Valley Girl Views: Trout Pond Park

Trout Pond Park on Route 220 has a Muncy address, but is closer to the town of Hughesville. The trout ponds have been a park since as early as the 1870s, and is still open to the public today.

The Trout Ponds along Muncy Creek were mentioned as early as the 1870s.

According to Thomas Taber, the park opened as a picnic ground in 1873

1871

By the early 1900s, the area was owned by former Representative John W. King. King dammed up portions of the brook and stocked it with plenty of trout.

John W. King, 1846-1913

While owned by King, the Trout Ponds were private property.

December 1906

In December of 1906, the property was purchased by Theodore Boak. Boak, over the next 15 years, gradually transformed the area into an amusement park and resort.

Sign, From Trout Pond Park, hanging in Ficks Hardware

July 18, 1921

By 1921, Boak's Trout Pond Park included a dance hall, skating rink rides, and picnic areas.

The Watsontown Record and Star, on August 5, 1921 reported:

New Boak Park Open to Public

Former Trout Ponds Between Muncy and Hughesville Opened to Public for Picnic Purposes

Under the new ownership of Theodore H, Boak, of Hughesville, the Trout Pond Park, situated on the state highway between Hughesville and Muncy, has been thrown open to the public for picnic purposes. Many persons from this vicinity have enjoyed outings there stopping to eat picnic lunches.

The Trout ponds were originally started and stocked with trout in the years 1871-1872 by a Mr. Sprout, who resided about two miles north of Sonestown. The trout were caught with hook and line by Mr. Laird and his son, who received five cents for each trout at their home. The trout were brought down from the mountain in cans surrounded by ice.

The trout were taken from Deep Hollow, about 800 in all, forming the original stocking of the trout ponds.

The original lofty pines, oaks, beech, chestnut, bass and hemlock made one of the finest spots of timber in this section. The streams and ponds are fed by springs of cold, bubbling water with a white sand bottom, which makes an ideal place for the speckled beauties.

The grounds have been greatly improved by Mr. Boak. These improvements including a large pavilion, 30 by 100 feet, with piped running spring water and a good stove, the use of which is free to all. A lunch counter along the state highway, where soft drinks, ice cream and lunches can be procured, makes it an ideal place for picnickers.

There is plenty of room for parking cars in the woods, where the undergrowth has been removed. Negotiations are underway for having the entire park lighted with electricity, when the pavilion will be used for dancing.

The woodsman's axe had begun cutting the fine timber when Mr. Boak conceived the idea of preserving this beautiful spot and purchased the property, stopped the woodsmen's axe and has now turned it all over for the use of the public."

In 1922 members of Penn Township's Fribley Church Sunday School picnicked at Trout Pond Park.

From Left to Right: Grace Miller, Helen Kepner, Lydia Pynearson, Eleanor Kepner, Bessie Crawley, Pauline Houseknecht, Elva Holmes.
Second Row: H. Houseknecht, Clara Houseknecht, Naomi Miller, Annabell Miller, Edith Kepner, Paul Kepner, Valentine Kepner, Revered and Mrs. M. W. Dayton, ??, Edith Poust, Laura Holmes, Laura Whitmoyer, Miriam Snyder, Viola Whitmoyer, Sarah Kepner, Leila Reed and Ella Kepner.
Third Row: Viola Kepner, Lena Barto, Iva Kepner, Aola Parson, Russell Kepner, Sherman Crawley, Lena Dugan, Cleon Myers, Herman Poust, Thomas Alter Holmes, Irvin Holmes, ? Holmes, , baby Irvin Holmes, Monroe Snyder, Alma Miller, Carrie Whitmoyer, Laura Rupert, Melissa Snyder
Fourth Row: Ernest Holmes, Alvin Holmes, Harvey Whitmoyer

1922 at Trout Pond Park

Left to right: Ambrose Young (owner Youngs Hardware in Dewart), Guy & Marion Young. Anna Young, wife of Ambrose, in front.

In April of 1929 the property was owned by the Izaak Walton League. Twenty six albino trout were stocked in the main pond, and by the early 1930s, it was one of the largest trout farms in the region.

The Izaak Walton League of America is one of the oldest conservation organizations in the United States. The group was named after Izaak Walton, the 17th-century English angler-conservationist who wrote the literary classic, The Compleat Angler. Published in 1925, that book can be read online through Google Books

In 1930, James Johnson was caretaker at the Izaak Walton Trout Ponds.

Bears were also kept at the nursery in 1930

"The Izaak Walton Trout Pond Nursery is offered for sale. The directors, at the annual meeting recently held, were given the authority to sell if a purchaser can be found." - The Muncy Luminary-Feb. 1, 1934

1935

“John and Wharton Watts, twin brothers, also known as the ‘Gold Dust Twins’ were the caretakers of Trout Pond Park for Harold and Dorothy Larnard. They drove an old 1936 Chevy car with a little trailer on the back from Iola every day. You could always tell what time of the day it was by their arriving and leaving the park,” she recalls. The Larnard’s also owned tbe Ritz Theatre in Muncy and several employees at the time worked in both places." - The Muncy Luminary

In the 1940s, clear through the 1960s, Trout Pond Park was a VERY popular place for company picnics and family reunions. This photo is thought to be from a Sprout Waldron Company picnic in the early 1940s.

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THE TRAIN

There are various stories about what has happened to the train - I'll repeat them there, but please know that I have not verified any of them. There were possibly TWO trains, one of which is now owned by the Millville Fireman's Carnival? And the other of which is parked at the Lycoming Technical School Automotive Dept in Hughesville, to be restored. As I said, I have not verified any of that myself.

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