History and Culture

For all recorded history, the area around an oxbow of the Frankstown Branch now called Williamsburg has had a place among the most important transit corridors across the Commonwealth. Sitting in the northern end of Morrison’s Cove, a small valley near the edge of the Allegheny Plateaus almost entirely enclosed by ridges, the area around Williamsburg has always presented challenges for transportation infrastructure. At the same time, excellent water and forest resources, fertile land, and deposits of limestone and iron made the region, and Williamsburg in particular, attractive for settlement and development. Its location midway between the beginning of the broad Susquehanna Valley and the convergence of the Allegheny, Monongahela, and Ohio Rivers – what has become Harrisburg and Pittsburgh, respectively, ensured that Williamsburg would play a role in cross-state commerce.

Just as Pittsburgh, Harrisburg, and Philadelphia loom larger than the communities of Central Pennsylvania today, less is known about the earliest inhabitants of contemporary Williamsburg compared to the indigenous peoples of west of the Allegheny Front, the Lower Susquehanna Valley, and the Coastal Plain who would later move to the area. The Onojutta-Haga people, from whom it is believed that the name “Juniata” derives, probably used the Frankstown Branch and the lowlands around it to navigate the valley.

In the 18th century, the Kittening Trail (Frankstown Path), first developed and used by indigenous people, became the earliest known east-west route between present-day Harrisburg and Pittsburgh used by European settlers. This cemented the area around Williamsburg as an important midpoint: the LenapeShawnee village of Assunepachla was a key way station in the 18th-century fur trade. Williamsburg is just over the Tussey ridge from the site of Assunepachla, and the Kittening Trail passed 3 miles north on the current alignment of Route 22.

Transit and trade across Pennsylvania were revolutionized in 1832, when the Main Line Canal system connected Philadelphia, Harrisburg, and Pittsburgh, and this time Williamsburg was at the heart of things. The canal route through town allowed Williamsburg to participate in regional commerce and led to the development of many historic buildings that still survive. When the Pennsylvania Railroad’s Main Line supplanted the canal, Williamsburg was briefly left out, but later branches linked the Borough to the growing rail system in time its peak of prosperity in the early 20th century, as a paper mill replaced iron related products as the leading industry.

After the loss of large-scale industry, one of Williamsburg’s greatest new opportunities may hearken back centuries to the earliest form of transit in the region: walking trails. The transformation of the old canal towpath and railroad alignments into the Lower Trail by Rails to Trails of Central PA in the 1980s links Williamsburg to a growing network of long-distance recreational trails, routes, and waterways. Again, Williamsburg is poised to be at the midpoint: connecting major urban centers and nationally recognized recreational and cultural networks, while still retaining the character of a small community in the wilds of Central Pennsylvania.

Surviving

Surviving

Approx. location of Williamsburg Dam and Guard Lock

Approximate typical level of Frankstown Branch behind former cooling water damremoved sometime after plant closure in 1991

Retaining wall and other structures remain from power plant cooling water dam (See ZONE 4 Section C)

Site of Penelec coal power plant, retired in 1991. Fences and working electrical substation remain (See ZONE 4 Sections A and B)

Ash waste hill, built up during coal power plant operations; topped with soil sometime before plant closure in 1991 (See ZONE 4 Sections C, D, & E)

Lower Trail follows alignment of PRR Petersburg Branch though Grannas Station

Site of playing fields before construction of Westvaco envelope plant (now Cenveo) in 1960s

Important Historic District Sites

St. Joseph’s Cath. Church 1973

Keystone Flour Mill, 1910

Canal weight master’s house, c. 1830s

Public Library (formerly Presbyterian Church) 1841

Kaufman Building (stores) 1890

Hollidaysburg Trust Co. Building 1873 (removed, now a parklet)

Zion Lutheran Church 1907

Schwab Hotel 1911

Lazarus Ministries (orig. German Reformed Church) 1910

Brethren Church 1911

Williamsburg Junior and High School 1933, with later additions

Post Office 1962

Childhood home of Wilmer Stultz, aviator

Lutheran Cemetery 1837 (site of first Lutheran Church on north parcel)

Former Williamsburg Academy 1860

Williamsburg Elementary School 1941

Methodist Cemetery 1816

John K. Neff House (at Big Spring) 1830

Presbyterian Cemetery 1824

Former Blair Co. Children’s Home 1902, now part of Grace

Pointe Community Church