XL McKEAN COUNTY

FORMED March 26, 1804; named for Thomas McKean, second Governor of Pennsylvania; mean altitude 1700 feet. Mount Jewett is one of the high points in the state; half a mile from Mount Jewett is the great Kinzua Viaduct on the Erie Railroad, said to be the highest bridge in the state across a ravine. The electric line to Olean, New York, eighteen miles, through Red Rock, reveals great scenic grandeur. Chief industry, producing and refining petroleum.

Smethport, county seat; was incorporated in 1807; population, 1568. In the courthouse grounds is a granite monument to the Civil War soldiers of this county; it was shown in the Centennial Exposition, Philadelphia. St. Luke’s Protestant Episcopal Church, a gift from Hon. Henry Hamlin; consecrated 1892; is pure fourteenth century English Gothic; architect, Halsey Wood. Altar and reredos of Caen stone, surmounted by a very beautiful, delicately carved canopy; memorial font, Caen stone; all memorials were designed by the architect; organ from Johnson & Sons, Westfield, Massachusetts. In the public school grounds is a tablet marking the route of General Brodhead’s expedition. On the highway, near Lafayette, is a tablet marking place where General Brodhead passed across the county from Allegheny River, when he came from Pittsburgh against the Indians; placed by Smethport Daughters of the American Revolution.

Bradford, chief city; population, 15,525; is said to contain the only plant in America for the manufacture

McKean County

KINZUA BRIDGE

The highest bridge in the world

of oxalic acid, it produces 10,000 pounds daily. The City Hall, Post Office, and Carnegie Library are fine buildings. The McKean County Historical Society has rooms in the Carnegie Library; among their collections are valuable historical papers and autographs, photographs, and samples of products relating to the oil industry, portraits of distinguished Pennsylvanians, and busts of General Kane and of Abraham Lincoln; the latter, by Theophilus Mills, is said to be one of the only two living masks ever made of Lincoln; it was made six weeks before the assassination, and after many years it was purchased from the son of the sculptor by Mr. R. B. Stone, and placed in the Bradford Library. The Museum and Art Gallery, owned by Lewis Emery, Jr., Esq., is at times open to the public. On the public square is a boulder, in honor of Governor McKean, from a tract of land in Annin Township, deeded to Thomas McKean by John Bull, a patriot of the Revolution. A tablet commemorating the Spanish War soldiers was erected by Spanish War veterans.

Kane, a beautiful mountain resort, has Evergreen Park, a native forest, given to the town by the Erie Railroad, through their agent, General Thomas L. Kane; a path through the forest is named for General Grant, who frequently enjoyed trout fishing here with General Kane. Facing this park is the high school; classic style, architects, Davis & Davis, Philadelphia; contains good collection of photographic reproductions of famous paintings and architecture. The Presbyterian Church is memorial to General Kane, commander of the Bucktail Regiment, erected by his family. At Lewis Run the great Indian hunter, Jim Jacobs, lived.

Potter County