Sunday, August 9, 2020

Lewisburg Pa

Lewisburg, Pennsylvania



Lewisburg, view from the Baptist church, 1936

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Lewisburg in Linn's Annals Of The Buffalo Valley:
" In March, 1785, Ludwig Derr laid out the town of Lewisburg. Samuel 
Weiser, of Mahanoy township, was the surveyor, and for his services 
received lot No. 5, on which is now erected the store of Walls, Smith 
& Co., 1870.  His first donation of lots was for religious purposes.  
26th March, he, with Catherine, his wife, conveyed lots Nos. 42, 44, 
and 46 to Walter Clark, William Gray, and William Wilson, in trust for 
the Presbyterian congregation at or near Lewisburg, for a meeting-
house and burying-ground.
     William Maclay made the survey of the tract the town stands on the 
28th of February, 1769.  Ludwig Derr lived upon it as early as 1770.  
It was patented on the 11th of August, 1772, to Reverend Richard 
Peters, who conveyed, on the 17th of September, 1773, to Ludwig Derr, 
by the following description, "containing three hundred and twenty 
acres, situated at the mouth of Spring run, below and adjoining the 
mouth of Buffalo creek."  Weiser's survey was as follows:
The southern boundary commenced at a post at the river, at the  
corner of the tract on which the mill is erected; thence along the 
land of the said Derr, S. 80 1/2º W. 121 perches 2 1/2 feet, to a stone; 
thence N. about 10 1/2º W. 164 perches, to a stone;  thence N. about 
80 1/2º E. about 139 perches 2 1/2 feet, to a post or stake, by the 
north-west side of Buffalo creek; thence down the creek to its mouth, 
and thence down the river to the place of beginning, and contained 
about one hundred and twenty-eight acres, which was divided into three 
hundred and fifty-five lots.
     By the act of the 31st of March, 1812, which incorporated "the 
president and directors of the streets, lanes, and alleys of the town 
of Lewisburg," the charter bounds commenced at the south sideof the mouth of Lyman's (formerly called Derr's) run, and ran thence 
up the south side of the run, including the said run in its meanders, 
to the line of George Derr's land; thence along the same to the 
fording of Buffalo creek; thence down the south side thereof to the 
river, and down the river to the place of beginning.  And by the act 
of the 21st of March, 1822, incorporating "the borough of Lewisburg," 
the bounds were still further increased southerly, as they commenced 
at the river, at a corner of Jacob Zentmeyer and Margaret Spidler's 
land, and ran along the same N. 52º W. 62 perches, to a pine; thence, 
the same course, by land then of William Shaw, James Bennet, James 
Geddes, George Berryman, and William Hayes, 236 perches, to a pine on 
land of George Derr. From this pine the line ran N. 2º W. 208 perches, 
to the creek; thence down the creek and river to the beginning.
     Ludwig Derr made a lottery the same year, and disposed of some of 
the lots in this way, among the rest, lot No. 21, corner Fourth and 
Market, on which (1877) Doctor Howard Wilson is now residing, was drawn 
by John Brown, and for which he paid three pounds, as appears by the 
deposition of John Hennig, taken before Colonel John Kelly, on the 2d 
of May, 1791.
     The very first lot sold was No. 351, corner of Water and St. Lewis, 
to William Wilson, 26th March.
     The first residents of Lewisburg were Bolinger, John; Conser, 
Henry, (Reverend S. L. M. Conser is a grandson;) Dering, Godfrey, 
(removed to Selinsgrove; one of his descendants was postmaster there;) 
Evans, Joseph, cabinet-maker, (descendants still in Lewisburg;) Leonard, 
Peter, (descendants still in Lewisburg;) Long, Edward; Smith, 
Nicholas; Welker, Jacob, tailor, (moved to Mifflinburg, and died 
there.) [See 1788, for a description of Lewisburg at that time.]  In 
September, Ludwig Derr went to Philadelphia to sell lots.  The date of 
his death there is not known.  The last deed he signed is dated 
October 18.  December 9, George Derr, Walter Clark , and John Weitzel, 
administered upon his estate.  He left a widow, Catherine, who 
survived him a very short time, and only one heir, George Derr.  
September 13, Northumberland county divided into four election 
districts, Buffalo, White Deer, and Potter in the third, and held 
their elections at Fought's Mill, (near Mifflinburg.) August sessions, 
Washington township, now partly in Lycoming,

erected, the division line commencing a short distance above Widow 
Smith's mills, thence west, along the south side of White Deer creek, 
to where Spruce run commences.  It was a mere sub-division of White 
Deer township, calling the northern division Washington. The following 
is a list of the inhabitants of Washington, as thus erected:
     Bennett, Ephraim; Bennett, Justice; Bennett, Thaddeus; Bennett, 
Abraham; Bennett, William; Bently, Green; Brown, Charles; Brown, 
Judson; Brown, William; Caldwell, William; Creal, Michael; Coats, 
widow; Eason, Robert; Emmons, John; Emmons, Jacob; Emmons, Jacob, 
(single;) Gray, William, junior; Green, Ebenezer;  Harley, John; 
Hendrick, Nathan; Hickendoll, Herman; Hood, Moses; Huling, Marcus; 
Hunter, widow; Landon, Nathaniel; Layn, Abraham; Layn, Isaac; Low, 
Cornelius, senior and junior; McCormick, Seth; McCormick, Thomas; 
Mackey, William; Mitchell, John; Ramsey, John; Reynolds, Joseph; 
Shaffer, Nicholas; Stephen, Adam; Stricker, John; Sunderland, Daniel; 
Tenbrooke, John; Towsend, Gradius; Towsend, Gamaliel; Weeks, Jesse.  
Assessors: William Gray, Joseph Allen, and Thomas McCormick.
     The fall election for members of the House was contested.  Paul 
Baldy, John Macpherson, and Samuel Quinn, among others, went to Phila-
delphia as witnesses. The officer reported Richard Sherer, a witness, 
absent, and John Gray, another, gone to Fort Pitt.  It appears, by the 
report of the committee, that Frederick Antes had 414 votes, Daniel 
Montgomery 410, Samuel Dale 414, William Maclay 407, John Weitzel 396, 
Anthony Selin 297.  Daniel Montgomery was ousted, and William Maclay put 
in, upon a tie vote, the Speaker deciding.  Twenty-five members signed a 
protest against these proceedings, which seem to have been dictated by 
party rancor, for the protestants say the reason of the contest was, 
that in one district the names of the electors on the poll-list were ten 
short of the number of tickets received by the inspectors, and that the 
testimony accounted for this defect.  They contended that the whole 
election should have been set aside; that the vote of the House was 
destructive to the rights of the people, and an unwarrantable 
usurpation, of a very dangerous character."
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History of the Crossing
Where Buffalo Creek flows east into the west branch of the Susquehanna River, the land has been known since historic times as "Delta Place." Indians first used the land as a hunting ground. After European contact, white settlers moved farther into the interior. The first survey in the Buffalo Valley, as the region was called, was made for the Reverend John Ewing by William Maclay on February 22, 1769. Only a few days later, on February 28, the site of Lewisburg was surveyed for the Penns (Reed, n.d.).

A ferry established by Flaven Roan just north of the mouth of Buffalo Creek expedited travel to the north past Delta Place (FHWA 1984 Cultural Eesources Survey). Buffalo Valley farm produce was transported from the western interior to Lewisburg, where it was taken onto flat boats and floated south on the river to Baltimore (Keed, n.d.). Ludwig Derr set up a sawmill at the site of Lewisburg between 1770 and 1771. Afterward, he opened a grist mill and trading post. As more settlers arrived, they cleared the land and began farming. In 1785* Derr laid out the plan for the town of Lewisburg, then called Derr's Town (FHWA 1984 Cultural Resources Survey). The town was incorporated
in 1812 (Mauser 1886). 

It is known that a bridge spanning Buffalo Creek was built before 1794, when repairs were made to the "old bridge." One of the first covered bridges in Union County was built over Buffalo Creek as early as 1809. Erected by James Koore II, it was located at the foot of St. Anthony Street (FHWA 1984 Cultural Resources Survey).

First a highway, then a canal bypassed Lewisburg on the east side of the Susquehanna River. But the town refused to become a sleepy village cut off from primary transportation networks. When the Pennsylvania Canal went through in 1828, Lewisburg business owners petitioned the State legislature to build a cross-cut canal a few hundred yards south of the present Susquehanna River Bridge. The first canal boat crossed the river in December 1855* As a major commercial artery, it provided
an economic stimulus to Lewisburg. The Lewisburg to Mifflinburg turnpike, built circa 1850 when Lewisburg had a population of 924, offered another boost to settlement and trade (FHWA 1984 Cultural
Resources Survey).

It appears that Moore's covered bridge across Buffalo Creek stood until October 9, i847, when "the west half of the bridge was carried away by a flood and lodged against the River Bridge." A bridge existing at the mouth of the creek was removed in April 1951, and a new one was built (FHWA 1984  Cultural Resources Survey). However, the new structure burned in 1853 (Snyder 1976). Maps of 1856 and 1868 and an 1884 oblique view all show a bridge at the St. Anthony Street location (FHWA
1984 Cultural Resources Survey). The 1884 oblique view depicts it as a covered bridge with double entrances.

A boat yard had been associated with the bridge since the mid-I9th century. By that time, Lewisburg had become a stop for logs rafted down river from the huge boom at Wiliiamsport (Snyder 1976). Often
tied together into rafts for floating downstream, logs were used by the boat yard for lumber (Linn 1986). Colonel Eli Slifer and his partner, William Frick, had moved their boat yard to Lewisburg in 1850, completing it in 1852. Although their mill burned in 1853J the same year the bridge burned, it was rebuilt immediately. In 1868, the boat yard was shown operating on the south side of Buffalo Creek on both sides of St. Anthony Street. By 1886, it was known as P. Billmeyer and Company, employed 100 workers, and produced finished lumber and river bridges (FHWA 1984 Cultural Resources Survey; Mauser 1886) In 1869» the first railroad, the Center and Spruce Creek, had been built through Lewisburg. Ten years later, the name changed to the Lewisburg and Tyrone Railroad and was owned by the Pennsylvania Railroad (Mauser 1886). Before the railroad was constructed, the region had depended on Lewisburg as a market because it was the only town on the west side of the river to have canal transportation. During the winter, sleds brought grain into Lewisburg for shipment elsewhere, since little could be processed in town. Local business depended on selling finished goods and coal to the outlying areas. When the railroad came through, warehouses were built along it, and Lewisburg lost the grain business for several years. But when two steam-powered flour mills were built, the railroad began bringing grain to Lewisburg for processing. It was an innovation that revolutionized the grain trade (Mauser 1886).

The connection to the Reading Railroad, provided by the Shamokin, Sunbury and Lewisburg Railroad in 1882, linked Lewisburg to New York City and the West. According to a contemporary historian, this advance awakened a spirit of enterprise that soon brought to the town a number of manufacturers and created such a revival as was never heard of or felt during any time in the town's previous history" (Mauser 1886).

Although population of the borough actually dropped from 3>l2l in 1870 to 3,080 in 1880, the decrease was reported to be largely due to a general business depression and the burning of a Lewisburg foundry that employed a large number of people (Mauser 1886).

By 1886, a year after the centennial celebration of the town's founding, many of the earlier sawmills had been replaced by flour mills. The production of grain from the fertile limestone soil was the
major occupation. At that time, Lewisburg was called by a contemporary writer "the key to the Buffalo Valley," the outlet for an area extending 50 miles into the interior (Mauser 1886). In that year,
Lewisburg's industries included three flour mills, two knitting factories, a mower and reaper manufacturer, a nail works, planing and furniture mills, and the P. Billmeyer boat yard (Mauser 1886)
.
Other amenities offered by the town in 1886 included the courthouse (built in 1855)» seven churches, an opera house, Bucknell University (opened in 1846), and three public schools. Total valuation of real
estate in the borough at that time was $1,465,00 (Mauser 1886).

By 1886, the Lewisburg and Tyrone Railroad had a passenger and freight depot in town (Mauser 1886). The Shamoken, Sunbury and Lewisburg Railroad, which passed through Lewisburg between 5th and 6th Streets and connected at West Kilton, had two brick depots in the borough (Mauser 1886).

The town also boasted a telegraph (Snyder 1976) and several newspapers: The Lewisburg Journal, The Lewisburg Chronicle, and The Lewisburgh Saturday News (Union County Historical Society 1968).
In the midst of rapid progress came disaster: the flood of June 1889. Although it caused a record inundation in Johnstown (Snyder 1976), destroying thousands of lives there and elsewhere, Lewisburg was one of the few fortunate towns where no lives were lost. Nevertheless, the flood swept away a number of bridges on the Susquehanna's west branch and on Buffalo Creek, including the St. Anthony Street Bridge (Chronicle, June 6, 1889; Saturday News, June 8, 1889; Road Book 1889:
242).

A new creek crossing was needed, and the existing St. Anthony Street Bridge appears in the records of the Champion Bridge Company on June 27, 1889, for a contract price of $4,408 (p. 94). Charles Hendricks was listed as commissioner, and it is known that he was a Union County commissioner from 1888 to 1891* Robert Brown and Kichael SIear were also commissioners, and James Lepley was county treasurer (Snyder 1976). The bridge was described as a 10-panel Pratt truss, 152* long, 16*
wide, and 24' in height. Capacity was "100" (presumable a live load  capacity of 100 pounds per square foot). October was cited as the projected date of completion. Terms were cash upon completion and
acceptance. A notation shows that the bridge was to be shipped to Lewisburg by way of the Pennsylvania and Erie Railroad (Champion Bridge Company 1889) •

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