Mount Union borough

A Question We Cannot Settle, and Maybe You Can

1. PERSPECTIVE VIEW OF HOUSE LOOKING NORTH. GABLE END NOT VISIBLE IN PHOTOGRAPH WAS THE CANAL SIDE. - John Sharrar House, West Water Street near Division StreetLibrary of Congress, Historic American Buildings Survey / Historic American Engineering Record. No known copyright restrictions. pa2853.photos.038950p

This stone house stands on West Water Street near Division. The federal survey records it as the John Sharrar House and dates it to about 1841. The photographer noted that the gable end you cannot see in this picture was the canal side, because the Pennsylvania Mainline Canal came through here in 1829 and Mount Union started life as a canal village.

Here is the honest problem. The county's 1937 history says the town was laid out in 1840 by William Pollock, for John Sharrer. The Historic American Buildings Survey says the town plan was laid out and lots offered for sale in 1849. Both are serious sources and they do not agree, and we are not going to pick the one we like better.

So we asked. Then we went and looked in the newspaper the town was reading at the time, and it answers most of it. The Huntingdon Journal for 4 and 11 September 1849 carries the advertisement itself: the "Adjourned Sale of Mount Union TOWN LOTS", postponed from the 23rd by bad weather to Saturday 15 September, every second or third lot to be sold without reserve in the business part of Mount Union. It is signed George W. Speer and John Dougherty, dated 1 September 1849.

So the lots went up for sale in 1849, which is what the federal survey said. Lytle's 1876 county history named exactly the right two men and put it a year late. And the 1937 book is not simply wrong either, because the name is older than the sale: the same paper for 5 July 1843 carries John Sharer advertising an unclaimed trunk left at his warehouse "at Mount Union, Huntingdon county, Pa." That is the same John Sharrer the 1937 book says the town was laid out for, running a warehouse here six years before the lot sale.

One honest limit: this run of the Journal begins in 1843, so 1843 is the earliest the paper can show us, not the earliest it was true.

What the fact check changed. This post asked readers to settle a disagreement between the county's 1937 history (laid out 1840 by William Pollock for John Sharrer) and the federal survey (laid out and lots offered for sale in 1849). The contemporary newspaper answers most of it. The Huntingdon Journal for 4 and 11 September 1849 prints the lot sale advertisement over the names of George W. Speer and John Dougherty, dated 1 September 1849 - confirming the survey's 1849, and showing that Lytle's 1876 history named the right two men but dated it a year late. The same paper for 5 July 1843 shows John Sharer already keeping a warehouse at Mount Union, so the name is older than the lot sale and the 1937 account is not simply wrong. Added 1 September 2026.

Sources

LOC caption pa2853.photos.038950p (HABS PA-5993, dated ca. 1841)
HABS PA-5974 p.3 (founded 1849; canal routed 1829)
Sesqui 1937, Mount Union entry (laid out 1840 by William Pollock for John Sharrer)
Huntingdon Journal, 4 September 1849 and 11 September 1849, p. 3: "Adjourned Sale of Mount Union TOWN LOTS ... in the business part of Mount Union, Hunt. county, Pa. ... GEORGE W. SPEER. JOHN DOUGHERTY. September 1, 1849."
Huntingdon Journal, 5 July 1843, p. 3: "A trunk, of which there is no known owner has for some time remained at the Ware House of the subscriber, at Mount Union, Huntingdon county, Pa. ... JOHN SHARER. June 28, 1843."

Checked 2026-09-01 · Historic Mount Union collection

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