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61 North Main Street, Mansfield, Pennsylvania 16933

History of Bradford County


 

By H. C. Bradsby 1891     Bradsby Table of Contents

History of Bradford County, Pennsylvania with Biographical Sketches

Chapter Twenty Three - Statistics and Miscellanea
If You Have Photos of People Mentioned on the Page, Send Them In For Inclusion
CHAPTER XXIII - Statistics and Miscellanea
List of Taxables by Districts - Census Statistics Including Population -Miscellaneous
pages 382 - 388

Bradford county, in its resources, shows the following list of taxables by districts:
 

Asylum township 354   Ridgbury township 443
Albany township 445   Smithfield township 527
Athens township 583   Springfield township 442
Athens borough 258   South Creek township 330
Burlington township 315   South Waverly borough 385
Burlington borough 77   Sylvania borough 100
West Burlington township 233   Sheshequin township 426
Canton township 635   Standing Stone township 261
Canton borough 477   Sayre borough 1009
Columbia township 453   Tuscarora township 419
Franklin township 215   Terry township 447
Granville township 438   Towanda township 410
Herrick township 306   Towanda borough 1297
Litchfield township 356   North Towanda township 240
Le Raysville borough 753   Troy township 521
Le Roy township 354   Troy borough 470
Monroe township 568   Ulster township 382
Monroe borough 215   Warren township 358
New Albany borough 126   Windham township 308
Orwell township 400   Wilmot township 508
Overton township 400   Wyalusing township 444
Pike township 465   Wyalusing borough 166
Rome township 358   Wysox township 478
Rome Borough 112   Wells township 408
Cleared land as follows 450677 acres    
Timber land 202737 acres    
Value of real estate $21,782,789.00     
Number of horses, mares, geldings and mules over the age of 4 years     11826
       
Number of meat cattle over the age of four years     23188
       
Aggregate value of all property taxable for county purposes 
at the rate of three and one-half mills per dollar		   $22,147,714.00   
       
Aggregate value of property taxable for State purposes 
at three mills on the dollar, including money at interest,household furniture and stages		   $3,603,515.00   
       
Receipts of the county in 1891 from all sources   $97,518.13   

There are 6,160 farms and 330 manufactories outside of Towanda borough.
In the mercantile lists in the county, by districts, are the following:
 

Athens borough 39   Rome borough 6
Athens township 5   Ridgebury township 4
Albany township 2   Rome township 1
Asylum township 2   Sheshequin township 1
Alba borough 1   Springfield township 2
Burlington borough 3   Standing Stone township 4
Burlington township 2   Smithfield township 8
West Burlington  1   South Creek township 3
Barclay 2   Sylvania borough 2
Columbia township 4   Sayre borough 20
Canton township 3   Terry township 3
Canton borough 32   Troy borough 34
Franklin township 3   Towanda borough 76
Granville township 4   Towanda township 1
Herrick 2   Tuscarora township 3
Litchfield 3   Ulster township 6
Le Roy township 4   Wysox township 5
Le Raysville borough 11   Wyalusing borough 10
Monroe borough 9   Wyalusing township 3
Monroe township 6   Windham township 6
New Albany borough 6   Warren township 4
North Towanda township 1   Wilmot township 4
Overton township 3   Wells township 3
Orwell township 8      
Pike township 5      
There are 49 licensed hotels in the county; also 2 licensed restaurants, 4 merchant dealers, 1 wholesale bottler and 1 brewery.
 
Creameries in the county:      
Wyalusing - H. L. Case  built 1888    
Camptown 1890    
Ballibay 1888    
Herrickville 1889    
Le Raysville 1886    
Orwell Hill 1886   built by stock company; 
D. D. Jones, manager; J. P. Coburn, secretary; S. N. Bronson, treasurer      
North Orwell 1887   proprietors, Baker Bros.
Pottersville 1889    
Troy 1882    
S. H. Heywood, proprietor; S. W. Lester, manager      
Columbia Cross Roads - Grover 1889      
Pike township 1884   by H. L. Case
now owned by W. C. Brister & Orwell Ellsworth; superintendents, Steven Lewis      

Population, etc.: The county of Bradford is forty miles long, and twenty-eight miles wide; contains 1,174 square miles;
 

Population 1820 11454
Population 1830 19746
Population 1840 32769
Population 1850 42831
Population 1860 48735
In 1880 this reached within a few hundred of the present population, given below:
Population of Bradford County
  1880   1890
Alba borough 189   163
Albany township 1464   1433
Armenia township 410   460
Asylum township 1247   1043
Athens borough 1592   3274
Ward 1 - 1053      
Ward 2 - 995      
Ward 3 - 1226      
Athens township 2402   4748
Barclay township, including Barclay village 2634   1436
Burlington borough 200   166
Burlington township 1094   946
Canton borough 1194   1393
Canton township 1837   1835
Columbia township 1304   1245
Franklin township 702   626
Granville township 1302   1224
Herrick township 935   813
LeRaysville borough 324   374
LeRoy township 1106   1003
Litchfield township 1159   946
Monroe borough 383   496
Monroe township 1388   1596
New Albany borough 222   287
North Towanda township 746   752
Orwell township 1307   1021
Overton township 503   775
Pike township 1496   1308
Ridgebury township 1489   1189
Rome borough 236   226
Rome township 1045   919
Sheshequin township 1460   1272
Smithfield township 1826   1630
South Creek township 1113   935
South Waverly borough 854   1082
Springfield township 1516   1359
Standing Stone township 815   758
Sylvania borough 227   241
Terry township 1286   1295
Towanda borough 3814   4169
Ward 1 - 1262      
Ward 2 - 1653      
Ward 3 - 1254      
Towanda township 1142   1091
Troy borough 1241   1307
Troy township 1558   1525
Tuscarora township 1295   1357
Ulster township 1168   1053
Warren township 1336   1124
Wells township 1148   985
West Burlington township 915   892
Wilmot township 1680   1511
Windham township 1160   1000
Wyalusing borough no number   433
Wyalusing township 1531   1273
Wysox township 1406   1247
       
Total 58541   59233
Miscellaneous - There are thirteen boroughs, thirty-seven townships, and many post offices. There is not a city in the county, nor is there an exclusive manufacturing town. At Athens, Troy, Canton, Grover and Greenwood are the largest tanneries in northern Pennsylvania. The latter is one of the largest in the world. There are over 500 acres cultivated in tobacco, in the river valley mostly, and this profitable industry is rapidly extending. The current year (1891), the largest fields are estimated to yield an average of 1800 pounds to the acre, and the prices range from twenty to twenty-three cents per pound. The heaviest expense in raising a crop of tobacco is the annual application of fertilizers - about $100 per acre is often used with profit.

All over the county grow the sugar trees, but the largest orchards are now east of the river; they are numerous from Towanda to the northeast corner of the county. In the northeast part of the county is the potato district, where the valuable tubers are largely cultivated, and hauled to the railroad at Nichols and Owego.
 

Railroads - Miles of railroad in the county:      
Lehigh Valley Railroad 45.61 miles    
D.W. & W.R.R. 6.01 miles    
G.I. & S. 1.35 miles   (branch of Lehigh Valley)
S.C. branch 2.06 miles   (branch of Lehigh Valley)
Barclay branch 1.42 miles   (Branch of Lehigh Valley)
State Line & Sullivan Railroad 12 miles    
Barclay Railroad & Valley branch 16.50 miles    
Northern Central 38 miles   (estimated)
The Lehigh Valley road is double track through the county on the main line, entering the county from the south, at a point 9/10 of a mile southerly from the northwest corner of  Wyoming county, following the east side of the Susquehanna river, through the corner of Wilmot, Tuscarora, Wyalusing, Standing Stone and Wysox townships, to the Towanda bridge, where it crosses to the west side, and continues along the river through a corner of Towanda borough, into North Towanda, Ulster, and Athens townships to the Chemung river bridge, again crossing the river, and to Sayre, entering New York 4/10 of a mile easterly from its junction with the N. Y., L. E. & W. R. R.

The Geneva Ithaca, & Sayre branch, has its junction with the Lehigh at Sayre, and runs northerly through Sayre, entering New York a little west of the 59-mile post.

The Southern Central branch also has its junction at Sayre, and runs northwesterly through the borough of Sayre, and one and one-half miles of Athens township and enters New York between the 57 and 58 mile stones.

Barclay branch of the Lehigh joins the main line at the east end of Towanda bridge, and runs southerly through the borough to its junction with the Barclay Railroad.

State line and Sullivan branch of the Lehigh has its junction with the Barclay Railroad at Monroe Station, then southerly up the south branch of Towanda creek through Monroe and Albany township, entering Sullivan county one mile south of Laddsburg.

The Northern Central Railroad enters the county from the south, a short distance below Grover, passes through Canton, Minnequa, Cowley, Troy, and passes into New York a short distance north of Fassett.

The Delaware, Lackawanna & Western enters the State near the 59-mile stone, and runs westerly through the borough of Sayre and leaves the State, passing into New York near the 65-mile stone.

The Bradford County Agricultural Society was first organized in the spring of 1853, with the following officers:
 

Gen. Darius Bullock president    
Chauncey Frisbie & Charles Wright vice-presidents    
Edward Overton corresponding secretary    
William Scott recording secretary    
Henry Booth & Guy Watkins assistant secretaries    
William Elwell treasurer    
Managers:- Emanuel Guyer   Joseph Towner
  G. F. Redington   Jessie Brown
  Eli Baird   B. Laporte
  J. F. Means   E. W. Hale
  W. C. Bogart    

The first annual fair was held at the court-house and on the Public Square, in Towanda, October 6 & 7, 1853, and proved a surprising success. The fairs in 1854, 1855 and 1856 were all held in the same place. During the fair of 1856 Hon. Horace Greeley delivered an address entitles "Science in Agriculture." In 1858 no fair was held. In 1859 ground was leased just south of Towanda, and fairs were held thereon in 1859-60. The breaking out of the Rebellion disrupted the Society, and no fairs were again held until 1874, when the Society was reorganized, and a fair was held that year at the Rutty Driving Park, in North Towanda, as was also the fair in 1875. In 1876 the Society took possession of its present grounds, under a lease of five years, and in 1889 purchased the grounds.

Col. M. Laning was one of the early and prominent organizers, and for several years was president thereof. The officers for 1891 are as follows:
 

President R. H. Laning    
Vie-Presidents P. W. Morey   L. J. Culver
  E. J. Ayres   Louis Piollet
  Norman White    
Secretary W. E. Lane   Towanda, Pa.
Corresponding Secretary Wm. J. McCabe    
Treasurer George W. Blackman    
Managers Geo. A. Wood    Mercur
  Hugh McCabe    N. Rome
  N. V. Weller    Athens
  J. A. Decker    Towanda
  Myron Kingsley    Standing Stone
  Frank Moore    Orwell
  E.J. Ayres    Macedonia
  Louis Piollet    Wysox
  J.O. Nichols    Mountain Lake
Executive Committee R. H. Laning, president, ex-officio    
  Louis Piollet    
  Hugh McCabe    
  Myron Kingsley    
  Geo. A. Wood    
Superintendents Frank Moore   horses
  Geo. A. Wood   sheep & swine
  Louis Piollet   cattle
  J. O. Nichols   poultry
  Hugh McCabe   domestic & educational
  e. J. Ayres   farm & dairy
  N. V. Weller   machinery & manufactures
  J. A. Decker, R. H. Laning, Myron Kingsley   entrance, exits & forage
  Myron Kingsley   superintendent of buildings & grounds.