|
Stormstown
History of Centre and Clinton Counties, John B Linn, 1883, p314-316
"Stormstown lies in Half-Moon valley, on the highway passing between Bellefonte and Tyrone. The stage road is now but a quiet thoroughfare, and then, too, a disastrous fire in 1867 swept away the entire business part of the town, and gave it a blow from which it has never recovered. The present village tract is said to have occupied in part a farm owned by Jacob Storm, who bought out Jacob Taylor, who came from Chester County in 1799, and a store-keeper near Stormstown in 1800. Storm came to the locality about 1800, and conceiving the locality to be a favorable one for the founding of a village, caused a portion of his land to be laid out in lots, and to the embryo town gave the name of Stormstown. Later on an addition of lots was made, and upon that addition was bestowed the name bf Walkerville. Abraham Elder had located on the property now owned and occupied by John A. Hunter, and having already established a tavern, distillery, grist-mill, and saw-mill hard by, furnished, as it seemed to Storm, a healthy start for the proposed village. According to the best obtainable information, Jacob Lebo was the first store-keeper, but about him or Jacob Storm, the founder of the village, not much is now known. William Smith, who was probably the second store-keeper, is better remembered, although he moved away from the place when the oldest of the present generation of residents were youths. Abraham Elder's tavern was a stopping place for a large volume of travel passing toward and from Pittsburgh, but according to all accounts he must have given up tavern-keeping about 1810. To supply the place thus made vacant, Benjamin Way established an inn upon the lot now occupied by Biddle's tavern, and after him the place was carried on by his son Jacob.
The first village blacksmith of whom there appears to be any recollection was Edward Webb, who carried on the smithy until 1822, when he was bought out by John G. Hartswick, who in that year came to Stormstown from Penn's valley. Mr. Hartswick was born in Penn's valley in 1793, and, after reaching man's estate, worked at the trade of blacksmithing at Centre Furnace until his father's death, in 1821. Mr. Hartswick's father came to America from Prussia in 1787. He was a skillful mechanic, and is said to have assisted in the manufacture of the first electric apparatus used by Benjamin Franklin. He came to Centre County with Gen. Patton, and for a time made door-locks at Centre Furnace. He was accidentally killed in the fall of 1821. John G. Hartswick's blacksmith-shop in Stormstown stood upon the site of the present shop of Jacob Lever, and where he worked until 1865. He died in Stormstown in 1871. Jacob Lever, now the village blacksmith, learned his trade in Philipsburg (where his father was an early settler) in 1844, and in 1856 made a location in Stormstown. John Griffin, a wagonmaker, came to the vicinity of Stormstown from Huntingdon County in 1818, and opened a shop on the place now occupied by William L. Wilson. He brought eleven children with him, and of the eleven the living now number six. One of them, Joseph Griffin, now living in Stormstown, learned the shoemaking trade in Stormstown with John A. Bailey in 1832, and made the first pair of pegged shoes ever manufactured in the village. Mr. Gri5n worked steadily at the bench until 1880. John Griffin, his father, followed the business of wagon-making at Stormstown until his death in 1850.
Among others of the earliest residents of Stormstown now called to mind were Thomas Barlow, justice of the peace and a weaver; Jonathan McDowell, a shoemaker; William Leighty, tanner and tavernkeeper ; John Blair, chair-maker and postmaster; Henry Adams, a store-keeper; and Isaac Lambourne, a potter. Ephraim, his brother, joined him in 1836. Ephraim died in 1853. Dr. George B. Engles, living just out of the village, was the first physician to locate in the neighborhood. He practiced at and about Stormstown for perhaps forty years, until his death in 1860. Until about 1840 he was the only resident physician in that section of the country, and rode over hill and dale for many miles around to look after his many patients. About 1840, Dr. James McKee, a native of Ireland and a graduate of the University at Edinburgh, in Scotland, located at Stormstown at the lower end of the village. He died in 1877. About the time of Dr. McKee's arrival came also Dr. Ellis Green and Daniel Bates. Bates appeared upon the field as a dealer in clocks, and after closing out the clock business studied medicine with Dr. Green, whose partner he ultimately became. He is now living in retirement in Ferguson township. Green practiced in Bellefonte and later in Boston, where he died. Dr. Bates was store-keeper as well as doctor at Stormstown, and subsequently in Ohio acquired a handsome fortune in merchandising. Among other village physicians, brief mention may be made of Drs. Myers, Potter, Way, Swope, and Bullock. The present village doctor is Dr. Bigelow.
Henry Adams, the store-keeper, was for many years identified with the business interests of Stormstown. He came to this country from Ireland in 1812, and after trading a while in Huntingdon County, opened a store in Stormstown, in 1827, upon the lot now occupied by George Luner's residence. Mr. Adams traded at Stormstown about all the time until his death, in 1876, although during the latter years of his life he did not care to take a very active part in business concerns. In 1834, Gilbert Lloyd kept store at Stormstown, and later the traders included Roland Curtin & Son, Frank Johnston, and George P. Mattern. Mattern carried on also a pottery in connection with his store.
John Blair, already referred to, was a chair-maker and the postmaster about 1825. He was accidentally killed at a raising about a mile from the village. The first postmaster was probably John Bell, of whom there is likewise a vague recollection that in addition to his business as postmaster, he traded in a small way in pins, needles, and similar trifles. The successive occupants of the post-office from Bell's time may be thus named: John Blair, Henry Adams, John Griffin, William Meyers, S. S. Sellers, S. N. Hall, S. S. Sellers, James Perdue, H. S. Thompson, John Ward, and Hannah Hartswick. The office was known as Half-Moon until 1880, when it was changed to Stormstown, although not apparently in accordance with the popular desire. William Leighty, the tavern-keeper, was likewise a tanner and shoemaker. He did not retain the tavern-stand many years. Among his successors were George Glenn, Mr. Adleman, and William Copely. The stand has been occupied as a tavern since Benjamin Way's time, but there has been no licensed house there since George Mattern kept it in 1860. A tannery was set up in 1832 at Stormstown by Jesse Way, with whom Adam Rankin became associated in the enterprise. Jacob Daniels was the last proprietor, and tanned leather there until about 1863.
Stormstown was nearly destroyed by fire April 7, 1867, on Sunday, at one o'clock in the afternoon, an overheated stovepipe in the village tavern ignited that structure. The flames spread with great rapidity, and in a little while twenty-six buildings were destroyed and sixteen families left homeless. East of the tavern-stand every house but three was burned. The entire business portion of the town, including three stores, tavern, and post-office, was swept away. It was a serious calamity, from which the village never fully recovered."
|
|
