern Central (1854), and the next was the Lehigh
Valley (1866); the latter now operates the line of the Northern Central
as far as Shamokin. A branch of the Philadelphia and Reading railroad,
terminating at Mt. Carmel, connects at Alaska with the main line of the
Williamsport division of that great system.
  
MUNICIPAL ORGANIZATION AND GOVERNMENT

   The borough of Mt. Carmel was incorporated by decree of court on
the 3d of November, 1862. The first election for borough officers was
held at the Mt. Carmel Hotel on the third Friday in December, 1862;
Frederick Fahrion acted as judge and William J. Haas and Abraham Camp as
inspectors. The following is a list of burgesses since the incorporation
of the borough: 1863, William J. Haas; 1864, Jonas L. Stine; 1865,
Jonathan Hoover; 1866, William Biles; 1867, Frederick Fahrion; 1868, H.
T. John; 1869, Jonathan Hoover; 1870, J. B. Reed; 1871, H. T. John;
1872, William J. Haas; 1878, Joseph Blanch; 1874-75, William J. Haas;
1876, George E. Moser; 1877, Henry Werntz; 1878, C. R. Zimmerman; 1879,
William H. Lerch; 1880, Thomas J. Woodside; 1881-82, W. H. Stecker;
1883, D. H. Fisher; 1884-85, J. B. Reed; 1886-87, Jesse G. John; 1888, M.
B. Smith; 1889, William T. Burkert; 1890, Daniel Camp; 1891, Robert Smith.
   The borough building, a one-story brick structure on Mt. Carmel
avenue, was erected in 1883.
   Anthracite Steam Fire Company, No. 1, was organized on the 12th of
May, 1882, and incorporated September 4th of the same year. The company
owns and occupies a frame building on the southeast corner of Market and
Hickory streets, erected in 1890.
  
THE MT. CARMEL COAL TRADE

   The collieries of Mt. Carmel township are the Pennsylvania, Black
Diamond, Mt. Carmel, Reliance, Alaska, Merriam, Monitor, Locust Gap, and
Locust Spring, of which a full history is given in Chapters X and XI of
this work, by Dr. J. J. John.
  
GENERAL INDUSTRIAL INTERESTS

   Albert Bradford erected a steam saw mill at Mt. Carmel about the
year 1843; it occupied the site of the G.A.R. hall and adjoining ground
on the east side of Hickory street. From eight to twelve men were
usually employed at the mill, in cutting timber in the woods, and in
hauling the product to Pottsville, where it found a market until the
opening of the mines and erection of the breakers in the Mt. Carmel
region created a local demand. The operation of this saw mill was
finally discontinued prior to 1860.

   The Mt. Carmel Iron Company, composed of Howel Green, David Lamont, J.
W. Forney, and Thomas Rogers, removed the plant of a foundry and machine
shop from Minersville, Schuylkill county, to Mt. Carmel in 1867 and
rebuilt it on the line of the Lehigh Valley railroad. They employed twenty
or twenty-five operatives. Greenwood & Gilmore became proprietors in 1870,
but the establishment was destroyed by fire in December of the following
year and never rebuilt. Greenwood subsequently manufactured screens for
the breakers on a small scale, but only for a short time.

   Geiger, Hinkel & Company's Planing Mill, a frame structure forty-
five by one hundred feet in dimensions, is situated on the north side of
town between Market and Hickory streets, and was erected in 1889. The
business was established in 1883 by Geiger Brothers in a mill forty by
sixty feet, located a short distance west of the present structure. The
firm name was changed to its present style in March, 1887, when William
H. Hinkel and John P. Gibson were admitted to partnership. A twenty-five
horse-power engine supplies the power for the establishment, which
employs fifteen operatives. All work connected with a planing mill and
contrast building is done.
   The Mt. Carmel Manufacturing Company, Oak street, employs six men
and manufactures one thousand dozen miners' caps per month. The
proprietor is Isaac Goldschmidt, by whom the business was established in
1889.

   The Progress Hat and Cap Manufacturing Company occupies a two-
story frame building at the southeast corner of Oak and Sixth streets.
The business was established in June, 1889, by Thomas Scott, with whom
W. H. Engle is now associated. Fifty girls and eight men are employed;
all kinds of cloth hats and caps are manufactured, and the daily output
is one hundred eighty dozen.
  
SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS

   The Mt. Carmel Savings Bank was incorporated on the 9th of April,
1872, and organized with the following officers: president, Amos
Vastine, vice-president, S. A. Bergstresser, and cashier, H. D.
Rothermel, who, with Joseph Reeder, Robert Davison, David Llewellyn, A.
M. Montelius, Henry Hile, and Joseph Deppen, constituted the first board
of directors. Mr. Vastine served as president until his death in 1889,
after which the vice-president, S. A. Bergstresser, performed the duties
of that office until the ensuing annual election, when William Schwenk
was chosen president. H. D. Rothermel was cashier from 1872 to 1878, H.
J. Meixell from 1878 to 1881, and William Schwenk from 1881 to 1889,
when H. B. Lukens, the present incumbent, was elected. The capital was
originally one hundred thousand dollars, of which one half was paid in.
The bank suspended temporarily in 1878, but an assessment of ten per
cent. enabled it to resume about a month later. In 1882 the capital was
reduced to fifty thousand dollars, of which thirty thousand is paid in.

   The First National Bank of Mt. Carmel commenced business on the 8th of
April, 1889, with a capital of fifty thousand dollars, distributed in one-
hundred-dollar shares among seventy-four stockholders, of whom the
principal ones were the business men of the borough. The first officers
were E. C. Tier, president; John T. B. Gould, vice-president; M. K.
Watkins, cashier; and W. H. Heaton, W. A. Phillips, George W. Davis,
William McFee, L. W. Johnson, S. E. Bergstresser, Bernard Harvey, and E.
C. Herb, director. The surplus and undivided profits amount to five
thousand four hundred dollars.

   The Citizens' Building and Loan Association was organized in August,
1882; the first directory was composed as follows: William Schwenk,
president; H. T. John, treasurer; M. K. Watkins, secretary, and John
Stine, J. T. B. Gould, James H. Smith, Joseph H. Smith, W. T. Williams,
Alex Schmeltz, John Weir, Joe Gould, and John Carl. The present president
is Frederick Gross; vice-president, Thomas Dawson; treasurer, J. T. B.
Gould, and secretary, M. K. Watkins, who has served in that position
continuously since the organization of the association. The first series
was closed out in August, 1890, in a little less than ten years; the fifth
series was started in August, 1890, and four series, consisting of about
four thousand shares, are, now in operation. The aggregate receipts for
the ten years ending August 1, 1890, were over half a million dollars,
principally invested in the erection of houses at Mt. Carmel.

   The Anthracite Building and Loan Association was organized in
April, 1882, with the following officers: president, David J. Lewis;
vice-president, Joseph Blanch; secretary, C. D. Wright; directors: C. D.
Wright, Isaac Goldschmidt, John Jefferson, Thomas Morton, Bernard
Bresslin, John Carl, William T. Montelius, Jacob Rhoads, and W. C.
James; auditors: O. H. Sillyman, T. J. Horan, and K. T. John. Messrs.
Lewis and Wright have served in their respective positions to the
present time, and also several of the directors. This company has six
series in operation, the first of which expires in 1892. The receipts
are uniformly sold on the monthly pay-day; the annual receipts are
seventy thousand dollars, and are invested exclusively in real estate.
  
WATER AND ELECTRIC LIGHT COMPANIES

   The Mt. Carmel Water Company was incorporated On the 17th of
November, 1888. The first officers were A. M. Montelius, president, M.
K. Watkins, secretary, George Robertson, treasurer, and William Schwenk,
Thomas Scott, Thomas M Righter, Joe Gould, S. E. Bergstresser, O. H.
Sillymam, J. B. Reed, and H. T. John, directors. The capital is twenty-
five thousand dollars, distributed. in twenty-five-dollar shares among
seventy-four stockholders, nearly all of whom are property holders in
Mt. Carmel. The distributing service comprises seven miles of mains,
radiating from two reservoirs located on the north side of Locust
mountain within half a mile of the center of the town. The capacity of
the reservoirs is five million gallons. The supply is derived from
springs not five hundred feet from them, and is sufficient for the town
ten months in the year. During extremely dry weather water is purchased
from the Locust Mountain Water Company.
   The Edison Electrical Illuminating Company of Mt. Carmel was
incorporated on the 17th of November, 1888, with an authorized capital
of sixteen thousand dollars, of which fifteen thousand was paid in. In
November, 1890, the capital was increased to thirty thousand dollars, of
which twenty-five thousand is paid in. The plant was originally located
on Fourth street west of Maple, and had a capacity for five hundred
lights; it was removed to South Oak street in 1891, when the capacity
was increased to twenty-five hundred lights. The first officers were
William Schwenk, president, M. K. Watkins, secretary, and Thomas M.
Righter, treasurer. The present directory is composed of M. K. Watkins,
president, E. C. Tier, treasurer, Isaac Goldschmidt, S. E. Bergstresser,
Joe Gould, Peter Jennings, H. T. John, and L. W. Johnson. William Keiser
is the secretary of the company. This was the first isolated electrical
plant in the world (i.e., Mt. Carmel was the first town lighted
exclusively by electricity); it was also the fifth electrical plant
constructed upon the Edison system.
  
SECRET AND OTHER SOCIETIES

   The following is a list of secret and other societies of Mt. Carmel,
with dates of organization or institution: Mt. Carmel Lodge, No. 378, F. &
A.M. November 29, 1866; Burnside Post, No. 92, G.A.R., November 1, 1867
James A. Garfield Camp, No. 34, S. of V., August 9, 1888; Mt. Carmel
Lodge, No. 630, I.O.O.F., May 19, 1868; Washington Camp, No. 116, P.O.S.
of A., March 9, 1870; Washington Camp, No. 231, P.O.S. of A., July 25,
1882; Sons of St. George, No. 175, April 23, 1885; Division No. 1, A.O.H.,
May 1, 1887; Mt. Carmel Commandery, No. 22, Ancient and Illustrious Order
of Knights of Malta, December 27, 1887; Royal Arcanum, September 14,1888;
Mt. Carmel Castle, No. 324, K.G.E. August 14,1889.

THE PRESS

   The Mt. Carmel News, of which B. J. Wilson is the present editor
and proprietor, was originally established by Owen Fowler in December,
1877, under the caption of Mt. Carmel Progress. The Weekly Item, Will B.
Wilson, proprietor, was first issued on the 7th of January, 1888, by L.
W. Gheen, and is distributed gratuitously as an advertising media. The
Mt. Carmel American is published by Burke & Thomas, and first appeared
on the 30th of August, 1890. The Tri-Weekly American was published in
January, 1891, by Curtis Sterner.
  
SCHOOLS

   The first school house within the present borough limits occupied
the site of the Second Street building and was erected in the summer of
1856. It was a one-story frame structure as originally built, but a
second story was subsequently added in which the high school was first
taught. As the population of the town increased it became necessary to
provide additional accommodations, and a frame building subsequently
used as a United Brethren church, on Third street between Hickory and
Market, was occupied for school purposes. Two schools were taught there
and one in the second story of the school building, the lower floor of
which was regarded as unhealthy and therefore temporarily abandoned.
   The Hickory Street building is a two-story brick structure at the
north-east corner of Hickory and Third streets and contains two rooms on
each floor. Its erection was begun in 1870, when the board of directors,
consisting of John Lazarus, John B. Reed, Simon Light, David Heiser, H.
W. Gulick, and H. D. Rothermel, awarded the contract for its
construction to Jacob Rinehart. The building was completed in 1871 and
the first term of school within its walls was opened in the autumn of
that year with W. T. Rightmire, Sanford Lewis, Rebecca Reed, and Sallie
Burkert as teachers.
   Between 1870 and 1882 there were five schools for a time, four in
the Hickory Street building and one in the Second Street building; both
rooms of the latter were ultimately occupied, thus increasing the number
to six.

   On the 14th of October, 1882, Daniel Camp, William Schwenk, Jesse
G. John, David J. Lewis, Joseph H. Smith, and James H. Smith, who
composed the board at that time, awarded the contract for the erection
of the Park school building to A. S. Tovey at the consideration of five
thousand nine hundred dollars. This is a two-story brick structure with
four main rooms and two recitation rooms. It was first occupied in
March, 1883; the first teachers were W. N. Lehman, E. E. White, and Ella
Malone.
   The Second Street building occupies the site of the first school
house of the town. It is a two-story brick structure with four rooms,
two of which were erected by Bernard Harvey for two thousand four
hundred ninety dollars, agreeably to contract entered into on the 14th
of October, 1884; the directors at that time were Daniel Camp, E. C.
Tier, David J. Lewis, Jacob B. Rhoads, Thomas M. Righter, and James H.
Smith. School was opened in these rooms in February, 1885, with Ella
Malone and Jennie Jennings as teachers. The contract for the completion
of the building was awarded to M. McGee, September 20, 1888, at the
consideration of one thousand five hundred fifty dollars; the board was
composed of Jacob B. Rhoads, O. H. Sillyman, Thomas M. Righter, E. C.
Tier, James H. Smith, and George Robertson at that time. Only one room
was occupied when the building was completed; the first teacher therein
was Emily Spinney.
   In 1887 the borough limits were extended, whereby two township
school houses became the property of the town. Both were one-story frame
structures. One was located on Sixth street and the other on Third; the
former had two rooms, the latter, one.
   The Vine Street building is the most recent addition to the
educational facilities of the borough and the most commodious of its
school properties. The erection of this building was begun on the 29th
of April, 1889, and school was opened therein for the first time on the
10th of March, 1890, with W. N. Lehman, J. E. Bastress, E. E. White,
Morris W. Tucker, Jennie Jennings, and Dora O. Sando as teachers. Thomas
M. Righter, E. C. Tier, David Camp, O. H. Sillyman, George Robertson,
and James H. Smith composed the board of directors under which its
construction was begun, and awarded the contract to Bernard Harvey at
the sum of sixteen thousand dollars. He also furnished hot-air heating
apparatus (the Smead, Wills & Company system), for which eight hundred
sixty dollars additional was paid. There are eight rooms in this
building, two of which are occupied by the high school, two by grammar
grades, and four by primary grades.
   The following statistics are presented for the term of l890-91: pupils
in attendance, sixteen hundred; high school teachers, two; grammar school
teachers, three; primary teachers, eighteen - total, twenty three.
   The course embraces six grades - three in the primary department, two
in the grammar department, and one in the high school. The curriculum of
the high school includes arithmetic, algebra, geometry, physics, physical
geography, rhetoric, English literature, etymology, book-keeping, general
history, and drawing.
    Professor W. N. Lehman became principal in 1882 and has filled that
position continuously to the present time.
    St. Joseph's Parochial School was started under the supervision of
Sisters of the Order of St. Francis and continued by them several years.
It was then conducted by lay teachers from 1887 to 1891. A frame building
in the rear of St. Joseph's church was the school house, but plans have
now (1891) practically matured for the erection of a substantial brick
structure.

CHURCHES

   Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church was organized on the 18th of
May, 1855, by Rev. C. J. Ehrhart with the following members: Peter
Stroh, John Dreher, Frederick Fahrion, George Hornberger, Catherine
Klinger, Sarah Dreher, Catherine Stroh, Mary Ann Fahrion, Christian
Knapp, Lewis Knapp, Jonathan Klinger, George Long, Elizabeth Klinger,
Magdalena Fagely and Maria Steel. The first communion was held on the
20th of May, 1855. The congregation was reorganized in 1867 under the
discipline and formula of government recommended by the General Synod
with the following constituent members: Frederick Fahrion, Mary Ann
Fahrion, Catherine Persing, Isaac Miller, Sarah Miller, Ellen
McWilliams, Frederick Miller and wife, John Dreher, Sarah Dreher,
Catherine Stahr, Elizabeth Biles, Anna Dreher, J. H. Yarnall, Sarah
Feisher, Catherine Christopher, Rebecca Schmeltz, Augustus Zimmerman,
Carolina Zimmerman, A. F. Stecker, Mary A. Stecker, Elizabeth Lerch,
Sarah Jane Raup, and Elizabeth Stillwagner. The first council was
elected on this occasion and consisted of John Dreher and J. H. Yarnall,
elders, and Isaac Miller and Frederick Fahrion, deacons. The new
congregation was first represented in the Susquehanna Synod by Frederick
Fahrion.
   Decisive action for the erection of a church edifice was first
taken on the 15th of June, 1863, when J. H. Yarnall, A. F. Stecker,
Frederick Fahrion, David Llewellyn, and P. Van Horn were appointed as a
committee to secure lots, prepare plans, and construct a frame church
building forty-two by twenty-eight feet in dimensions. Mr. Llewellyn
secured the location and Mr. Yarnall prepared the draft. Prior to this
time the congregation worshiped at a frame school house on the southeast
corner of Second street and Grape alley. On the 18th of October, 1863,
the corner-stone of the new building was laid, Reverends P. Williard, R.
A. Fink, D. D., and F. A. Barnitz, officiating. This structure was
completed at a cost of seventeen hundred dollars and dedicated in the
spring of 1867. It is a frame building located on the south side of Mt.
Carmel avenue, and is the present place of worship. The parsonage, a
substantial frame building adjoining the church on the west, was erected
in 1879-80 at a cost of thirteen hundred dollars.

   The first pastor was Rev. C. J. Ehrhart, who served from the
organization of the church until the 27th of April, 1856, residing at
Shamokin. His successor at that point, Rev. J. F. Wampole, became pastor
of the Mt. Carmel church in 1858 (June 15th), and continued in that
relation until the 1st of October, 1859. The church then became a part
of the Ashland pastorate, sharing as such in the labors of Rev. W. L.
Heisler, October 1, 1859, to January 1, 1862, Rev. F. A. Barnitz,
February, 1862, to February, 1867, and Rev. J. B. Sires, February to
December, 1867. The congregation was irregularly supplied by Rev. J. A.
Adams from December 1, 1867, to April 19, 1868. At the meeting of the
Susquehanna Synod in that year, Mt. Carmel was attached to the Shamokin
Valley pastorate, of which Mr. Adams was pastor from the 1st of June,
1868, until the 1st of December, 1876. Rev. O. D. S. Marclay, of
Ashland, was then pastor from June 3, 1877, to May 31, 1878. He was
followed by Rev. C. W. Sechrist, the first resident pastor, who served
from the 1st of February, 1879, to March 31, 1881. Rev. M. V. Shadow was
pastor, October 1, 1881, to August 31, 1884, and Rev. J. C. Schindel,
December 7, 1884, to 1891.

   St. Matthew's Slavic Church, Lutheran and Calvinist, was erected
in 1889.

   Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church was organized on the 9th of June,
1889, with twelve members, of whom Henry Schweinhart and Jacob Lupold
were elected as elders and John Lupold and Andrew Wetzel as deacons.
They were installed on the 7th of July following. The first steps for
effecting this organization were taken by Rev. J. C. Shindel, at whose
instance Grace Lutheran church was placed at the disposal of the German
Lutherans of the borough for religious worship. The mission was formally
begun on the 17th of February, 1889, by Rev. Henry Weicksel, pastor of
Grace Lutheran church, Shamokin, whose son and successor, Rev. William
Weicksel, is the present pastor. Since October, 1889, services have been
held in private houses.

   Methodist Episcopal Church.- The first Methodist sermons at Mt.
Carmel were preached by Joshua Potts and John H. James, local preachers.
Regular services were first instituted in the fall of 1856, by Rev.
Joseph Y. Rothrock, of Catawissa circuit; he was succeeded by Reverends
John A. De Moyer and H. S. Mendenhall. The former held a protracted
meeting in May, 1858, as a result of which a Methodist church was
regularly organized on the 23d of that month with the following members:
Abraham Camp, Olive Camp, David J. Lewis, Daniel Heiser, John H.
Yarnall, Edward C. Murray, John J. Esher, Mary A. Knittle, Amanda Lewis,
Henrietta Yarnall, Adam J. Miller, Phebe A. Heiser, Richard Phillips,
Mary Jones, Carolina Esher, George A. Keeler, Mary Powell, Joanna Perry,
Wilhelmina Neidig, David Camp, Lovina Camp, and Tacy Keeler, of whom
David Camp was appointed leader.
  
   The first place of worship was the old Second Street school house.
The erection of a church building was indirectly due to Rev. F. B.
Riddle, of Shamokin; Mr. Riddle visited Philadelphia in 1859 to solicit
funds for the erection of a Methodist church at Shamokin, and called
upon John Anspach for that purpose. Mr. Anspach had large interests in
real estate at Mt. Carmel and offered to contribute two hundred fifty
dollars for the building of a church at that place. A local subscription
was at once begun; a building committee was appointed, August 8, 1859,
composed of Daniel Heiser, A. F. Stecker, Joseph Ramsey, John Yarnall,
and David Heiser. A brick edifice, the first at Mt. Carmel, thirty-five
by forty-five feet in dimensions, was erected on the west side of
Hickory street; it was dedicated on the 29th of January, 1860, Reverends
Thompson Mitchell, D. D., T. M. Reese. and S. W. Sears officiating. The
cost of the building approximated fifteen hundred dollars. This was the
place of worship until 1884, when the present substantial two-story
brick church edifice was erected. The building committee, appointed on
the 23d of April, 1884, was composed of John Stine, Frederick Gross,
William A. Phillips, Benjamin F. Fagely, H. T. John, M. K. Watkins, and
William Schwenk. The corner-stone was laid on the 26th of July, 1884,
and the dedication of the Sunday school room occurred November 23d of
the same year; the completed edifice was finally dedicated on the 19th
of September, 1886, Reverends E. J. Grey. D. D., M. L. Ganoe, S. M.
Frost, D. D., and S. W. Sears officiating. This building is seventy-
eight by forty-eight feet in dimensions, and cost eleven thousand
dollars.
   The succession of pastors since 1868, when Mt. Carmel became a
station. has been as follows: 1868, J. A. Dixon; 1869, E. T. Swartz;
1870-72, P. F. Eyer; 1873-74, S. W. Sears; 1875, Alem Brittain; 1876-78,
N. W. Colburn; 1879-81, S. M Frost, D. D.; 1882-83, W. W. Reese; 1884-
85, S. W. Sears; 1886-88, M. L. Drum; 1889-91, W. G. Ferguson.

   The Primitive Methodist Church was organized at the old Second
Street school house. Among the leading early members were George Harvey,
Moses Harvey, Thomas M. Thomas, David Harris, John Green, Josiah Bough,
and William Flew. The present church edifice, a brick structure on the
east side of Market street, was erected in 1872 and dedicated in 1873.
Services were first regularly conducted by James Stoney, a local
preacher; the succession of pastors has been as follows: Reverends John
H. Acornley, Daniel Savage, Charles Miles, Benjamin Whillock, John A
James, Stephen Hancock, Samuel Penglase, John Mason, W. H. Acornley, and
John P. Barlow. A commodious parsonage adjacent to the church building
was erected in 1887.

   Congregational Church.- A Sunday school was organized in 1856, of
which Rees Davis and W. W. Davis were superintendents; its meetings were
held at the public school house, where Welsh preachers held services
occasionally for some years. A church was organized in 1858 by Rev. Thomas
Rees, but disbanded two years later. The Sunday school also disbanded,
but was reorganized in 1863 with W. W. Davis as superintendent. A
permanent church organization was formed, March 26-27, 1870, by Reverends
W. W. Davis and W. B. Williams, with the following members: Thomas
Williams, Messach Watkins, Morgan Davis, William Watkins, Benjamin Thomas,
Margaret Williams, Sarah Watkins, Deborah Davis, Martha Thomas, Rebecca
Respach, Elizabeth Evans, and Rachel Lewis. Thomas Williams, deacon,
Messach Watkins, secretary, and Morgan Davis, treasurer, were the first
officers. The Second Street school house was the place of worship at that
time. The present frame church edifice, on the west side of Market street
between Second and Third, was dedicated on the 23d of July, 1871. The
following pastors have served this church: Rev. R. D. Thomas (1870-72), E.
R. Lewis, William Thomas, D. T. Davis, D. Todd Jones, W. W. Davis, Anthony
Howels, and D. D. Davis, who was installed, May 31, 1886, and resigned in
1890.

   Church of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel.- The first Catholic services in
the vicinity of Mt. Carmel were held at Beaver Dale school house in the
autumn of 1866 by Rev. J. J. Koch, pastor of St. Edward's church,
Shamokin. He organized the congregation and had charge of it until
November, 1868, when it was placed under the care of Rev. Daniel I.
McDermott, then pastor of St. Ignatius's church at Centralia. Father
McDermott soon afterward began the erection of a church edifice, which
was completed and dedicated in October, 1869; it was a one-story frame
structure, forty-two by forty-four feet in dimensions. Soon after the
dedication the parish was again placed in charge of Father Koch, who, in
September, 1870, purchased two acres of land at Beaver Dale for a
cemetery for the congregation. In October, 1871, Rev. E. T. Fields,
Father McDermott's successor at Centralia, took charge of the Church of
Our Lady, he was followed by Rev. J. J. O'Reilly, the first resident
pastor, who erected the present parochial residence in 1879-80. Rev.
Mark A. O'Nei1 became pastor in the spring of 1887, and has served to
the present time. Under his administration a substantial brick church
edifice, beautifully frescoed, has been erected on Market street at a
cost of thirty thousand dollars; it was dedicated by Bishop McGovern,
May 30, 1888. The congregation comprises about two hundred fifty
families.

   St. Joseph's Catholic Church at Mt. Carmel was organized by Rev.
Florian Klonowski in 1876 from the Polish Catholics formerly connected
with the Church of Our Lady. He subsequently erected the present church
edifice, a brick structure at the corner of Hickory and Sixth streets,
and had charge of the parish until 1886, when he was succeeded by his
brother, Rev. Jerome Klonowski, the present pastor. The parochial
residence was built in 1885 on a lot adjoining the church edifice, in
the rear of which is a parochial school house which accommodated one
hundred forty children during the term of 1889-90. It is taught by lay
teachers, and is doing effective work. Since coming to Mt. Carmel Father
Klonowski has had the parochial residence painted, a fence built around
the property, steam-heating apparatus put into both church and house, and
has recently had the church beautify frescoed. He has now (1890) in
contemplation the erection of a new brick school house on the site of the
present frame in the near future. The congregation numbers about fifteen
hundred souls, while the church has a seating capacity of only about five
hundred.

   The United Brethren Church was organized in 1866 by Rev. F. List
at the house of John Deitrick, with five members, viz.: Evan Frey, Henry
Yeager, Catherine T. Deitrick, Rebecca Yeager, and Elizabeth Artz. The
house of John Deitrick was the place of worship for several years, after
which a frame building on the north side of Third street between Hickory
and Market, formerly used for school purposes, was occupied until 1874;
the present frame church edifice at the southwest corner of Vine and
Third streets was then built at a cost of two thousand dollars. Rev.
Thomas Garland, Lewis Deitrick, and John Byerly were the trustees at
that time. The following pastors have served this church: Reverends F.
List, 1866; J. Shoop, 1867-68; William B. Evers, 1869; A. P. Kaufman,
1870; Reverends Hartsborn and Nelson, 1871; S. R. Gipple, 1872-73;
Thomas Garland, 1874-75; M. P. Sanders, 1876; S. R. Gipple, 1877-79; L.
Kreamer, 1880-81; H. S. Gable, 188-83; H. B. Spayd, 1883-84; J. G.
Fritz, 1885-88; M. J. Heberly, 1889. Mt. Carmel became a mission station
in 1883 and a self-supporting station in 1886. The parsonage was built
in 1884, and the church edifice was remodeled in 1888.

   Welsh Baptist Church.- Reverends Thomas Thomas and David Evans
organized a Welsh Baptist church in 1871, of which Daniel Evans and
Philip Thomas were the first deacons. After worshiping at a school house
near the old Reading depot eighteen months the society disbanded. A
reorganization was effected in 1879, and in 1880 a frame church edifice
was built at the corner of Market and Third streets; it was dedicated on
the 20th of June in that year, when William W. Watkins and William
Lawrence were the deacons, and Evan Davis, William W. Watkins, and John
P. Edwards were the trustees. The subsequent pastors were Reverends
Jeremiah Griffith and Richard Edwards. The congregation finally
disbanded in 1886.

   Church of God.- Elders A. Snyder and Jacob Hepler were the first
ministers of this denomination who preached at Mt. Carmel. An organization
was effected in 1880 by Elder J. C. Hoover, and the first members were
Levi Werntz and wife, William S. Eyers and wife, and Benjamin Hepler and
wife. Services were first held at private houses and at a school house
near the old Reading depot. A building site on the east side of Chestnut
street between Second and Third having been donated by Elizabeth Clouser,
the present frame church edifice was erected thereon and dedicated on the
21st of October, 1883. It has since been materially enlarged. Elders J. C.
Hoover, D. H. Mummah, S. Smith, F. Y Weidenhammer, and J. W. Miller have
successively served as pastor.

   St. Paul's Church of the Evangelical Association.- The present
church edifice was erected in 1871, at which time this was a preaching
point on Ashland circuit, of which Rev. James Lantz was preacher in
charge. In 1872 Mt. Carmel was made a mission and placed in charge of
Rev. James Bowman. The membership at that time was twenty-five, and the
society was burdened with debt. Fifty-seven accessions were made during
the year, and under the next pastor, Rev. L. N. Worman, the membership
increased to one hundred two. The official boards of the organization at
that time were constituted as follows: trustees: Simon Light, Joseph
Delcamp, Emanuel Kehler, William Shively, Jacob Rissinger, and Jonathan
Hoover; stewards: Joseph Delcamp, Simon Light, Isaac Keiser, Emanuel
Kehler, and Jonathan Deitrich; leaders: Simon Light, Jonathan Deitrich,
Emanuel Kehler, and Joseph Schwartz. The following is a list of pastors
since the mission was established: 1872, Rev. James Bowman; 1873-75,
Rev. L. N. Worman; 1876, Rev. N. B. Sherk; 1877, Rev. A. M Sampsel;
1878, Rev. N. A. Bair; 1879, Rev. A. Dilabar; 1880-82, Rev. J. W.
Woehrle; 1888, Rev. J. S. Overholser; 1884-86, Rev. J. R. Hensyl; 1887-
88, Rev. G. C. Knobel; 1889-90, Rev. D. S. Stauffer.
   The Sunday school was organized in June, 1871. There are two other
auxiliary organizations: a Young People's Society of Christian Endeavor
and a Mission Band, all, like the church in general, in a prosperous
condition.

   Grace Reformed Church was organized on the 14th of June, 1886,
with the following members: C. T. Dechant and wife, George Becker and
wife, Isaac Wolfgang and wife, Ben Wirt and wife, Henry Geist, Mary
Dechant, Ada Dechant, Ella Dechant, Thomas Dechant, and Mr. Hawk. C. T.
Dechant, Isaac Wolfgang, and George Becker were the first elders. The
first trustees were Dr. J. G. Raessler, O. T. Dechant, Henry Geist,
Frederick Klawitter, Nathan Haubenstein, William Ruths, and John Zutka.
A Sunday school was organized on the 13th of May, 1888, with Dr. J. G.
Raessler as superintendent. Services were first held in the G.A.R. hall
on Hickory street, after which the Welsh Baptist church, corner of
Market and Third streets, was rented and subsequently purchased. The
present church edifice, a frame structure twenty-five by forty feet in
dimensions, was erected in 1890 under the supervision of a building
committee composed of Dr. J. G. Raessler, Henry Geist, and C. T.
Dechant. The corner-stone was laid on the 27th of March, 1890. Rev.
George Dechant was pastor from June, 1886, until May, 1888, and Rev. H.
H. Sando from May 13,1888, to April 6, 1890.

   First Presbyterian Church.- Reverends Caldwell, Milliken, Reardon,
and other Presbyterian clergymen preached at Mt. Carmel occasionally
under the auspices of Northumberland Presbytery, but no organization was
effected until the 10th of July, 1887, where a presbyterial committee,
composed of Rev. H. G. Finney, Rev. J. W. Gilland, and S. A. Bergstresser,
organized the First Presbyterian church with the following members:
Thomas M. Righter, Mrs. Gertrude L. Righter, S. A. Bergstresser, Mrs.
Voris Auten, Mrs. George B. Renn, Mrs. Emily Heiser, Mrs. Mary Benson,
Charles J. Siegfried, Mrs. Kate Siegfried, Robert Penman, William
Hillhouse, Mrs. Mary Hillhouse, Mrs. Mary Reid, William McIlwain, Mrs.
Emily H. Bolich, Mrs. Margaret Lawson, Mrs. Agnes Ramage, John Reid,
William Reid, Henry F. Freeze, Alexander Taylor, Peter E. Jones, Mrs.
Mary Ann Jones, Miss Margaret Penman, Miss Phyllis Jones, Mrs. Janet
Reid Taylor, Mrs. Louisa Stillwagner, Miss Rebecca Gibson, Eli H.
Snyder, William Finley, Mrs. Margaret Finley, Miss Margaret Reid, and
Mrs. Elizabeth J. Jennings. S. A Bergstresser, Robert Penman, and
William Hillhouse were the first elders, and Thomas M. Righter, John
Reid, and Eli H. Snyder were the first deacons. The first regular
pastor, Rev. Stuart Mitchell, D. D., was installed on the 11th of June,
1889, and is the present incumbent. The G.A.R. Hall was the place of
worship until the 22d of December, 1889, when the present church edifice
at the southeast corner of Fifth and Hickory streets was occupied for
the first time. The corner-stone was laid, August 8, 1889, and the
dedication occurred on the 11th of May, 1890. Dr. J. S. Lazarus, Thomas
M. Righter, and Robert Muir composed the building committee. The Sunday
school was organized on the 2d of January, 1887, with Eli H. Snyder as
superintendent.
  
CEMETERIES

   The Catholic Cemetery comprises ten acres and is situated at Beaver
Dale, west of Mt. Carmel. The ground was purchased and inclosed by Rev. J.
J. Koch in 1870, and has since been the burial place for the entire
Catholic population of Mt. Carmel and vicinity. The space available for
interments has now been entirely utilized, and a movement is in progress
for the purchase of additional ground.

   The Mt. Carmel Cemetery Company was organized on the 29th of March,
1883, with O. H. Sillyman, president, Thomas Scott, secretary, and Charles
Wightman, treasurer, who, with John Stine, Morgan Davis, Michael Hinkel,
David J. Lewis, William McFee, and John Jefferson, were the charter
members of the company. A plat of ground five hundred feet square,
situated near Alaska, a mile and a half from the borough, was donated by
the Philadelphia and Reading Coal and Iron Company, and has been inclosed
and improved. This had been a burial ground for some years previously, but
the title was not vested in local hands.

(1) It is possible that some of the persons whose names appear in the
list did not become residents until later, and also that the names of
some who resided in the town temporarily have been omitted.



CHAPTER 19 - Pages 677-692
WATSONTOWN
PIONEER HISTORY - THE FIRST SURVEYS - EARLY INDUSTRIES, STORES, AND
HOTELS - THE TOWN PLAT - RAILROADS - THE POSTOFFICE - MANUFACTURING,
PAST AND PRESENT - BANKS - ELECTRIC LIGHT AND WATER COMPANIES - BOROUGH
ORGANIZATION AND GOVERNMENT - SECRET AND FRATERNAL SOCIETIES -
EDUCATIONAL AND LITERARY EFFORT - CHURCHES - WATSONTOWN CEMETERY.

   THE history of Watsontown commences in the latter part of the last
century. The place may be said to have had two beginnings, the first of
which resulted in the establishment of a small country village, while
the second and more successful was the means of bringing into existence
the pleasant and enterprising town on the east bank of the West Branch
and in the extreme northern part of Northumberland county. By the
census of 1890 the population was twenty-one hundred fifty-seven. The
borough has a creditable system of public schools, five churches, two
newspapers, two banks, extensive manufacturing interests, water and
electric light companies, a number of stores representing the various
lines of business, etc., etc.
  
PIONEER HISTORY

   The first title to any part of the land upon which the borough is
situated was acquired by Lieutenant Daniel Hunsicker by virtue of
military services in the French and Indian war. The application was
marked No. 1 and dated February 3, 1769. The tract was surveyed in the
succeeding May, and was situated between Delaware run on the north and a
diagonal boundary on the south which extended from the east end of Pear
alley to the opposite terminus of Apple alley. The most remarkable and
interesting feature of this application is the fact that it was the
first granted under the land office system established by the
Proprietary government for the disposition of the purchase of 1768.
   To the south of Hunsicker's warrant the land was granted to
Lieutenant Nicholas Houssegger, for services rendered in the same war;
his tract extended for some distance beyond the southern limits of the
town. On the 13th of May, 1792, John Watson, then a resident of
Londonderry township, Chester county, Pennsylvania, purchased from John
Harris, of Cumberland county, and Blair McClenachan, a merchant of
Philadelphia, a tract of six hundred nine acres and allowance, known as
"Elmdon," embracing the larger part of the site of Watsontown. The
consideration was eleven hundred pounds specie. Harris and McClenachan had
secured this land in 1780 by purchase from Jacob Shallus, a merchant of
Bristol, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, for the sum of seventeen thousand
pounds, and Shallus, in partnership with Amos Wickersham, acquired the
tract in 1779 by purchase from Thomas Willing, to whom it was originally
patented, March 23, 1774. Watson was of Irish descent. He resided on the
land thus purchased until his death; his remains were interred in the old
Warrior Run graveyard, but have been removed to the Watsontown cemetery.
   The idea of locating a town near the month of Warrior run first
occurred to John Watson, who laid it out in 1794, and in honor of whom
it received its name, although, by some who regarded his effort to
establish a town with disrespect, it was for a long time called
Slabtown. The only streets in the original plat were Main and Front;
Main was the road leading from Sunbury to Muncy, and Front street is
what is now termed First, still called Front by many. At their
intersection ground was reserved for a public square. At the time of Mr.
Watson's death the town consisted of some half-dozen houses, situated on
Front street between where the railroad now crosses it and the river
bank. Its diminutive proportions were due to lack of enterprise on the
part of the projector rather than any disadvantage of location; for,
after disposing of some half-dozen lots, although they were sold at
several hundred dollars each, he suddenly became alarmed lest the
growing village should interfere with his farming operations, and, at a
great sacrifice to himself, began to purchase the lots sold, ultimately
securing them all.
   The first hotel and store were kept by David Watson, and stood on
the south side of Front street at the canal. There was another hotel at
the time of Mr. Watson's death, which was erected by James Watson (no
relative of the former, however), and stood on the north side of Front
street directly opposite the residence of A. J. Guffy. Upon the death of
David Watson his house was closed, but the one built by James Watson was
continued for some years under the successive proprietorships of Robert
Brown, James Brown, George Fox, and others.
    The industrial features of the place at that time were a
distillery, established by John Watson, a hattery, and a scythe factory,
located in the vicinity of the David Watson hotel.
    Between the years 1830 and 1840 the land upon which the main
portion of the town is situated was used as a race course. What was then
called "the mile heat" commenced on the north of town, near the
residence of the late Silas Rambach, and ended south to First street.
    A third hotel was built on the northeast corner of First and Main
streets by William Cooner in 1857 and opened in August of that year. The
building is still used as a public house with Mr. Cooner's sons as
proprietors.
    The owners of the land after the death of John Watson were his three
sons, David, John, and George. The lands of David and John adjoined the
river, with First street as a mutual boundary, while the youngest son,
George, inherited the land to the east of his brothers. The rough-cast
house on the north side of First street at the canal was erected by
John Watson, and was his residence until death. Two of David's sons,
David C. and Robert, were captains in the Northumberland Troop, and the
former reached the rank of brigadier general, which position he held at
the time of his death.
    A great convenience for the settlers in the vicinity of Watsontown
in crossing the river into Union county, and vice versa, was afforded by
the ferry, which was established in 1800 by Dan Caldwell, an
enterprising and wealthy citizen of White Deer valley. This was the most
important outlet until the canal was completed.
    The growth of the town was much retarded from the fact that David
and John Watson, on account of some trouble which existed among the
inhabitants at that time, refused to sell lots on the plea that it would
only result in contention. Thus it happened that at their death the town
was, if anything, in a less flourishing condition than when their father
died. The hattery and scythe factory of his day had become things of the
past, and no manufacturing interests had developed to take their places.
    The opening of the Philadelphia and Erie railroad gave a
quickening impulse, and the years immediately following may be regarded
as the period in local history when the country village passed out of
existence to give way for a more enterprising and extensive town. In
1868 the town extended on Main street from where the Mansion House now
stands to the depot, and on First street from the railroad to the canal.
It contained two dry-goods stores and two groceries. The most important
business house at that time was on the corner of Main and First streets
and was conducted under the firm name of A. T. Goodman & Brother. The
other dry- goods store was in the building now owned by George Burns, on
the west side of Main near Second street, and was conducted by C. O.
Bachman; T. G. Caldwell had a grocery along the canal, and Thomas Barr
conducted a business of the same kind near the depot. There was but one
hotel in the place, the house of William Cooner, which was erected in
1857 and opened as a public house in August of that year. The next hotel
established was the Mansion House, on the northwest corner of Main and
Second streets, which was erected by John Forgeman in 1867 and is now
conducted by Allen I. Kremer.
    The first doctor to locate in the place was H. D. Hunter, a young
man who was reared in White Deer Hole valley. He practiced here before
the opening of the civil war and continued in the active discharge of
professional duties until his death. The first resident attorney was
Oscar Foust.
  
THE TOWN PLAT

   In the original town plat there was a commodious public square at the
intersection of Main and First street. It is to be regretted that this
feature was not retained in the modern plat.
    The land owned by John and David Watson passed into the possession
of Moses Chamberlin, a son-in-law of the former, and E. L. Piper, who
bore the same relation to the latter. The modern town plat between its
southern limit and Fifth street was laid out in 1858 and 1859 under the
auspices of Moses Chamberlin, E. L. Piper, and the executors of John
Watson, deceased, by Abraham Straub, a surveyor of Milton. Between Fifth
street and the line of the Hunsicker and Houssegger warrants the plat
was surveyed in November, 1866, by James Armstrong and A. J. Guffy under
the auspices of Moses Chamberlin and Ario Pardee. Above the line of the
Hunsicker and Houssegger tracts the plat was surveyed in 1867 by A. J.
Guffy for Joseph Hollopeter, S. M. Miller, and Samuel Caldwell. The
principal additions since that date are those of Joseph Everitt, John H.
Goodman, A. B. Seiler, Samuel Caldwell, and James A. Dinehart.
    The principal street is Main, the Milton and Muncy road, which
extends north and south (approximately), with Ash and Liberty streets
parallel on the east and Elm street parallel on the west. The cross
streets, beginning with First on the south, are numbered consecutively
to Tenth on the north.
  
RAILROADS

    The Philadelphia and Erie railroad was opened on the 18th of December,
1854, and the Wilkesbarre and Western on the 13th of December, 1886. The
latter has its western terminus at Watsontown. The Philadelphia and
Reading railroad, on the opposite side of the river, was opened in 1871.
  
THE POSTOFFICE

    The following is a list of postmasters since the office was
established, with the respective dates of appointment: David Watson,
January 10, 1828; Edmund L. Piper, July 18, 1854; Joseph P. Hogue, July
12, 1861; E. Everitt, March 25, 1868; Philip Shay, November 16, 1868;
Joseph Wagner, April 29, 1869; John D. Caldwell, July 5, 1871; Philip
Shay, January 16, 1879; Mary V. Shay, February 9, 1885.
  
MANUFACTURING, PAST AND PRESENT

   The earliest industrial establishments at Watsontown were the
hattery and scythe factory previously mentioned. These were perhaps of
relatively local importance at the time, but very meager information
regarding them is attainable at this late date.
    Higbee & Wagner's Saw Mill was originally established in 1856 by
Moses Chamberlin and William Follmer for the manufacture of "bill"
lumber, and therefore marks the beginning of the recent industrial
development of the place. At that time the Catawissa Railroad Company
was constructing extensive trestle-works and bridges, and a considerable
part of the product of this mill was used by that company. The business
was conducted by Chamberlin & Follmer until 1857, when Joseph Hollopeter
was received into the firm, which continued to operate the mill
successfully until it was destroyed by fire on the Saturday night previous
to Abraham Lincoln's second election to the presidency. It was immediately
rebuilt and successively operated by Chamberlin, Follmer & Hollopeter,
Chamberlin & Follmer, Cook, Hollopeter & Everitt, and Cook & Pardee -
Ario Pardee and R. C. Cook. Cook & Pardee ran in connection with the
saw mill a match factory and employed sixty operatives. After continuing
business ten or twelve years in this way Pardee purchased Cook's
interest and took his son into partnership, when the style of the firm
became Pardee & Son. After the flood of 1889 the mills were closed;
operations were suspended until May, 1890, when they were purchased and
reopened by the present firm.

    Pardee's Saw Mill. In 1866 Ario Pardee erected a large saw mill in
the southern part of the town at a cost of seventy-five thousand
dollars. Mr. Pardee is interested in the mining of coal at Hazelton,
Luzerne county, Pennsylvania, and the product of the mill consisted
principally of prop timbers for use in the mines. He also owned a large
tract of undeveloped land in Union county, from which the timber for
this mill was derived. This establishment, the largest of its kind in
the county, gave employment to a number of men, and was a most important
feature of the manufacturing interests of the borough until its
destruction by fire, April 17, 1882.

    The Watsontown Steam Tannery was originally established in 1866 by
Hollopeter & Wagner. The plant subsequently passed to Miller, Faust &
Caldwell, who were succeeded in 1879 by W. T. and C. B. McKean. The
works were destroyed by fire on the 28th of July, 1881, but have been
rebuilt, and the present capacity is four hundred fifty hides per week.
Cutler, Foster & Company are the present proprietors.

    Watsontown Planing Mill Company.- In 1867 Wagner, Starr & Company
erected a planing mill on the bank of the river at the present site of
the water-works pumping station. It was destroyed by fire, and replaced
by another of enlarged capacity; the latter was burned in 1874, and in
the following year the present mill on the east side of the Philadelphia
and Erie railroad between Sixth and Seventh streets was built by the
Watsontown Planing Mill Company, of which J. H. Wagner, J. W. Muffly,
and D. F. Wagner were the constituent members until the retirement of
Mr. Muffly in 1890. The mill is one of the largest and best equipped in
the West Branch valley. Thomas H. Kistner has been foreman since 1870.

    The Watsontown Steam Flour Mill was built by John McFarland, who
conducted the business for some years. The present firm, Follmer, Fowler
& Company, became proprietors in April, 1890. The building is situated
on Eighth street, and is a three-story structure; the daily capacity is
one hundred barrels of flour and ten tons of chop.

    The Watsontown Boot and Shoe Company.- The factory of this company
was originally established by Joseph Hollopeter, William Wagner, Samuel
Caldwell, Frederick Heilman, D. C. Hogue, Samuel Miller, George Burns,
and Silas Kirk in connection with the Watsontown Steam Tannery. The
business of the tannery and shoe factory was jointly conducted by the
same firm until 1872, when the present factory building, a three-story
brick structure on the east side of Main street between Second and
Third, was erected. After experiencing several changes of ownership it
became the property of Ario Pardee, the present owner, who was also at
one time individual proprietor of the factory. The Watsontown Boot and
Shoe Company was formed in 1885, and is composed of H. F. Algert and
Edward Waldschmidt. Eighty operatives are employed.

    The Pardee Car and Machine Works were established in 1872 by a
company known as "The Watsontown Car Works," composed of Joseph
Hollopeter, president, Ario Pardee, Levi Linn, J. H. Wagner, H. T.
Goodman, Samuel M. Miller, and a Mr. Ten Brook. This company was
succeeded in 1880 by Pardee, Snyder & Company, Limited, and upon the
expiration of this limited partnership, June 1, 1890, Ario Pardee became
sole owner. The plant is located on the east side of the Philadelphia
and Erie railroad between Fourth and Sixth streets; it has a capacity
for building five cars per day, and employs two hundred fifty men when
in full operation.

    The Watsontown Furniture and Table Works were started by Joseph
Hollopeter and James W. McLain in the buildings erected for the car
shops, which were not then in operation. Samuel Miller, George Burns,
and Isaac Stryker were afterward admitted to the firm, and Ario Pardee
subsequently became individual proprietor of the works, which he removed
to his lower planing mill. From Mr. Pardee the establishment passed to
Frank Miller and J. G. Bower, by whom the present plant on the west side
of Main street in the southern part of the borough was erected and has
since been operated.

    Starr, Durham &Company operated a planing mill on South Main
street from 1883 to 1890. The mill was built by John Bly & Son, and
first leased by Kline & Meckley.

    The Watsontown Nail Works were established in 1886 and occupy the
site of Ano Pardee's first saw mill, which was destroyed by fire in
1882. The building is eighty-five by two hundred twenty-five feet, and
contains rolling mill and nail factory combined. The works have a
capacity to employ eighty men and manufacture three hundred kegs of
nails per day.
  
BANKS

    The Watsontown National Bank was originally organized as a State
institution, December 31,1872, under the name of the Watsontown Bank.
The first directors were J. H. Goodman, J. B. Leinbach, Silas Rambach,
Samuel Caldwell, Simon Schuyler, James D. Barr, Joseph Nicely, Jr., and
Martin Powell. Samuel Caldwell, the first president, was elected on the
2d of January, l873, and De La. Green was the first cashier. The bank
commenced business on the 2d of January, 1873. The original capital was
one hundred thousand dollars, which was increased (July 2, 1874) to one
hundred twenty thousand dollars, at which it remained while the bank
continued as a State institution. At a meeting of the stockholders on
the 4th of May, 1880, the directors were authorized to surrender the
State charter and take the necessary measures to convert the institution
into a national bank It was accordingly incorporated as such, June 17,
1880, under its present name, with a capital of sixty thousand dollars
and the following officers: president, Silas Rambach; cashier, G. W.
Rombach; teller, W. A. Nicely; directors: Silas Rambach, Joseph G.
Durham, Andrew M. Lowry, Thomas Kirk, John B. Leinbach, Thompson Bower,
Ario Pardee, and John P. Dentler. At its organization as a national bank
the institution was paying annual dividends of six per cent., which have
steadily increased and have been eight per cent. since 1889. A surplus
fund of thirty-four thousand dollars has also been accumulated. The
present bank building, a brick structure at the northeast corner of
Third and Main streets, was first occupied in the spring of 1880. The
succession of officers since the organization of the bank as a State
institution has been as follows: presidents: Samuel Caldwell, Ario
Pardee, Silas Rambach, Joseph G. Durham, and Thompson Bower, present
incumbent; cashiers: De La. Green, Robert B. Claxton, Jr., and G. W.
Rombach, present incumbent; tellers: G. W. Rombach, J. G. Bower, and W.
A. Nicely, present incumbent.

    Farmers' National Bank of Watsontown.- The first meeting for the
organization of this institution was held, January 11, 1886. The charter
was granted, February 27, 1886, and the doors were first opened for
business March 29th of the same year, with a capital of fifty thousand
dollars distributed among sixty-four stockholders in shares of one
hundred dollars each. The first board of directors consisted of Charles
Heilman, Samuel Everitt, Simpson Smith, J. H. Harley, D. F. Wagner,
Thomas L. Clapp, W. H. Nicely, Daniel Lerch, Alem Mauser, E. L. Matchin,
V. S. Truckenmiller, Hiram Dunkel, and Enoch Everitt. The first election
of officers resulted in the choice of Simpson Smith as president;
Charles Heilman, vice-president, and Hiram Dunkel, cashier, the latter
still retaining that office. During the two years immediately following
the first nine months of business the bank declared an annual dividend
of six per cent. Since that time the annual dividend has been uniformly
seven per cent. The surplus now amounts to seventeen thousand dollars.
  
ELECTRIC LIGHT AND WATER COMPANIES

    The Watsontown Electric Light, Gas, Power, and Heating Company
was chartered, September 1, 1886. J. G. Bower, Thompson Bower, Samuel M.
Miller, and C. B. McLain were the original stockholders, of whom J. G.
Bower was chosen as first president and Samuel M. Miller as secretary
and treasurer. The charter was purchased by L. C. Kinsey & Company, of
Williamsport, July 1,1887; they erected an electric light plant, and
increased the capital stock to fifteen thousand dollars, associating
with them J. H. Wagner, J. I. Higbee, T. G. Caldwell, Hiram Dunkel, S.
H. Hicks, Lorenzo Everitt, and others. The capacity of the plant is one
thousand incandescent lights, with a power to supply arc lighting. It is
situated at the western terminus of Third street.

    The Watsontown Water Company was incorporated, May 18, 1886, with
a capital stock of forty thousand dollars, and the following persons as
stockholders: Robert Buck, I. N. Messinger, S. B. Morgan, J. H. Wagner,
W. Brady Piatt, William Field Shay, J. F. McClure, S. E. Slaymaker, L.
T. Rohrbach, and J. E. Mathews. The company owns the mouth of White Deer
creek, in Union county, near which they have erected a filter, forty-
eight feet long and eight feet square, which leads from their dam to
large wells near the bank of the stream. From these wells it is
transferred by gravity to the east side of the river, where a pumping
station is located, which forces it to a reservoir at a vertical
altitude of one hundred fifty feet above Main street. This has a
capacity of two million gallons, and from it the water is distributed to
the town, through seven miles of mains.
  
BOROUGH ORGANIZATION AND GOVERNMENT

    The borough of Watsontown was incorporated by decree of court,
November 4, 1867, and on the 16th instant the first borough election
occurred, resulting in the choice of the following officers: burgess,
Joseph Hollopeter; council: Thomas Carl, Frederick Whitman, C. O.
Bachman, John Bly, D. C. Hogue; high constable, Eli Lochner; justice of
the peace, John Orr; school directors: John Y. Ellis, William Cooner, H.
K. Whitman, Joseph Ott, H. W. Kremer, Thomas Barr; overseers of the
poor: Peter Schaefer, Robert Johnson; inspectors of election: Philip
Winterstein, I. N. Messinger; judge, David Teas. The following persons
have successively served as burgess since the borough was incorporated:
1867, Joseph Hollopeter; 1868, J. P. Starr; 1869, Nicholas Gauger; 1870,
C. O. Bachman; 1871, Philip Shay; 1872, S. M. Miller; 1873, William M.
Wagner; 1874, J. P. Starr; 1875, Phineas Leiser; 1876-80, John B.
Cooner; 1881-82, W. Brady Piatt; 1883-84, J. H. Wagner; 1885-86, D.C.
Hogue; 1887-88, Lorenzo Everitt; 1889-90, E. Sherman Follmer; 1890,
Alfred Hockley; 1891, J. F. McClure.

    Hope Hose Fire Company, No. 1, was organized on the 11th of June,
1878; the frame building at the foot of Second street occupied by this
company was erected in 1875.
  
SECRET AND FRATERNAL SOCIETIES

    The following is a list of societies at Watsontown with dates of
organization or institution: Watsontown Lodge, No. 401, F. & A.M., January
16, 1868; Warrior Run Chapter, No. 246, R.A.M., January 23, 1874;
Watsontown Lodge, No. 619, I.O.O.F., January 25, 1868; Bryson Post, No.
225, G.A.R., September 30, 1881; Washington Camp, No. 229, P.O.S. of A.,
May 19, 1884; Freeland Castle, No. 217, K.G.E., November 3, 1887.
  
EDUCATIONAL AND LITERARY EFFORT

    The first school house in the vicinity of Watsontown was erected
in 1790. It was a log structure, and was situated near the bank of the
run which flows a short distance south of where the Philadelphia and
Erie depot now stands. The name of the first teacher in this pioneer
school house is not ascertainable, but, whoever he may have been, the
youth of the community received the rudiments of an education in this
old log school house until 1800, when the second building was erected.
This was a somewhat larger structure and was situated on an elevation
south of the present residence of R. C. McKee. It served as a place of
instruction until 1833, when a more elaborate frame building was erected
at the intersection of the Sinking Spring and Bald Eagle roads, now the
corner of Fifth and Liberty streets. It was used for school purposes
until 1859, when it was destroyed by fire and an academy was built east
of the railroad on Front or First street by Joseph Hogue, Peter
Schaeffer, Joseph Everitt, Joseph Hollopeter, William H. Follmer, Daniel
Kremer, and others. Here the educational work of the town was conducted
until 1882, when the building was closed and remained unoccupied until
1889; it was then reopened and has since been used as a borough poor-
house.
    The present public school building was erected on the corner of
Eighth and Elm streets in 1882. It is a brick structure two stories
high, and contains eight school rooms with two additional recitation
rooms. The cornerstone was laid with Masonic ceremonies May 27th of
that year, on which occasion Professor C. W. Wrightmyer was orator and
Robert H. McCormick chief marshal for the ceremonies of the day. The
directors were Oscar Foust, Robert Buck, Samuel M. Miller, Thomas H.
Kistner, E. B. Hogue, and Dr. S. L. Van Valzah, and the building
committee consisted of Robert Buck and Thomas H. Kistner. The first term
of school in the new building was opened in the fall of 1883 with George
W. Wrightmyer as principal, S. C. Hartranft, assistant principal, and
the following teachers: Misses Mae Renninger, Jensie M. Kriner, Bardilla
Kautz, Sue H. McCarty, and Alma S. Kerstetter, and Mr. J. D. Nimick.

    The first Literary Society at Watsontown was organized in 1860,
with D. C. Hogue, J. P. Starr, A. S. Lamm, Worthing Maxiel, John R.
Cooner, George Piper, and C. M. King as its original members; the first
president was D. C. Hogue with A. S. Lamm as secretary. At the outbreak
of the civil war the society was abandoned; in 1869 it was reorganized
with renewed energy and zeal. Quite a number of new names were added to
the roll at that time, and by a vigorous financial policy the society
succeeded in erecting the hall at the corner of Second and Main streets.
This building now constitutes the Watsontown opera house.

    The Watsontown Lyceum was the next literary society. Principally
through the efforts of Dr. J. J. Leiser a stock company was formed and a
suitable building erected, after which a formal organization was
effected on the first Monday of May, 1876, with H. F. Algert as first
president; he was succeeded in this office by William F. Shay.

    Local Papers.- There was no newspaper at Watsontown until 1870,
when a company was formed and a paper established. The name adopted was
the Watsontown Record, which was conducted by a company for some time,
afterward experiencing numerous changes in ownership and management
until its purchase by the proprietors of the Star, Fosnot & Burr, in
1884. The Star was the second paper established, and was started in
1882, the first copy being issued on the 1st of April in that year. The
first proprietors were Fosnot & Fisher. After the purchase of the
Watsontown Record in 1884, the name was changed to the Record and Star,
which it still retains. L. C. Fosnot is the editor and proprietor.

    The Blade was established by J. Ward Diehl, and the first copy was
issued, May 18, 1889.

    The Agricultural Epitomist was published at Watsontown from its
inception in 1882 until its removal to Indianapolis, Indiana, in 1886.
  
CHURCHES

    The second story of the academy building was designed as a place
of worship for all denominations, and was so used until the erection of
the different church edifices. The first Sunday school of the town, a
union organization, was held here; the first superintendent was Joseph
Hollopeter, and the first assistant superintendent was William H.
Follmer.

    The Watsontown Baptist Church is the oldest organization of that
denomination in the northern part of Northumberland county. It
originated in the labors of William S. Hall of White Deer valley, who,
with the assistance of W. B. Bingham, commenced a series of religious
meetings in the school house at Watsontown in May, 1840. Mr. Hall
continued services at Watsontown, Scott's school house, and Abram
Stearner's grove for some time, and at frequent intervals administered
baptism. As a result of these efforts the following members at White
Deer valley and Clinton were organized as a regular Baptist church,
August 12, 1841: John Snyder, John Oyster, Joseph Everitt, Sr., Joseph
Everitt, Jr., Robert Everitt, Samuel Dougherty, Lansing Burrows, William
W. Burrows, Thomas Crawford, Amos Anderson, Benjamin Oyster, Mary McCoy,
Esther Oyster, Lucy Ann Everitt, Elizabeth Everitt, Margaret Guffy, Mary
Ann Mackey, Mary Burrows, Catherine Hays, Elizabeth Anderson, and
Catherine Oyster. The sermon at this service was delivered by Elder D. C.
Waite, prayer, by Elder J. G. Miles, right hand of fellowship, by Isaac
Jones, and charge to the newly organized church, by W. S. Hall, who became
the first pastor.
    The first place of worship was a small frame building situated
near the center of Delaware township on Delaware run. Here the
congregation met until 1870, when they erected a church edifice at
Watsontown. The contract was drawn up between the building committee,
Joseph Everitt, George Burns, Theodore Carey, and James W. Johnson, and
the contractors, Conrad Springer and Lewis Koch, July 14, 1870. The
church building is a two-story frame structure, and was erected at a
cost of thirty-five hundred dollars. It stands on Main street at the
corner of Fifth. The history of the church has been marked by frequent
pastoral changes.

    The Methodist Episcopal Church had its origin, in the vicinity of
Watsontown, at the Swamp school house, where a class was formed in 1858.
In the following year the society was organized at the incipient village
of Watsontown, with Joseph Hollopeter as leader; among the first members
were Mrs. Susan Hollopeter, Benjamin Grier and wife, John Shadel and
wife, and Mrs. Martha Stover. The society worshiped at the school house,
the academy building, and elsewhere until 1872, when the present two-
story brick church edifice on Third street was erected under the
supervision of a building committee composed of Joseph Hollopeter, John
Goodman, and John Seiler. The lecture room was dedicated, November 10,
1872, but the audience room remained unfinished for some years. The
last payment of the church debt was made, February 22, 1883. The
parsonage, a frame building at the corner of Fourth and Liberty streets,
was purchased in 1883. The following is a list of pastors since the
organization of the first class: 1858, Samuel Barnes, A. E. Taylor;
1859, John A. De Moyer, A. E. Taylor; 1860, George Warren, J. A. Dixon;
1861, C. F. Thomas; 1862, F. Gearhart, H. C. Pardoe; 1863, S. C.
Swallow; 1864-65, John W. Haughawout, E. Shoemaker; 1866, B. P. King,
Elial L. Chilcoat; 1867, H. Wilson, W. W. Reese; 1868, H. Wilson, Thomas
O. Cleese; 1869-70, F. Gearhart, J. Comp; 1871-73, J. W. Olewine, C. W.
Burnley; 1874-75, J. A. Woodcock; 1876, A. W. Gibson; 1877-78, B. P.
King; l879-80, Benjamin H. Crever; 1881-83, Andrew E. Taylor; 1884-85,
David H. Shields; 1886-87, William McK. Reily; 1888-89, John W. Buckley;
1890, W. W. Reese.

    Trinity Reformed Church.- The first service of the Reformed church at
Watsontown was held in the academy building, June 20,1864. For two years
services were conducted by Rev. S. H. Reid, but no organization was
effected until June 24, 1866, when thirteen persons presented certificates
of membership, and the following officers were elected: Peter Schaeffer
and William Brumbach as elders, and William H. Follmer and Simon Lantz as
deacons. During the same year negotiations were made with the Lutheran
congregation for the erection of a house of worship to be used by both
churches. The building was erected on the northeast corner of Main and
Fourth streets. The corner-stone was laid, July 15, 1866, but owing to
the death of William H. Follmer, one of the most influential members,
and financial embarrassments, the building was not dedicated until May
12th in the following year. During this time the congregation was
without a pastor and its interests languished; the membership became
small and virtually disbanded. At this juncture a reorganization was
effected, July 23, 1867, by Rev. H. Mosser, and the church was attached
to the Paradise charge. The members at this time were Peter Schaeffer,
Daniel Carl, S. L. Hilliard, Charles Bealor, Alexander Rodgers, Mrs.
Catherine Everitt, D. J. Krebs, Simon Lantz, Mrs. Catherine Rambach,
Mrs. Elizabeth Follmer, William Brumbach, Rachel Brumbach, and George
Mull. The same officers were elected as at the former organization,
except that D. J. Krebs was chosen to fill the office before intrusted
to William H. Follmer, who died, July 17, 1866.
    The interest of this congregation in the union church building was
sold to the Lutherans, May 1,1886, and on the following day a
congregational meeting was held, when Thomas Mast, Mahlon Metzger, H.
Wagner, D. A. Engle, and George W. Hess were appointed to purchase a lot
upon which to erect a church edifice. The present location was secured,
and the cornerstone of the new church was laid, July 4, 1886, with
appropriate ceremonies. The building committee consisted of H. F.
Algert, Thomas Mast, Mahlon Metzger, J. H. Wagner, D. A. Engle, O. W.
Hess, and J. W. Muffly. The church was erected at a cost of twelve
thousand dollars, and dedicated, February 20, 1887, Rev. J. H.
Romberger, D. D., officiating. Since that time a parsonage has been
erected on the adjoining lot at a cost of three thousand five hundred
dollars. From the time of its reorganization the congregation has been
served by Reverends H. Mosser, J. K. Millett, and George S. Sorber, the
present pastor.

    The First Lutheran Church was organized in 1866. The first council
consisted of Samuel M. Miller, Samuel W. Hitman, Abram Goodman, and
Silas Rambach. An arrangement was effected with the Reformed
congregation for the erection of a union church edifice, which was
completed in 1867, as stated in the history of Trinity Reformed church.
This union was dissolved in 1886, when the church property was purchased
by the Lutheran congregation. The old building was removed and the
present church edifice erected at its former site during the same year.
It is a brick structure, and was finished at a cost of twenty thousand
dollars, under the supervision of G. W. Rombach, J. H. Harley, Samuel M.
Miller; Charles Heilman, Isaac Stryker, and J. G. Bower, who constituted
the building committee. The corner-stone was laid, July 25, 1886, and
the church was dedicated, March 6, 1887. The following is a list of
pastors since the erection of the union church: Reverends Thomas C.
Billheimer; Mr. Keller; P.S. Mack, July 1, 1871, to July 1, 1873; S. P.
Orwig, October 1, 1873, to October 1, 1878; A. K. Zimmerman, June 1, 1879,
to November 1, l881: Samuel G. Shannon, June 1, 1882, to March 1, 1883;
and F. W. Staley, May I, 1885, to May 1, 1890; M. H. Fishburn, 1890.

    First Presbyterian Church.- In compliance with a petition presented at
a meeting of the Northumberland Presbytery at Lewisburg, April 17, 1872,
requesting the organization of a Presbyterian church at Watsontown, the
following committee was appointed to perform that duty if they should deem
it advisable: Rev. J. C. Watson, D. D., Rev. B. L. Jones, and Elder Robert
Laird. On the first Sabbath of the following June a meeting was held at
Watsontown for this purpose. After a discourse by Rev. J. C. Watson, D.
D., the following persons organized as a Presbyterian church according to
the regulations of the presbytery: William B. Bryson, Dr. J. H. Hunter,
Martha Hunter, William Bryson, Mary Bryson, Samuel Bryson, Martha Bryson,
Reuben Bryson, Sarah Bryson, Elizabeth Hunter, James L. Schooly, Charles
Sterner, Elizabeth Campbell, Rebecca McKee, Mary E. Lowry, Mary Campbell,
Ellen Hughes, Emily Hughes, Ellen Campbell, Jane M. Lowry, Sarah McKee,
Emund H. Russell, Almira Russell, Philip Shay, Emma Shay, Anna R. McKean,
Elizabeth McKean, Lucinda McKean, Margaret McKean, Samuel W. Riddle,
Margery Guffy, Mary Ann Weiler, Stephen J. Braley, Mary Braley, and
Francis Hammond. On the same day William Bryson, Joseph H. Hunter, and
Samuel W. Riddle were elected elders, and Samuel Caldwell, Philip Shay,
and James Schooly were chosen as trustees. The name of "First Presbyterian
Church of Watsontown" was adopted, and the minutes of its organization
were approved by presbytery, September 30, 1873.
    In 1874 a one-story brick church was erected on the northwest
corner of Main and Fourth streets at a cost of thirteen thousand
dollars. The building committee were Samuel Caldwell, Robert M. McKee,
Enoch Everitt, Enos Everitt, and Isaac Vincent; the trustees at that
time were James L. Schooly, William B. Bryson, Isaac Vincent, Enoch
Everitt, and Samuel Caldwell. The church was dedicated, January 5,
1875, Rev. James C. Watson, D. D., officiating. During the twenty years
of its history the following pastors have served the church: Reverends
George Eliott, David Kennedy, and George S. Van Allen.
  
WATSONTOWN CEMETERY

    The first meeting for the organization of a cemetery association
was held, May 28, 1866, when George Burns was elected president, A. B.
Latchaw, secretary, and Silas Rambach, treasurer. A charter of
incorporation was granted, November 5, 1866, to the following persons:
Silas Rambach, Christian Gosh, Simon Lantz, Samuel Whitman, Samuel
Miller, George Burns, F. S. Whitman, Joseph Hollopeter, Enos Everitt, A.
T. Goodman, Peter Shaeffer, A. B. Latshaw, John Bly, William Cooner,
Robert Johnson, D. S. Kremer, Joseph Albright, Joseph Everitt, John Y.
Ellis, and Cyrus Brumbach. The tract lies to the east of the borough, and
contains eight acres.