The Boom Decade and a Second Sodom

Mount Union, in numbers: 812 people in 1880. About 1,100 by 1900. More than triple that by 1910.

The brick industry came first. The wages followed. And with the wages came the makeshift and disreputable services and entertainments that followed the money. The town earned a nickname for it: a second Sodom and Gomorrah, a reputation that marked the decade when Mount Union built itself and lived rough.

Did your grandparents come during the boom? Tell us who they were, what work they did, and what you remember about those years.

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.

David Cree brought his family from Philadelphia about 1773. John Walker and James McCardle located near the foot of the Tuscarora mountain about the same time. During the decade following 1780 the number of settlers increased rapidly. In 1782 George Hudson located about where the borough of Shade Gap is now, built a cabin and began purchasing some squatter claims for 73 which no warrants had been issued. He was soon followed by William Swan, Hugh Robinson, Alexander McIIroy, George Wagner, Andrew Sands, James, Jonathan and Robert Cree, James Hooper, James Morton, William Fleming, Robert and William Marshall and some others. Joshua Morgan, of the Black Log valley is said to have been the first man to drive a team through Shade Gap. Franklin township was erected in March, 1789, from the old town-, ship of Tyrone, and was the first new township to be established after the organization of Huntingdon county. It extends from the Center county line on the northeast to the Little Juniata river on the southwest, and from Warriors Mark township on the northwest to the summit of Tussey's mountain on the southeast. Among the early settlers were Alexander Ewing, Zephaniah Weakland, George Mattem, Jacob Miner, Abraham Sells, Richard Ricketts, James Hunter, James Armitage and the Hendersons.John W. Jordan, ed., History of the Juniata Valley and Its People (New York: Lewis Historical Publishing, 1913) · character 185,125 of the scanned text

An addition to the village was laid out in 1830, by Andrew Shaw and Robert Baird, who sold lots at from forty to fifty dollars each. Several lots were purchased, and a number of buildings were erected at about that time. Within the next decade John S. Gehrett, James Henderson, and Dr. Jesse Wright became residents. Hon. David Clarkson, who served during ten years as associate judge in the county, came to Cassville in 1840. Incorporation., Measures for the incorporation of the borough were inaugurated in 1849, and the present name was selected by a committee consisting of Robert Speer, D. Stever, and D. Clarkson. It was ineorporated under that name by an act of the Legislature March 3,1853.J. Simpson Africa, History of Huntingdon and Blair Counties, Pennsylvania (Philadelphia: Louis H. Everts, 1883) · character 1,571,301 of the scanned text

John T, Dopp has been the agent of the company at this place, and prior to that time John R. Hunter filled that position. The buildings erected at Petersburg within the last decade are of a substantial character, and the borough contained in 1881 half a dozen stores, two hotels, Methodist, Presbyterian, and Lutheran Churches, a fine school building, and about four hundred inhabitants, In accordance with the custom of ambitious villages in this State, Petersburg was early invested with corporate privileges. It became a borough by an act of the General Assembly, passed April 7, 1880, The bounds of the borough were made to include the original plan of the village, and George Rung's tan-yard and house outside the bounds of the village proper. The first election was ordered to be held at the house of Joseph Jones, on the second Tuesday of May, 1830, and George Rung and James Dearmont were appointed to superintend it. A burgess and seven councilmen were to be elected, and were to .constitute a body corporate, to be known by the style of " The Burgess and Council of the Borough of Petersburg," Taxation was limited to one-half per cent. of the valuation, unless some object of general utility demanded a larger assessment, which might be made by the consent of a‘majority of the freeholders ofthe borough.J. Simpson Africa, History of Huntingdon and Blair Counties, Pennsylvania (Philadelphia: Louis H. Everts, 1883) · character 2,036,434 of the scanned text

Checked 2026-09-29 · Historic Mount Union collection

← All stories from Mount Union borough