Riverside, PA

1874 Map Showing South Danville & Riverside.

Riverside Pennsylvania, located directly across the river from the Montour County Courthouse in Danville, is located in Northumberland County Pa.  Located on the south side of the North Branch of the Susquehanna River, the Factory Bridge connects Riverside to Danville.  For those researching genealogy in Riverside, it's beneficial to search both Northumberland and Montour Counties.  Although technically located in Northumberland County, much of the history of the area can  be found in Montour County newspapers and archives.

The borough of Riverside will be celebrating its Sesquicentennial, Summer 2021
https://www.facebook.com/Riverside-Borough-150-Year-Celebration-101262771882060

The Ferry At Riverside Landing

Capt. Jacob Gearhart established a ferry from Riverside to Danville in 1791.  Gearhart has a home on a hill over looking the river, and in 1949 the ferry house and tavern were still standing.

Read More About Where The Ferries Crossed The Susquehanna, here:

https://susquehannavalley.blogspot.com/2021/03/where-ferries-crossed-ferry-boats-on.html

Trolley on the new river bridge, Danville Pa

In September of 1903 the Danville and Riverside Street Railway Company received permission to operate an "electric street passenger railway" [trolley] "upon and over certain streets in Danville".

The Riverside School Building

The Riverside school building, a brick structure forty by twenty-six feet and two stories high, was erected in 1871 at a cost of four thousand seven hundred forty-eight dollars, twenty-nine cents; the first term was opened in the autumn of that year with Miss Mamie Wilkes as teacher. The first school directors, appointed by the legislature in the act incorporating the borough, were J. W. Scott, William Faux, Daniel Huber, Benjamin G. Welch, C P. Gearhart. and 0. Longacre.- History Of North'd County by Bell

Snow Ball Poultry Farm, Wohlfarth Bros, Riverside Pa

1905 Danville Riverside Bridge (looking from Riverside across to Danville)

South Side View of the New River Bridge [1908]

The South Danville Railroad Station

The Village Sampler in the South Danville Railroad Station

Riverside Directory, 1874

The Peerless Riverside Moulding Sand, M.F. Gulik Sand Co, Riverside Pa

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For More Local History & Stories From The Susquehanna River Valley:

https://susquehannavalley.blogspot.com/p/history.html

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READ MORE
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The History Of Riverside and South Danville, by Ogden Hoffman Ostrander
is available online [free] here:
https://www.loc.gov/item/06025631/ 

 

1858 Map showing the land owners, prior to Riverside being incorporated

BOROUGH OF RIVERSIDE. 

[From Bell's History Of Northumberland County]

Riverside is pleasantly situated on the south bank of the North Branch, 

directly opposite Danville. Montour comity. The site was originally em- 

braced in the farm of Daniel Cameron, from whom it passed successively to 

William D. Gearhart and William Hancock: from the latter it was purchased 

l)y Rev. Irvin H. Torrence. with whom the project of laying out a town had 

its inception. In the consummation of this project Thomas Beaver and 

Benjamin G. Welch were associated with Mr. Torrence: subsequent additions 

have been made to the original plat. and thus the borough embraces 

several hundred acres. The streets, extending north and south, are num- 

bered consecutively from First to Twelfth: the avenues cross the streets at 

right angles, and are distinguished by a series of letters, all the letters in 

the Alphabet from A to I being used. The Sunbury and Danville road, 

which passes through the plat, has been widened under the name of Sun- 

bury street. 

The borough is situated on the line of the Sunbury. Hazelton and Wilkes- 

barre railroad, and is connected with Danville by a river Bridge; its popula- 

tion is principally employed in that city, of which it is virtually a suburb 

and in the prosperity of which it has largely shared. No manufacturing or 

business interests of importance have developed: it is essentially a place of 

residence, and in its attractiveness in this respect has doubtless realized the 

design of the projectors. 

Municipal Government — The borough of Riverside was incorporated. 

May 4, 1871, by act of the legislature: until the first election for borough 

officers should occur, this act provided that Edward Crompton should act as 

burgess, and A. Motzenbacher, W. Yeager. Daniel Leiby, W. A. Miller. Joel 

T. Baily, and 0. H. Ostrander as councilmen. Since 1S78 the following per- 

sons have been elected to the office of burgess: 1S73, C. P. Gearhart; 1S74, 

K. P. Laird: 1875^76. Joseph L. Shannon; 1877, William Minier ; 1S7S, 

Joseph L. Shannon: 1879. Benjamin G. Welch; 1880-82, C. P. Gearhart; 

1883, E. P. Laird: 1884-85, Joseph L. Shannon; 1886, Caleb F. Persing; 

1887-91. Joseph L. Shannon. 

SOUTH DANVILLE. 

South Danville adjoins Riverside on the east, and is located at the south- 

ern terminus of the Danville bridge. The site was formerly embraced in 

the farm of Harmon Gearhart; the town was laid out by William F. Gear- 

hart, with George W. West as surveyor. Logan, Montour, Chestnut, Factory, 

and Mill streets extend north and south, intersected by Railroad, Wall, Dew- 

art, Gearhart. and Sunbury streets. The town possesses substantially the 

same character and prospects as Riverside; owing to the immediate prox- 

imity of Danville, where the population is principally employed, no local 

business or industries of any magnitude have come into existence. 

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