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Sullivan County Historical Society of Pennsylvania, 458 Meylert Street, Laporte, PA (2026)

10/12/2026

TOURING SULLIVAN COUNTY’S MUSEUM . . . while dusting

"Among the archives here at YOUR Museum, we found the featured post card photograph. It is postmarked June 22, 1908 from New York, N.Y. to Mrs. P.A. Birins, Upper Sandusky, Ohio (Box 112). The picture is entitled “Toward Sunset, LaPorte, Pa”. The handwriting says “Sunday: Dearie! It is very hot here today, hope you are able to keep quiet and comfortable, Went to church with Lily, next Sunday church closes [semi-seasonal closing]. Do you recognize this place. Lots of love Bill.” The postcard pre-printing has no division, front or back, which would pre-date to 1907 or before for the photo. The photographer is presumed standing in a location in front of the U. M. Church on Main Street. The church is that of Scared Heart (built in 1893-94) and its parsonage. The three houses to the far right are still there. The rather large building on the left foreground is in question. One thought is that it may have been Walt Ballard’s for the construction of wagons for bark (tannery transport) or Green’s black smith shop. The postcard was given by Buddy Houseknecht in the late 1900’s."

"Cases like this are conundrums in that the gifting person is no longer with us to supply more detailed information. Today when cataloguing items gifted to the Museum we make every effort to ask and substantiate any information about the article; who actually used the article and then relay that information to the visitors or researchers."

"On now to an inquiry of our own. Where Pam’s Restaurant is today, the building is referred to in much prior information as the Slocum Building. But before it became Pam’s, there was an eatery called Frank’s Lunch that served grilled foods, donuts and a lot of coffee. Does anyone have photos of when the store front was Frank’s Lunch? Please either give or share with the Museum just one more facet of Sullivan County’s history."

To contact YOUR Museum you can call 570-946-5020, or email [email protected] for inquiry or appointment. Also check out our web site at scppahistory.com and please like us on Facebook.

To read through our archives of Touring Articles, please visit:

https://www.scpahistory.com/touring-articles1

10/05/2026

TOURING SULLIVAN COUNTY’S MUSEUM . . . while dusting

Continuing on from last week’s article on Sullivan County railroads by Joseph Frawley.

“The Bowmans Creek Branch of the Lehigh Valley [RR] was completed from Bernice to Lopez in 1887 and extended to Wilkes-Barre by way of Noxen and Harvey’s Lak in July of 1893.

“The Jennings Brothers had been engaged in a large lumbering operation near Thorndale. Anticipating the completion of the railroad to Lopez, they secured a choice location on the Loyalsock at that place, purchased a large quantity of timberland and erected a mammouth saw mill – at one time employing 300 to 400 men.

“During the construction of the State Line & Sullivan, Mr. William A. Mason was the resident engineer. He was chief engineer on the Muncy Creek Railroad which he built from Halls [Station] to Hughesville to Dohm’s Summit (Satterfield) and under his administration it was built from Hughesville to Nordmont.

“The Bowman Creek Branch of the Lehigh Valley Railroad which has meant so much to all of us, had its first excursion from Towanda to Dushore, January 12, 1871. It was then known as the Sullivan & Erie Railroad which came from Towanda over the old Barclay Railroad to Monroeton, from there to New Albany and on to Dushore.

“In the western end of Sullivan County the Susquehanna [&] New York served that section for many years and ran trains from Marsh Hill Junction, Wheelerville, Laquin (famous for lumber), Powell (tanneries), Monroeton and thence to Towanda. The Susquehanna & New York operated until 1942. It operated both passenger and freight trains and was a convenient connection between Towanda and Williamsport...”

"...This rich history of the railroad expansion is now all that is left of Sullivan County’s once vital contribution to Pennsylvania and surrounding states and Canada. As you travel either of our two main roads, Rte. 87 and 220, then taking any side road off them: consider the forethought and effort in those times gone by from early settlers to make a living, contribute to economic needs of our area and raise what became generations stemming from this wilderness we call home."

For this and more, contact YOUR Museum for more information by phoning 570-946-5020 or emailing [email protected] for an appointment. Also visit our website at scpahistoy.com.

To read the rest of this week's touring article, please visit:

https://www.scpahistory.com/touring-articles1

09/28/2026

TOURING SULLIVAN COUNTY’S MUSEUM . . . while dusting

"At one time railroads were the life blood of Sullivan County. Retrieved from the Museum’s archives is a typewritten piece by Joseph Frawley entitled “Railroads In Sullivan County”. Those of you who are railroad enthusiasts: hang on to your caps!"

“During the fall of 1851, Michael Meylert discussed with prominent men of Towanda, the building of the Towanda and Catawissa Railroad to reach the Sullivan County coal fields. Its southern terminus to be at Catawissa."

“This route was surveyed in 1851 by Major McNeil. Subsequently, the Muncy Creek Railroad and Sullivan & State Lin obtained charters and had surveys of the Sullivan coal fields. These were made by Professor P.W. Shaffer. Mr. William Mason carefully examined the field and finding only a small run reported adversely as to the quantity that would warrant the building of a railroad."

“In 1859, Myron Wilcox, while hunting deer, discovered the vein in Bernice. Assisted by George D. Jackson he opened the vein. With Dr. Josiah Jackson he purchased part of the field from above mentioned Mr. Meylert. Later M.C. Mercur and C.F. Wells, Jr. joined them. This was the beginning of the Sullivan & State Line Railroad. The year 1867 – and was completed to Bernice in the year 1871. This was the beginning of an era which was just recently closed – January 29, 1955 when the demolition of the Lehigh Valley was begun by a firm from Chicago. [This was the timing of the trestle being torn down in Dushore.]"

We’ll continue with more on this extensive railroad history for Sullivan County next week. But till then, check us out on Facebook and our website – scpahistory.com or contact our email at [email protected]. You can also leave a message by phoning 570-946-5020 or just stop in if you see the ‘Open’ sign in the Museum’s window.

To read the rest of this week's touring article, or to enjoy more available from our website, please visit:

https://www.scpahistory.com/touring-articles1

09/21/2026

TOURING SULLIVAN COUNTY’S MUSEUM . . . while dusting

"This week’s article comes from the Lewisburg Chronicle, Lewisburg, PA on May 7th, 1851. Remember in the reading that this comes after the formation of Sullivan County from Lycoming County in March of 1847. The editor’s note mentions that “perhaps a scrap from such a quarter might be in a measure, interesting”. Suffice it to say, the following of Sullivan County’s goings on and its reflection of history has intrigued surrounding counties throughout our history. The writer is not identified other than “A Voice from Sullivan County”, but the quality is such that its recap of the time up to 1851 concerns the success of previously unknown growth. It is transcribed as follows:"

*For a county not yet four years old it has been the scene of so much conflicting interest and local feeling as any portion of the State. The citizens of one corner of the county, having secured the location of the county seat among them, those of the other townships felt that an undue share of the burden was falling upon them. The manifest injustice of such an unnatural state of things, aroused such and energetic action, that the merit of the conflicting claims were fully analyzed by the last Legislature, and as a result of their investigation, three Commissioners were appointed by the Governor, from counties remote from Sullivan, who, after visiting all the points in the county that had given to rise contention, decided in favor of Laporte as the location of the county seat. Since this decision, the controversy has, in a great degree, subsided; and doubtless in a short time, sectional feeling will so far loose its force, that all will be a fervent in maintaining the permanency of the county seat, as some have been in rendering it transitory..."

“There are many places yet in Sullivan, inviting the woodman’s axe, and the farmer’s labor. Life in the backwoods can be seen and experienced in this region, without the journey of a thousand mile to the forest or prairies of the “Far West”. Once in a while, a captured bear brought into town, and served up in style with “fixins”, tells how tenaciously old Bruin clings to the habitations of his progenitors. Few sights can be seen more romantic or beautifully wild, than afforded by a morning walk in these quiet woods, where Nature washes her face in ten thousand dew drops, and makes her toilet in the mirror of the streams that flow at her feet. Civilization is indenting these hills and valleys with the axe and the saw, the mill and the opened mine; with school houses and churches and the insignia of legal authority. The printing press, in a week or two, will send forth the sleepless sentinels that watch over human progress, and the moving, jostling, outgoing world will be spread out on this hill top, that all Sullivan county may read it. The newspaper, with its silent tongue but mighty thoughts, will ease the farmer’s toil and cheer many a fireside with its welcome presence. All hail to Sullivan, for what her people have done and are doing, for the improvement of their own homes!”

To contact the Museum phone 570-946-5020 or email [email protected] for an appointment.

To read the rest of this week's touring article, and to peruse so much more, please visit:

https://www.scpahistory.com/touring-articles1

09/14/2026

Sept. 14, 2026

TOURING SULLIVAN COUNTY’S MUSEUM . . . while dusting

Continuing from last week’s article on logging and rafting in Sullivan County, PA, taken from a 1957 Society talk:

"Timber slides were described as when slides were made down the mountain and peeled logs would travel maybe five miles down the mountain side. Goos neck spikes were put in places to slow the motion of the logs. Mr. Little told of seeing a big tree come down a slide, jump the shoot, hit a three foot stump and uproot it covered with frozen soil. The last slide hereabouts was thought to have been on the mountain back of Barbours.

“Logs were hurriedly floated in the spring down the tributaries of the Sock to the big splash dams and then at high water floated down the Loyalsock. The main splash dam was below Forksville at the Roy Chilson place. It was built by Pardoe and Ransom, lumbermen, in the ‘80s (that’d be 1880s) and rebuilt by Sadler Rogers aft it went out. It was destroyed in the end by dynamite set off by Charlie Bryan. Logs and water always settled over his land. He tried to hold the logs for compensation and got in a lawsuit. No one owned the dam, it was claimed, so his lawyer told him to blow it up. Matley Chilson was guarding the dam with a sh***un but when he went in to dinner, Bryan, who has prepared two jugs of dynamite set with a long fuse, set one on either side of the dam and blew it up. It is thought Robert McKewen probably had hired Chilson.” (Roberts McKewen’s son, Robert, lived in Williamsport and supplied much of this information.)

Then from an 1889 news clipping, the following:

“Lumbering in Little Sullivan – John Campbell, of Hillsgrove, Sullivan county, has succeeded in sliding and banking 4,500,000 feet of hemlock logs in just seventeen days. They were slid from one-half to two miles and banked in the Mill Creek waters, tributary to the Loyalsock. Beat this if you can. Jack is “biz” all the way through and his jolly box, Jerdon, is alive and active always, either in the woods or out with the boys.”

Needless to say, the logging industry was as dangerous at the time as it was crucial to the economic of the area of Sullivan County. To learn more about this specific history of our county or just to visit, please phone 570-946-5020 or email [email protected].

This week's touring article won't be posted on the website due to well deserved beeaks! We thank our website staff for all they do and congratulate them for their accomplishments and vacations!

09/08/2026

TOURING SULLIVAN COUNTY’S MUSEUM . . . while dusting

Looking at the development of Sullivan County, PA, an integral part of our history rests with the logging industry. At a meeting of the Sullivan County Historical Society held on June 19, 1957 at Forksville the following:

“Mr. Otto Little described the lumber rafts, as the model made by Dr. Osler, to be 12, 14, 16 and sometimes 18 feet wide and approximately 100 ft. long. These were made up of 2” lumber stacks and held together with ribs and grub stacks or pins. It was thought the rafts contained somewhere around 100,000 board feet. On either end was an oar..."

“It was thought the first Log Drive came from near Lopez and was run by Bill Goudy, a l***y lumberjack who could lick every man and is said to be the only one ever to maneuver through the haystacks without upsetting a boat."

“Though very few log driver could swim only five are known to have drowned – 2 on the Hoagland, 2 on the Little Sock and 1 (on) the Plunket, none on the Loyalsock. The last Log Drive on the Big Sock is believed to have been in 1905.”

We’ll continue on next week with this subject. To come visit YOUR Museum, call for an appointment phoning 570-946-5020 or email [email protected] Also like us on Facebook and check out our website at scpahistory.com.

To check out the rest of our touring articles, please visit:

https://www.scpahistory.com/touring-articles1

Photo: Logging in the Western Portion of Sullivan County.

08/31/2026

TOURING SULLIVAN COUNTY’S MUSEUM . . . while dusting

"With the Sullivan County Fair going on, we thought it a good time to reflect. From the Sullivan County Agricultural Society’s (first as it was known by) minutes book, the following notice on the inside cover:"

“Note of interest for sports fans: In the back of this book – on pages 232, 233, 234, 235 – are listed ball teams with players’ names from Hillsgrove, Shunk, Murray [Murray Town], East Forks, Sonestown, and Dushore. One reason given as to why these lists are in this Agricultural Society minutes book: baseball would have provided entertainment to fair participants.” Those referenced pages actually appear in a second binding, as all pages were archivally cleaned and placed in acid free sleeves for protection and viewing."

"The Charter members listed in that 1897 minutes were: Edward Bergan, Benj. Vaughn, John Wright, M.A. Rogers, J.K. Bird, E.M. Dunham, W.M. Edkin, Tos. J. Ingham, G.F. Hunsinger, David Molyneux, Lyman Speaker, Wm. Molyneux, A.E. Strong, Mrs. J.N. Martin, Geo. C. Jackson, Rush J. Thompson, John H. Laurence, Lyman Baker and D.T. Huckle. Many of these names and the 63 listed names of Life Members reads like a who’s-who for descendants of those initially involved in what we know today as the Sullivan County Fair. So, whether you’re from here, a ‘married in’, a new property owner or simply partaking of Sullivan County for pleasure – come join us at our ‘country fair’ for the food, vendors, events, competition and just some down-home visiting. The fair itself has grown and evolved over time but the atmosphere has remained the same for all to enjoy."

We will be at the Fair in the Fiester Building, September 3rd thru 6th . The Museum will be officially closed from now until June but we can make appointments for the suggested days of Tuesdays and Thursdays, weather and personal health permitting. Also visit our website at scpahistory.com. We can be reached by phone 570-946-5020 or emailing [email protected].

https://www.scpahistory.com/touring-articles1

08/24/2026

TOURING SULLIVAN COUNTY’S MUSEUM . . . while dusting

The Museum was given prints by B. (Bert) C. Heinrich, Jr. from the St. Paul’s U.M. Church when they closed, as did their community hall. Bert was a local artist who passed away July 3rd, 2010. Born in 1927 to Berton, Sr. and mother Lillian Graham. He had served in the Navy during the Korean War, also as chaplain. Later he worked for 27 years for Sprout Waldron Co. in Muncy. At the Sullivan County Fair, we will be offering prints for sale. They can be purchased for $15 for four color and $12 for black and white, until they are each are sold out. Following the Fair, we will have them at the Museum in Laporte, again, as supply of each print last. If mailing prints it will be additional shipping and handling.

Here is a listing of the prints available:

Caboose of W&NB (before refurbishing at Stroudsburg – color

Nordmont Trestle with Engine 6 of W&NB – color

Nordmont Trestle with Engine 25 of W&NB, circa 1900 – B&W

Nordmont School, 1930’s, still stands next to the old depot – color
Stone Arch, circa 1900 with #4 Engine of W&NB – B&W

Cherry Grove Chapel – B&W

Nordmont Covered Bridge, dismantled in 1954 – B&W

St. Paul’s U.M. Church – B&W

Ticklish Rock – B&W

Remains of Boston home – B&W

Nordmont RR Station, 1800’s with Engine #6 – B&W

Elk Run Falls – B&W

Any combination of these prints in either color or black & white can be purchased, as well as a single at $3 for B&W or $5 for color. These prints were for fundraising for the church and now have been graciously donated to the Museum to also serve as a fundraiser for YOUR Museum.

The prints will be on display in the Fiester Building during the Fair, then afterwards at the Museum. Speaking of the Fair, we will be there from Sept. 3rd to the 6th, from 12 to 8 p.m. those days. The Museum will unofficially be open from after the Fair until June 4th when we’ll be officially open again in 2027. All are welcome and there is no admission fee. Contacting us for appointments, please either email [email protected] or phone 570-946-5020. You can also check us out on our website of scpahistory.com.

To read more touring articles from the past, please visit:

https://www.scpahistory.com/touring-articles1

08/17/2026

TOURING SULLIVAN COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY . . . while dusting

"From the annals of a publication from Lycoming County of the Now & Then booklets comes the following excerpt:"

“When nearly grown up Richard (Rogers) wept one day with several of his younger brothers to inspect a bear trap, that they had set several miles away in the forest. On returning it began gradually to grow strangely and unaccountably dark. He said “a q***r feeling” came creeping over them. They saw a flock of seventeen deer; the nimble-footed creatures did not seem anxious to get away, but appeared to be, as they were themselves, strangely disconcerted. The boys stopped at a corn field some distance from the house to do some hoeing, but the mysterious darkness continued to increase, and they could not work. All nature seemed to become portendingly silent and sad, and they were in sympathy with the universal gloom. They did not know what it meant. The younger brothers began to cry. Richard now said, “Come, boys, I guess we might as well go home.” With all the apathy he could muster, but secretly he himself was no less strangely effected. They went home, and were soon comforted. The darkness was caused by a total eclipse of the sun.*"

For this and more, you can contact YOUR Museum by phoning 570-946-5020 or emailing [email protected] for inquiries or an appointment. We will yet be open on Fridays and Saturdays from 11 to 4 this coming weekend and the following one. Then we’ll have a booth in the Fiester Building during the fair.

To read the rest of this week's touring article, or to peruse our catalogue of articles, please visit:

https://www.scpahistory.com/touring-articles1

08/10/2026

TOURING SULLIVAN COUNTY’S MUSEUM . . . while dusting

"With recent road construction and flooding, it came to mind to unearth an old write-up from Sept. 1895’s Sullivan Review. The article is unsigned. Today the road spoken about is Route 154."

“It was the writer’s privilege to travel the new road from Forksville to Laporte last week. As your readers are no doubt aware this road is built along Loyal Sock and Mill Creek. The grade is therefore excellent as it follows very nearly the natural grade of these two streams. To residents of this county who have been compelled to travel the old road over the mountain via EaglesMere to get from the western districts to the county seat, the opening up of this new thoroughfare is a cause for hearty congratulation and thanksgiving. The distance by the old road was fifteen miles. By the new road it is but nine. A trip over the old road involved the climbing of a mountain. By the new road the only ascent is the natural grade of the streams along which the road passes, and this ascent is so gradual that it is no hardship. The time required to travel the old road was about four hours. By the new road the trip can be made in less than half that time and with much less danger and fatigue. Altogether the opening of this road markes a new era in the history of Sullivan county, bringing together, as it does, the two sections of the county."

For this and more you can visit YOUR Museum on Fridays and Saturdays from 11 to 4 or contact us for an appointment by either phoning 570-946-5020 or emailing [email protected] Also, visit our web site at sccpahistry.com. During the upcoming Sullivan County Fair, we will have a booth in the Fiester Building but for lack of enough volunteers, the Museum itself will not be open. Future appointments can be made because we generally work from fall to spring on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Making an appointment is highly recommended due to weather and health.

To read the rest of this week's article please visit:

https://www.scpahistory.com/touring-articles1

Sullivan County Historical Society of Pennsylvania

10/12/2026

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09/28/2026

09/21/2026

09/14/2026

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08/10/2026

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