The Legal Pad

Did you know? Huntingdon once turned out paper tablets by the trainload, and it started with one man selling stationery on Penn Street.

In 1869 J. C. Blair opened a small retail stationery trade on Penn Street, between Fourth and Fifth. He did well enough that he stopped buying the goods he sold and started manufacturing them himself.

By the time the county history was written in 1883, one hundred skilled workers were on the floor, and the history says the only limit on the business was what those hands and his machinery could do in a day. Two years earlier, in 1881, Blair had bought the old Presbyterian Church building at Penn and Sixth, fitted it up as a factory, and christened it the Keystone Building. Fifty feet by seventy, four stories.

A man bought a church and filled it with tablet machinery.

Does anybody still have a J. C.

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.

Managers, John Scott, William P. Orbison, William Gwin, and J. Simpson Africa, Capacity of holder, twenty thousand feet. Dorris, David P., Stationery Manufactory., In 1869, J. C. Blair commenced a small retail trade in stationery in Penn Street, between Fourth and Fifth. Prosperity followed the exercise of energy and skill in the transaction of business, and he engaged in the manufacture of the articles in which he dealt, and now the business is only limited by the ability of one hundred skilled employés, and the capacity of the improved machinery which he has introduced. In 1881. he purchased the Presbyterian Church building, on the corner of Penn and Sixth Streets, which he fitted up for a manufactory, and christened the " Keystone Building." This building is fifty by seventy feet, and has four stories, ranging from ten to fourteen feet in height. These stories give a floor space of ten rooms twenty-four by seventy feet. A large warehouse in the rear supplies additional room for storing stock. The business includes the following departments, viz.: General manufacturing, blank-books, printing and ruling, folding and preparing different grades of paper, chemical department, inks, etc., paper boxes, envelopes, pens, and pencils, and the manufacture of Keystone patented specialties. The goods manufactured here are sold in every State and Territory of the United States, with customers in England, Denmark, Germany, Siam, New Zealand, Mexico, South America, and Canada.J. Simpson Africa, History of Huntingdon and Blair Counties, Pennsylvania (Philadelphia: Louis H. Everts, 1883) · character 3,022,266 of the scanned text

He was a cabinet-maker, and served as a justice of the peace. A son named John became a United Presbyterian minister. The western end of the house was built before 1812, Mrs. Smart had a millinery-store here. Beatty's tavern was on the southwest corner of Penn and Sixth Streets. John McCahan became the owner, and the buildings were used as dwelling-houses until removed to give place to the present building, which was erected for and used for many years as a Presbyterian Church, but now owned by J. C. Blair, and occupied as a manufacturing stationery establishment. John Miller owned from Nos. 608 to 614, and from the last number to Seventh Street the lots were occupied by two tanneries, owned respectively by Mr. Miller and James Elliott. 446 HISTORY OF HUNTINGDON COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA. John Simpson, blacksmith, purchased from Abraham Haines, and moved in 1793 to the lots Nos. 201 to 207. His dwelling was on the corner of Second Street, and his shop on the ground now occupied by the residence of Theo. John Cadwallader's home stood upon the courthouse lots. He died in 1807; his wife, Catharine, survived him more than thirty years. They had three children,, Mitchener, a printer; Proctor, a physician; and a daughter, Anna Maria, who married John Fockler. Arthur Chambers owned Nos. 229 to 235, and resided thereon.J. Simpson Africa, History of Huntingdon and Blair Counties, Pennsylvania (Philadelphia: Louis H. Everts, 1883) · character 2,844,938 of the scanned text

The first Quarterly Meeting was held in an upper room, twelve feet square, of a small log building still standing" on the south side of the Diamond, in Penn Street, between Fourth and Fifth. This building was then owned by James Saxton. The first society in the borough was formed in 1797, and consisted of Michael Cryder, his wife, and their son Daniel, Thomas Kerr and wife, Isaiah Harr and wife, and James Saxton. This class held meetings lin a warehouse on the bank of the Juniata River, near the foot of Fifth Street. 458 HISTORY OF HUNTINGDON COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA. The first Methodist house of worship was erected Miller, presiding elder. in 1802. It was built of hewed logs, twenty-five by thirty feet, on the northwest corner of Fifth and Church Streets, the present site of the brick Methodist Episcopal Church. This building was enlarged by taking out one end and erecting a framed addition. About 1828 it was again enlarged by removing one side and adding to it in that direction, still retaining a portion of the original log structure. From that time it was in use, with only ordinary repairs, till 1856, when it was taken down and the present brick edifice erected on its site. It is forty-eight by sixtyfive feet. The first story is divided into class-rooms, Sunday-school rooms, and library. The audienceroom occupies the whole of the second story.J. Simpson Africa, History of Huntingdon and Blair Counties, Pennsylvania (Philadelphia: Louis H. Everts, 1883) · character 2,912,048 of the scanned text

Checked 2026-08-01 · County history, independently fact checked

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