“A New County to Be Called Snyder”

Posted by Gary Graybill on Nov 29, 2013 in | Comments Off on “A New County to Be Called Snyder” Snyder is a small rural county covering 327 square miles with a population exceeding thirty thou­sand. Situated near the center of the Commonwealth, it is bounded on the northwest by Jack’s Mountain, on the southeast by the Mahantango Creek and on the en­tire eastern end by the beautiful Susquehanna River. Most of the remaining boundaries are unrelated to natural features. Geologically,...
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The Era of the Conestoga Wagon

Posted by Randall Pelow on Nov 28, 2013 in | Comments Off on The Era of the Conestoga Wagon During the 1970s there has been a proliferation of events commemorating our nation’s heritage of two hundred years. One area of historical signifi­cance which has been ignored or forgotten, however, is the saga of the Conestoga wagon. Although great, the legacy of this vehicle has largely escaped the attention of historians and teachers. The Conestoga wagon compiled an impressive record...
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Lawrence County

Posted by Samuel Farmerie on Nov 28, 2013 in | Comments Off on Lawrence County Bart Richards, the unofficial historian of Lawrence County, indicates that little of historical significance has occurred in the county. He points out that it has had no wars, Indian uprisings, or great discoveries to its credit. Very few of its citizens have qualified for the pages of Who’s Who. Therefore, this history is the story of average, ordinary people striving to make a better...
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Reading’s Past Will Be a Part of Its Future

Posted by Michael Lefevre on Nov 28, 2013 in | Comments Off on Reading’s Past Will Be a Part of Its Future Travellers, visitors, or out-of-towners have associated Reading, Pennsylvania, at various times in its history with its most sa­lient industry or activity. In the eighteenth century, had our ancestors been as ready as we to identify a per­son or place solely by one feature, Reading could have been known as “Felt Hat City.” In the nineteenth century, when railroading became one of...
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Pike County: A Peak of Natural Perfection

Posted by George Fluhr on Nov 28, 2013 in | Comments Off on Pike County: A Peak of Natural Perfection “I went through a constant succession of scenery that would have been famous had it existed anywhere in Europe.” – Washington Irving   Shaped roughly like a diamond, Pike County is situated in Pennsylvania’s Northern Tier, bordering the Delaware River on the cast across from the states of New York and New Jersey. The northwestern side of the diamond lies in Lake...
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Erie County: Where Geography Has Shaped History

Posted by Carl Lechner on Nov 28, 2013 in | Comments Off on Erie County: Where Geography Has Shaped History Erie County forms the northwest corner of the state, bounded by Lake Erie on the northwest, the states of Ohio and New York on the west and east respectively and parts of Warren and Crawford counties on the east and south. Historically the county was divided into two sections. The sou them region of 259 ,000 acres fell within the original land grant to William Penn. The northern portion of...
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A History of the York-Pullman Automobile

Posted by William Shank on Nov 28, 2013 in | Comments Off on A History of the York-Pullman Automobile In the first two decades of the twentieth century, there were a number of manufacturers in eastern Pennsylvania producing both passenger cars and trucks. Much of the activity centered around Reading, where in addition to the famous Duryea, the Acme, Boss, Daniels, Dile, Meteor, Middlebury, Reber, Riviera, Snader and S.G.V., not to mention the “Read­ing Steamer,” were made – all...
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Blair County: Center of Transportation

Posted by Robert Blackson on Nov 28, 2013 in | Comments Off on Blair County: Center of Transportation Blair County was among the last counties created by the Pennsylvania General Assembly. One factor which delayed the establishment of an additional county in the southern portion of central Pennsylvania was geography. The rugged, eastern slopes of the Appalachian Mountains, in which Blair County was eventually located, diverted settlers to other areas. Only after the discovery of iron ore...
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America’s Dream Highway

Posted by Dan Cupper on Nov 26, 2013 in | Comments Off on America’s Dream Highway Almost no one could have foreseen, fifty years ago, that an experiment in trans­portation engineering mean­dering across the rugged southern Alleghenies could profoundly affect the way tens of millions of Americans tra­vel. But from the very day it opened on October 1, 1940, the Pennsylvania Turnpike did just that – despite the fact that its first section ran from nowhere to nowhere. The...
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Lycoming County: Many Call It Romantic

Posted by Michael O'Malley on Nov 26, 2013 in | Comments Off on Lycoming County: Many Call It Romantic Its heritage is so rich that it’s hard to adequately­ – and accurately – portray the roles Lycoming County has played in the Commonwealth’s history. Since its settlement in the mid­-eighteenth century, it has had, according to Sylvester K. Stevens, author of the 1946 guide to the Keystone State’s sixty-seven counties, My Penn­sylvania, “one of the most...
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