Tri-Counties Genealogy & History by Joyce M. Tice Seven Counties History - Tioga County PA Bradford County PA Chemung County NY Tioga County PA

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Fall Brook Borough was organized from the township of Ward in August, 1864. The borough embraces about six thousand acres of land owned exclusively by the Fall Brook Coal Company. It is situated upon lands whose surface is underlaid by millions of tons of semi-bituminous coal. Its mean elevation above the ocean is nearly 2,000 feet. Its. Highest point being over 2,300 feet and its lowest point 1,550 feet.

It is a mining town and contains about two hundred dwellings, a store, mills, hotel, two school houses, whose seating capacity are about 300, two churches, Presbyterian and Catholic, town hall and the necessary schutes, weigh and other offices and shops for the transaction of business. It is connected by railroad with the Tioga & Elmira State Line at Blossburg. It also has telegraphic connections with Morris Run and the Western Union at Blossburg. It contains a population of about one thousand persons, who are engaged in mining, lumbering, etc. The greater portion of its population are employee’s of the Fall Brook Coal Company.

Fall Brook depot finished in 1865.

Hon. John Magee died April 5^th, 1868.

In 1875 A. J. Owen becomes manager.

Duncan S. Magee died in February, 1869.

Doctor Davidson was the first resident physician.

Population of Fall Brook in 1872 was about 2,000.

G. A. Backus, civil engineer, died in February, 1864.

D. W. Knight appointed manager September 24^th, 1872.

Fall Brook Lodge, No. 765, I.O.O.F., May 15^th, 1871.

Fall Brook Library Association organized April 15^th, 1873.

Lewis Clark, outside superintendent, died December 24^th, 1872.

Line of telegraph from Fall Brook to Corning in November, 1864.

St. Thomas Church, Episcopal, organized in 1864, charter obtained in 1867.

C. E. Halsey becomes store manager in 1861, and continues until 1876.

Agnes (Rebeckah) Lodge, I.O.O.F., No. 126, organized Nov. 19, 1880.

Knights of Honor, Fall Brook Lodge, No. 2,506, instituted July 20, 1881.

"Great Strike" commenced January 1^st, 1865, ended May 20^th, 1865.

Fall Brook Hotel completed in May, 1865, cost $15,000; first landlord, Warren Goff.

Alexander Pollock, senior, was drift master of No. 1 and 2, from 1859 to 1874.

George Richter, senior, erected a saw mill at the Falls of Fall Brook in the year 1859.

Fall Brook Friendly Society organized May 15^th, 1869. This is a beneficial society.

Patrick Dwrye has been in the employ of the Fall Brook Coal Company thirty successive years.

Humphrey Brewer and Gustavus A. Beckus were civil engineers and surveyed the railroad route.

Thomas Reese was the first weigh master of mining wagons; he was assisted by John L. Sexton, Jr.

The Fall Brook Coal Company consisted of John Magee, Duncan S. Magee and James H. Gulick.

In the year 1859 a railroad was constructed from Blossburg to the mines at Fall Brook, a distance of about seven miles.

The first shipping master was John Morse, succeeded by Peter Cameron, Jr., John L. Sexton, Jr., William D. Lynahan.

James Heron becomes manager, December 27^th, 1867, and continues in that position until his death, September 22^nd, 1872.

Presbyterian Church organized in the year 1860, church erected in 1867, costing $2,200; Fall Brook Coal Company gave half the amount.

L. C. Shepard was the first burgess in Fall Brook in the year 1864, and continued to be re-elected until 1871, when he refused longer to serve.

In 1861 Frank Lewis became manager of the store and James Heron devoted his whole time to the duties of chief book keeper and paymaster.

Catholic church organized in 1873; dedicated church April 26^th, 1874; cost of church $2,000, of which amount the Fall Brook Coal Company gave half.

The first officers of the Fall Brook Coal Company were John Mage, President; John Lang, Secretary and Treasurer; Duncan S. Magee, Superintendent.

In 1861 first school house erected in Fall Brook, and in 1865 another was built. These proving inadequate, was very much enlarged under directions of John L. Sexton, Jr., secretary of school board.

Humphrey Brewer became manager of the Fall Brook mines in 1862, and occupied that position until his death in December, 1867. He had previously been employed by Magee, commencing work for him in 1854.

John L. Sexton, Jr., Miss Grace A. Sexton, were employed about seven successive years as teachers in the Fallow school. Miss Bessie Brewer, Mrs. Lucy Cranmer were employed for a long time in the school on Cutawissa Street.

William Griffiths, drift master of No. 3 from 1861 till 1874. Had been in the employ of the company since 1855, and continued in their employ until 1880. In 1874 he was sent by the company to take charge of their mines at Clermot, McKean Co., Pa.

Explorations for coal were commenced by D. S. Magee and his assistants, William Griffiths, Thomas Morgan, John James, Stephen Bowen and others, in the year 1856. These explorations resulted in the purchase of about six thousand acres of land by John Magee of C. L. Ward, of Towanda, in the year 1859.

In the month of April, 1859, the Fall Brook Coal Company was chartered. The bill for its incorporation passed both houses of the Pennsylvania Legislature, and was vetoed by Governor William F. Parker, March 9^th, 1859. The bill of incorporation was passed, his veto notwithstanding, April 7^th, 1859, and became a law.