EMLENTON

The ghost of Emleton lives on the bridge.

From "The Historical Album and Daily Program, Venango County Sesquicentennial, 1805 - 1955"

Several years before 1820, Andrew McCaslin piloted his flat-boat up the Allegheny in search of building stones for Pittsburgh. By chance, he docked to the north of what is now Emlenton. Enchanted with the wooded hills, he remained to build a cabin, a store, and a tavern; he established a ferry and operated a foundry.

By 1835 there was a village. Keziah Gowe was the first white child born here.

Some supplies came from Pittsburgh by steamboat, but they could dock only in high water. McCaslin owned large covered-wagons and two teams which worked constantly transporting goods to and from Pittsburgh.

Furnaces, saw mills, tannery, distillery and brewery made Emlenton the distributing center for a 25-mile radius. The growth of Emlenton business is proven by the establishment of four hotels in 1838.

Lavrilla Lowrie taught Emlenton's first school, in a room in her home, with eight pupils enrolled. The first school house, built in 1845, located on Hill Street, was called the Old Black Schoolhouse, because it never knew paint. It served for town meetings and five churches were organized here. Today, Emlenton's beautiful school is emblematic of the progress Emlenton has realized.

A borough charter was granted in 1856, the town named then for Hannah Emlen, wife of Joseph B. Fox, wealthy landowner and member of the Society of Friends.

That same year, a covered bridge was built across the Allegheny at a cost of $16,000 raised by subscription stock. This bridge was considered the longest covered bridge for many miles. In 1882, high waters damaged the piers and sent the bridge down into the rushing waters.

In 1860 Emlenton's population was 1660. The oil excitement became local when Eben and S. W. Crawford struck oil along Ritchey Run during the excitement of 1867 when oil derricks sprang from hills and valleys, bringing in 100 barrels a day.

The Emlenton-Shippenville Railroad, built in 1876, gave Emlenton a rail depot for receiving pipe and other supplies for oil-producing.

Rev. J. B. Fox owned the Emlenton Academy and operated it until the public school were adequate.

Emlenton had the first gas company. For many years, every gas company in existence had an Emlenton man as its president or operating head, and so Emlenton is known as the "daddy of the gas business."

The Emlenton Refining Company, established in 1895, merged in 1931 with the Quaker State Oil Refining Corporation, becoming an important unit in this organization which continues to be active in this area.

The first church of Emlenton was Presbyterian, organized January 1858. The Methodist Church was organized in 1860; St. Michael's Catholic Church in 1867; St. John's Lutheran and St. John's Reformed in 1869 built a church in partnership and used it until 1885 when the Lutherans erected their own church.

Below are excerpts from an article that was in The Derrick, Jan. 31, 1976. Information is from a history compiled by one of its most prominent citizens and financiers, H. J. Crawford, oil, gas and banking executive.

Emlenton is the hometown of baseball great, Claude Ritchey, whose fame as a second baseman with the Pittsubrgh Pirates made baseball history.

Emlenton is also connected with the famous Billy Whitla kidnapping as his father, James, at one time shared ownership of the old Emlenton Academy.

The Emlenton Bank was founded in 1873 with $10,000 capital and its successor was First National. The second floor of the bank's building was an opera house.

P.O. Conver published the town's first newspaper in 1850.

Bradley's and Bennett's were retail outlets for oil well supplies in Emlenton and Bradley's manufactured wooden sucker rods and strapped them in the Emlenton plant.

Iron furnaces were the Kensington, located near Emlenton on the Crawford Farm, Shippen Furnace on the Magee Farm on the way to Nickleville, and Richland, located at the mouth of Mill Creek.

The Crawford House and the Moran House, a drug store and Bennett's tin shop were destroyed by major fires. Another spectacular fire was at Boozell's Livery Stable when a driver was delivering a load of hay. As he drove the wagon through the Main Street entrance of the stable a lighted gas jet set the hay on fire. Instead of backing up the team, the driver decided to race through the stable and escape through the rear door leading to an alley. As the flaming wagon raced through the barn, the fire spread. When the driver reached the exit the door was frozen shut. No lives were lost but many carriages were destroyed and some horses were lost.

"Fire-fighting in Emlenton until the middle of the 1870s was carried out by forming a bucket brigade from the river to the scene of the fire. Emlenton established its first water system in 1874. Pumps and lines were installed and a reservoir was built. Until a pumping station and filter were installed, the water was filtered through river gravel from a crib buried three feet under the river's bed.

"Hulings Hose Co., the first fire department, was founded not long after the water system was installed. W. D. McGinnis, wagonmaker, made the first hose cart. It has been retained as one of the town's historical relics along with the eagle that graced the rrof of the old iron workds and the old fire bell."

Transcribed by Penny Haylett Minnick
minnick862@verizon.net

Disclaimer:there may be errors due to transcription of information from both early and late (current contributors) work.