LIV CLARION COUNTY

FORMED March 11, 1839; named from Clarion River. The scenery is beautiful and diversified; at the highest point, over 1600 feet above sea level, a flagstaff has been erected; from here, on a clear day, may be seen the bridge at East Brady and four villages in the far distance. Hills and valleys are dotted here and there with oil and gas wells. There are beautiful views along the Clarion and Allegheny rivers and Redbank Creek; the scenery at East Brady is notable on account of the precipitous hills and winding streams. First white settler was Captain Samuel Brady of Revolutionary fame; his parents having been killed by Indians, he swore vengeance against them. He conducted an expedition in 1779 under General Brodhead, who had started with a large force from Fort Pitt. The Indians had become troublesome along the Allegheny River; Brady, in advance with scouts, discovered them on a flat rock at a place which is now East Brady; he took possession of a narrow pass, and when the Indians arrived, he opened fire, with the main army in the rear; escape was impossible, and nearly all were killed or taken prisoners.

In early days this region was called “The Iron City,” on account of its many furnaces; forty were in operation at one time, they are now cinders and banks of earth. The oil production in this county has been wonderful; 5000 oil wells were drilled in Clarion after 1870, and there is still much wealth in it; other industries are gas, coal, and agriculture. Two long tunnels are at Madison Furnace on the railroad between Clarion and Franklin; it is said there are but two longer ones in the world. The first bridge was built across Clarion River in 1834. The present one, which is of fine construction, is the third.

Clarion, population, 2,793, made county seat in 1840; is finely located on a hill 1500 feet above sea level, on the Bellefonte and Meadville Turnpike. Public buildings face the park; Courthouse, third reconstruction, completed in 1882, Georgian; architect, Mr. Betts; contains portraits of judges. Jail, Norman architecture, stone with brick front, was built in 1874. Connected with the State Normal School is a stone chapel containing busts of Abraham Lincoln and Henry W. Longfellow; also Navaree Hall, Spanish architecture, stone, brick, and concrete; architects, Allison & Allison, Pittsburgh.

Among the six churches are the Methodist and Presbyterian, stone, Roman architecture. The Woman’s Club has accomplished much for civic improvement, changing the cemetery from an unsightly spot to a place of beauty, planting the park with shrubbery and flower beds, and starting a free public library; in the park is a monument to Civil War soldiers. At Foxburg is a fine free, memorial library; colonial; native sandstone; architect, Arthur H. Brockie, Philadelphia. In the “Memorial Church of Our Father,” native sandstone; architect, James Sims, Philadelphia; is a painting by Edwin Howland Blashfield, “The Angel of the Resurrection.”