HZ_STANDSPEAK/PAGES [A09] | 09/18/13
19:13 | SUPERIMPSC
Thursday, September 19, 2013
Standard~Speaker
A9
Revisiting the popular Standard-Speaker feature of two decades ago, we celebrate with pride the spirit of ...
Our
Towns
Bloomsburg
ERIC CONOVER/Staff Photographer
This sign outside of Bloomsburg Town Hall declares Bloomsburg as the only incorporated town in Pennsylvania.
History abounds in only town in Pa. By JILL WHALEN StaffWriter
James McClure was the first settler of what would become the town of Bloomsburg. In 1772, McClure built a log cabin near the banks of the Susquehanna River. He was one of the region’s first European settlers, and arrived from Lancaster. Two years later, he welcomed a son, James McClure Jr. The baby was the first Caucasian born in the area, J.H. Battle wrote in “The History of Columbia and Montour Counties.” The Susquehannock Indians had also called the Susquehanna River Valley home for years before McClure’s arrival. To protect his family from Native American attacks, McClure added a wooden stockade around his house, according to published reports from Edwin M. Barton, a historian for the Columbia County Historical Society. The property became known as Fort McClure, and a Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission marker notes the site near West Main Street and Red Mill Road in Bloomsburg. “Early in 1781 the McClure house was stockaded by the noted Indian fighter, Moses Van Campen, to protect settlers in this region after destruction of Fort Jenkins in 1780,” the marker reads. Fort Jenkins was six miles north of Bloomsburg, and suffered a relentless attack by Native Americans. In what would become Bloomsburg, settlers were largely self-sufficient by the end of the 18th century. As time wore on, and more people made their way into the area, roads were built to access other regions. Around the same time, streets within what would become the town’s limits were laid out in 1802 by Ludwig and John Adam Eyer, according to information from the Columbia County Historical Society. The North Branch Canal opened soon thereafter and created another access point to the region. The new roads and waterway were inviting to settlers, and the area’s population increased. Newcomers built cabins along the newly laid streets, and a store and hotel opened by the early part of the 19th century. Taverns, blacksmiths, weavers and carpenters also set up shop within what would become the town limits. Two businessmen even planted an orchard of Chinese mulberry trees to raise silkworms for silk. The silkworms, however, failed to produce. Another early business venture was a tannery opened by Daniel Snyder, Battle wrote in his book. “Daniel Snyder came to Bloomsburg with the express purpose of establishing a tannery, but found himself so seriously embarrassed financially after purchasing land, that he was on the point of relinquishing the idea,” Battle wrote in his 1887 book. “Fortunately for the prospective enterprise, Mrs. Snyder was able to sell several pounds of butter every week; and taking a roll of some size he bartered it at the store for a shovel, and was thus enabled to begin the work of digging the vats.” Iron ore was found in the region in 1822. “Drift mining was at once begun, but for some years the product was hauled to furnaces on the south side of the Susquehanna, thus depriving Bloomsburg of the advantage it should have derived from the mineral wealth in its vicinity,” Battle wrote. Additional iron ore deposits were found in the area in the mid-
AT A GLANCE Famous natives
Country and western singer/songwriter Lacy J. Dalton was born Jill Lynn Byrem in 1946 in Bloomsburg. She had a number of hits in the 1980s, including“Takin’ It Easy,”“Crazy Blue Eyes” and“16th Avenue.”She continues to write and record. Former Major League Baseball pitcher Paul F. Hartzell was born in Bloomsburg in 1953. He played in the American League for the California Angels, Minnesota Twins, Baltimore Orioles and Milwaukee Brewers. Actress Krysten Ritter was born in Bloomsburg and raised in nearby Shickshinny. She has starred in television shows such as“Breaking Bad”and “Don’t Trust the B-- in Apartment 23,” and in movies including“Confessions of a Shopaholic”and“What Happens In Vegas.”
U.S. Census stats
❒ Population estimate for 2012 — 14,633 ❒ Median household income — $31,237 ❒ Land area in square miles — 4.35 ❒ Persons per square mile — 3,415
Water
Bloomsburg is bordered by the Susquehanna River to the south and Fishing Creek to the northwest and west.
Another theory hints that the name came from a person who attended a town Fourth of July celebration. Battle wrote, “Someone, with excellent tact, called for three cheers for Bloomsburg at the instant when patriotic enthusiasm was at its height. In the excitement of the moment, the name made a favorable impression on the popular mind.” Other notable events in the town’s history occurred in 1874, when the Bloomsburg Gas Co. and the Bloomsburg Water Co. were incorporated. Streetlights were fueled with gas the following year. Bloomsburg’s Town Hall was built in 1890. It is still used by the municipality for offices and the town’s police department. The Columbia County Courthouse is located on Main Street in Bloomsburg. The Columbia County Courthouse is also in Bloomsburg. According to published reports, Columbia County was created from Northumberland County in 1813, and at the time, the county seat was in Danville. In 1914, state Rep. Leonard Rupert presented petitions signed by more than 1,000 people requesting Bloomsburg as the county seat. The request was met with protest, and it wasn’t until 1845 that Bloomsburg became the official seat. The courthouse’s facade has changed and additions have been added over the years, according to Bonnie Farber, executive director of the Columbia County Historical and Genealogical Society. The original courthouse was made of brick Bloomsburg’s Town Hall and had several columns, she said. The Town Fountain on Market Square in Bloomsburg was refurhouses municipal offices, includbished to its original appearance in 2002. The town fountain in Market ing the police department. Square is also a notable piece of 1800s, and iron processing furnaces added to neighboring townships. Bloomsburg’s history, Farber said. were built by McKelvey, Neal & Co. The land that remained in 1870 was Charles R. Buckalew solved the dif- The town used money from the ficulty by securing the passage of organized as the town of BloomsThe iron fueled the industry for estate of candy shop owner David the special act of incorporation. burg. almost 75 years but supplies evenStroup to purchase the fountain Bloomsburg’s Town Council has from the J.L. Mott Co. in New York Bloomsburg holds the distinctually began to dwindle, according tion as Pennsylvania’s only “incor- six members and a mayor. Unlike to Barton. City in 1892. Eventually, textile mills, such as porated town.” It came from a spe- in boroughs, where mayors can The current fountain is a only vote to break ties among a sev- restored version of the original, cial act passed by the General Magee Carpets, and small manuen-member council, mayors in Assembly in 1870. facturing enterprises began to which had deteriorated and was According to Barton, “The com- incorporated towns can vote with sprout and replace iron processing dismantled in 1966. In 2002, it was munity leaders of that time, desir- council on every motion. Mayors businesses. refurbished to its original appearalso preside at all meetings. ing to establish a municipality, Private and public schools also ance, and in 2005, the original The origin of the town’s name is crane sculpture was replaced on found it difficult to set off the builtbegan to form around the middle unclear. Battle writes that the up section from Bloom Township part of the 19th century. the fountain. in such a manner that it would not name may have been suggested by Market Square also features the State’s only ‘town’ settlers who had lived in Bloomsleave the remainder of the town1908 Civil War Soldiers and Sailors burg, N.J., or was a nod to Bloom The area at the time was known ship with population too small to Monument. According to informaTownship, which was named in as Bloom Township, and was one support a township government tion from the historical society, the of 12 townships that made up and also too widely divided in terri- honor of Samuel Bloom, a Normonument was constructed from thumberland County commissionColumbia County in 1813. Eventutory.” er. ally, portions of the township were Barton wrote that state Sen. See HISTORY, A10