Letters

Posted by on Nov 24, 2013 in | Comments Off on Letters Boom Town Thank you for the fine article “Survival of an American Boom Town” by Gregory DL Morris in the Summer 2005 issue about Bradford in McKean County. My father was born in Kendall, McKean County, in 1884. That community apparently no longer exists and has become part of Bradford, although there remains a Kendall Creek and a Kendall Avenue, as well as mention in the article of...
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Built by the New Deal

Posted by on Nov 20, 2013 in | Comments Off on Built by the New Deal With the nation mired in the grim depths of the Great Depression, industrial Pennsylvania was far from being immune to the financial instability with the closing of 5,000 manufacturing firms and the loss of 270,000 factory jobs by 1933. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt launched his New Deal, a series of innovative programs targeted to giving work to the unemployed, stabilizing a downward...
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Barbara T. Zolli on “A Drop of Oil”

Posted by on Nov 20, 2013 in | Comments Off on Barbara T. Zolli on “A Drop of Oil” Crude oil, found in abundance in northwestern Pennsylvania, held out many possibilities by the mid-nineteenth century. It burned when ignited, served as a practical lubricant, was thought to have medicinal properties, and had been used for various purposes by generations of Native Americans. That it might be in ample supply became apparent to many locals when it oozed from the ground and...
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Oldest Producing Oil Well

Posted by on Nov 20, 2013 in | Comments Off on Oldest Producing Oil Well Commercial petroleum production began in 1859 with Edwin L. Drake’s well at Titusville, Venango County, but the well failed after only two years of operation. In McClintock, two miles north of Oil City, however, the world’s oldest producing well continues to yield oil. The McClintock Number 1 in Cornplanter Township began pumping crude in 1861, the same year the Drake Well went dry....
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Sampling a Taste of the Past Along the Pennsylvania Trails of History

Posted by on Nov 20, 2013 in | Comments Off on Sampling a Taste of the Past Along the Pennsylvania Trails of History One of the best ways to experience the Keystone State’s history and heritage is to travel the Pennsylvania Trails of History®, a network of two dozen exciting historic sites and museums administered by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission (PHMC), the Commonwealth’s official history agency. PHMC has organized its popular destinations into four main trails – Military...
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