Exchange, Montour County, Pennsylvania

EXCHANGE, PA

As described in Beers History of Columbia & Montour Counties, 1915.

This interesting rural village received its name in 1840. At that time the settlement consisted of the Crownover mill and a few houses. An ancient log schoolhouse located across the creek added a certain dignity to the pretensions of the community. John Caldwell erected the first brick structure, which later passed to the ownership of Patrick Dennin. The first postmaster of the hamlet was Gersham Biddle. The present one is Boyd E. Stead, who is a merchant also.

Exchange Hotel, H.D. Cox Proprietor

The first hotel at Exchange was opened some time in 1839 or 1840 by Walter Johnston, who subsequently gave it up and moved to Jerseytown. His son, William C. Johnston, was later elected register and recorder of Montour county. William Craig was one of the original settlers at Exchange and his descendants, John and Alexander Craig, were prominent factors in the development of the community. .Another early settler was James McKee. In the records and traditions of Exchange is mentioned one John Bull, who maintained a hotel at "the top of the hill." His descendants long have passed from the ken of human recollection. His place was still standing as the nineteenth century drew to a lose, but as a place of entertainment it had been closed for years.

One of the prominent families of Exchange was that of Patrick Montague, who lived above the hill. Another well known resident, David Wilson, lived to be over eighty years of age. Charles Clark, who lived to a very ripe old age, lived with his family a short distance north of Exchange. Mr. Clark was the first merchant of the community, building and opening a store in 1838. For a time he was a boarder at the hotel which was conducted by Walter Johnston.

The Odd Fellows have long maintained an established foothold in this community. Exchange Lodge, No. 898, I. O. O. F., has had a long and useful history. It was organized in 1874 with Isaac Acor, noble grand; A. H. Litchard, secretary ; and Daniel Liebe, treasurer. They have a fine meeting hall and a good membership in 19 14.

Exchange Grange, No. 65, Patrons of Husbandry, also have a substantial frame hall and a large membership in this agricultural community.

Hon. Lloyd Wagner Welliver

1863-1946

Among the prominent men of the county was Hon. Lloyd Welliver, member of the Legislature and for many years postmaster at Exchange. He held the latter office under three presidents, turning it over to his daughter in 1894 when he took his seat in the Legislature; later he was associate judge of Montour county.

Exchange is the only place in the county outside of Danville which boasts a bank. It seems strange to note a fine brick banking house near a corner of the two main streets of a tiny village, with a stretch of forest on one hand, the new St. James Catholic Church on the other, and a few rural homes along the opposite side of the road. The Farmers National Bank was chartered in 1906, with a capital of $25,000. The present deposits average $50,000, and- the institution has a good surplus. James S. Brannen is president ; A. H. Litchard, vice president; and James F. Ellis, cashier.

Yagel Mill, Exchange Pa

""The  Crownover  mill  at  Exchange  has  been replaced  by  a  more  modern  structure,  operated  by  Charles  J.  Yagel"

Exchange has a population of about eighty, two stores, kept by Boyd E. Stead and Thomas Dennin, the hotel of William Houghton, the gristmill of Charles J. Yagel, and two black- smith shops.

Dildine's Planing Mill on left

A planing mill was at one time operated by W. H. Dildine, but was destroyed by fire in 1912 and not rebuilt.

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Other Mentions Of Exchange, In Beers History
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"In 1856 Capt. John Derr ran the tri-weekly mail coach from the Exchange Hotel at Bloomsburg to the White Hall Hotel at Whitehall. In 1857 the route was extended to Turbotville."

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St James Catholic Church, Exchange Pa

St James Catholic Church was located just east of the village of Exchange.   This photo is of the first church, which according to Beers History of Columbia and Montour Counties: "was established many years ago, and in 1910 the old church on the hill was abandoned and a splendid new one built in the village "

Beers History,  Page 390 states: "St. James' Roman Catholic Church congregation was organized in 1888, by Rev. Michael J. O'Reilly, of Danville. In December of that year a frame church, 30 by 40 feet, built at a cost of $1,700, located about two miles from the village of Exchange, was dedicated to St. James. The congregation was small, but devoted, and served by the rectors of the Danville Church. In 1900 Father A. M. Feeser, rector of the Convent and Home of the Sisters of Christian Charity, Danville, took personal charge of the Exchange Church. In 1909 the present church was built in the village, at a cost of $7,000, and dedicated Oct. 20th of that year by' Bishop J. W. Shanahan, of Harrisburg."

 The St. James Catholic Cemetery remains along Fox Hollow Road.

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 "Exchange is the only place in the county outside of Danville which boasts a bank. It seems strange to note a fine brick banking house near a corner of the two main streets of a tiny village, with a stretch of forest on one hand, the new St. James Catholic Church on the other, and a few rural homes along the opposite side of the road.

Read about the Exchange Bank Robbery in 1931 here:
https://susquehannavalley.blogspot.com/2016/06/when-three-unmasked-bandits-robbed.html

 The Farmers' National Bank was chartered in 1906, with a capital of $25,000. The present deposits average $50,000, and the institution has a good surplus. James S. Brannen is president ; A. H. Litchard, vice president ; and James F. Ellis, cashier"

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"Exchange Hall and school was built and opened to the public in 1874. The building cost $1,300, and was erected under the super j vision of Stephen C. Ellis, Patrick Dennin and Dr. McHenry, who acted as a building committee. The first teacher to serve in the school was Augustus Truckenmiller. The hall has long been tenanted by various fraternal orders 1 and was originally owned by twenty-eight stockholders who invested in and constructed the edifice."

Hall on the left

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"For  many  years  Judge  J.  L.  Brannen  of Exchange  had  noticed  in  the  bed  of  the  Chillisquaque  rounded  fragments  of  coal,  but  he did  not  seek  to  ascertain  their  source.  In  October  of  1914  P.  C.  Dennen  and  William Houghton,  farmers  of  the  neighborhood  of Exchange,  about  the  same  date  dug  new  wells, both  going  to  a  depth  of  over  seventy  feet. At  that  depth  they  simultaneously  struck  a stratum  of  anthracite  coal,  measuring  from three  to  four  feet  in  thickness,  which  on  testing proved  to  be  of  similar  character  to  the best  product  of  the  hard  coal  regions.  The coal  lies  in  the  usual  basin-shaped  form  so characteristic  of  this  grade  of  fuel,  and  will be  worked  by  "stripping"  and  shafts.  The quantity  and  extent  of  the  deposit  have  not  yet been  demonstrated. " 

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From the 1860 Map Of Columbia & Montour Counties

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Schools Of Anthony Twp

By the late 1800s, Anthony Twp had eight districts each served by a one-room school.

The Crossroads School - Located along Preserve Rd, about a mile southeast of Exchange

Church Hill School - Two miles east of the Crossroads School.  MacHenry Wagner was one of the teachers.

Glenn School - one and a quarter miles northeast of Exchange.  Teachers included MacHenry Wagner and Blanch Snyder.

Baptist School [Named for the Baptist District of Anthony Twp, not the church] The Baptist School became known as the Exchange School.

The Watts School was 3/4 of a mile northeast of Comly

Rieffensnyder School - Three miles north of Exchange in the Muncy Hills

Hurley School - along rt 54 across from the intersection with Preserve Rd

The White Hall School

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