Harbison-Walker Plant at Full Steam, 1909

We have shared photographs of the Harbison-Walker plant abandoned, silent under the federal survey cameras. This is the plant alive. It is 1909. Smoke rises from the round beehive kilns visible in the yard. Workers stand among the structures that made the town prosper. We cannot say who is in the picture. We can say who arrived the year the works began: Charles Wenzel, born at Northeim in Hanover, a bricklayer by trade who had spent twenty years in Johnstown and made his name there with the W. H. Haws Fire Brick Company in the manufacture of silica brick. Haws is the firm that started this plant in 1899, the year Wenzel came. By the time this plate was printed he was chief of the Mount Union fire department and the borough's street commissioner. The kilns themselves are nearly gone now, reduced to bare stacks. But in this plate from the town's 1909 history, the furnaces are running at full steam.

From the record

Passages about this subject, quoted from county histories now in the public domain. Each one names the book and the position in the text so it can be checked. Spelling is as printed.

Juniata river, opposite Mount Union, Huntingdon county, by John F. Cottrell and others. Power was at first supplied by a lai^e overshot wheel and charcoal was used in the furnace, but in 1851 the plant was purchased by John and Peter Haldeman, who installed a steam engine and began the use of anthracite coal. The furnace was operated by different persons at intervals until 1884, when it was abandoned. Mifflin county has but four boroughs , Lewistown, McVeytown, Bumham and Newton Hamilton , though there are a number of flourishing and important villages that have never been incorporated. Foremost among these are AUensville, Belleville, Granville, Maitland, Mattawana, Milroy, Reedsville, Wagner and Yeagertown. Lewistown had its beginning in 1754, when Robert Buchanan came from Carlisle and established a trading post where the borough now stands. He bought the site from an Indian chief named Pokety, and the settlement that grew up around the trading post was at first called "Poketytown " It was also called Old Town and Kishacoquillas' Old Town, In 1856, upon the breaking out of the Indian hostilities, Buchanan was warned of his danger by Kishacoquillas, the Shawnee chief, and returned to Carlisle. He came back to his trading post some years later, and in July, 1762, took out a warrant for his land.John W. Jordan, ed., History of the Juniata Valley and Its People (New York: Lewis Historical Publishing, 1913) · character 334,758 of the scanned text

The Independent Hook and Ladder Company was organized in October, 1873. Huntingdon Fire Company No. i was organized in December, 1872, and was incorporated on January 14, 1874, For several years it had charge of the first steam fire engine , a Silsby , which was exchanged for a La France engine in November, 1880, and the Silsby machine went to the Phcenix Fire Company. The engine and council house on Washington street was built about this time. It has accommodations on the ground floor for the hook and ladder truck, the Juniata hand engine and steamer No. 1. On the second floor are rooms for the meeting of the borough council and quarters for the fire companies occupying the building. The Huntingdon Gas Company was incorporated on March 14, 1857, and on August 29th, following, began supplying illuminating gas to the citizens. A charter was received by the Huntingdon Electric Light Company on March 19, 1886, and in 1902 the gas and electric light companies were consolidated under the name of the Huntingdon Gas Company. In 1885 the Huntingdon Water Company (Limited) was organized and by the close of the year i886 had its works in operation, taking water for the street hydrants and the use of citizens from Standing Stone creek opposite the east end of Washington street. The works have been improved from time to time until the borough has a bountiful supply of pure water, suitable for all domestic purposes.John W. Jordan, ed., History of the Juniata Valley and Its People (New York: Lewis Historical Publishing, 1913) · character 217,777 of the scanned text

The use of electricity for power which has become so cheap in comparison with that of steam has had the effect of throwing into disuse the old steam plants and tcday only three of our manufacturers are using steam. 179 The cheapness of the electrical power furnished at Huntingdon has already attracted the attention of manufacturers from a distance and plans are being made for the erection of new manufactures to be run by electrical power. In a short space of time our town will be filled with factories set humming by the use of electricity. 180 JUNIATA VALLEY ELECTRIC STREET RAILWAY COMPANY. , This Street Railway Company was incorporated Aug. 8th, 1906, and constructed its line of railway soon thereafter. The road as now constructed begins at the Pennsylvania R. R. station, thence up 4th street to Washington, thence up Washington to 11th, thence east on 11th to Moore, thence north on Moore to Juniata College at 17th street. Its cars commenced running on the 3rd day of June, 1907, and has proved a great convenience to the citizens of the town who have shown such an appreciation of the enterprise through their use of the road, as to make it a financial success from its very inception. Plans are now under way for the consolidation of this company with the Big Valley Electric Railway Co., extending to Kishacoquillas Valley and the Juniata Valley Electric Railway Co., extending to Mount Union.Historic Huntingdon, 1767-1909 · character 301,310 of the scanned text

Checked 2026-10-12 · Historic Mount Union collection

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