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Mount Union borough, Shirley township

Santa Fe: the warehouse and tavern by the canal

At the east end of the canal village, below John Sharrar's warehouse, there was once a place called Santa Fe. The 1883 county history says James Kelley and Dr. William Brewster built a warehouse there on the bank of the canal, with a store and a tavern, and named the place Santa Fe. Lytle's 1876 county history credits the name to James Kelly, who it says "called his locality" Santa Fe.

Welch, writing in 1909, says the builders called the warehouse and tavern Santa Fe, and that for a time there seemed to be a sharp rivalry over which name would survive. George W. Speer followed Kelley and Brewster in the business, and after several more owners the property was sold in 1868 to William H. Woods of Huntingdon. In 1883 Woods owned the old Santa Fe property except the tavern, which had been sold to William Shaver; Shaver's heirs owned it, and it was occupied as a tenant house. Welch says a fire partly destroyed the warehouse a few years before 1909, and that it was later torn down.

The sources do not agree on when the buildings went up. Africa dates the warehouse, the store and the tavern to 1848. Welch dates the warehouse to 1848 and says the builders also built the old tavern close by, giving it no date of its own there; in a later chapter he dates the Exchange Hotel of Santa Fe, which he says Kelley and Brewster built, to 1851. A notice in the Huntingdon Journal of 15 January 1850, placed by James Kelly and Company, says the Santa Fe buildings were new and had been erected the past year. That would put the buildings in 1849, a year after Africa's date. The same notice calls one of the dwellings "well calculated for a public house where one is much needed."

A notice dated 3 December 1850 offered the Santa Fe warehouse and "a Tavern stand" at Mount Union, with possession from 1 April 1851. It was signed by John Brewster of Hill Valley, and nothing in it ties him to Dr. William Brewster. Welch says the builders ran the Exchange Hotel for two years as a licensed house, and that William Shaver took charge in 1853. The December 1850 notice offers a tavern stand before the year Welch gives for the hotel, but it does not say whether that stand was the building Welch means. A patent medicine advertisement dated 30 January 1851, still running in January 1852, lists James Kelly at Santa Fe among its agents.

Checked against the record. Checked on 1 November 2026. No other story on this site covers Santa Fe. Read for this story: Africa's 1883 county history, pages 354 and 355; Welch's 1909 history, pages 127, 128, 647 and 648; Lytle's 1876 history, page 274; and the Huntingdon Journal in the Pennsylvania Newspaper Archive for 8, 15, 22 and 29 January 1850, 3, 10 and 17 December 1850, 30 January 1851 and 8 January 1852. Africa and Welch agree on the 1848 warehouse, the owners and the 1868 sale to Woods, but they are not independent of each other, so they are counted as one account. On the tavern, Africa says 1848; Welch puts the old tavern in his 1848 paragraph without a date of its own and dates the Exchange Hotel to 1851 in a later chapter. The January 1850 notice says the buildings were erected the past year and offers a dwelling suited to a public house, which argues against an 1848 tavern. The December 1850 notice already offers a tavern stand, which argues against an 1851 building date, though it does not identify the building. Neither notice proves when anything was built. The January 1852 listing is a standing advertisement dated 30 January 1851, so it shows the name in print in 1851 and 1852, not that Kelly was still there in 1852. Still open: the construction dates (no deed, tavern license or assessment has been found, and a search of the Journal for tavern license petitions naming Kelly, Brewster or Santa Fe from 1848 to 1853 found none, though the Journal did print Mount Union petitions in 1854); who named the place (Africa credits Kelley and Brewster, Lytle credits Kelly alone); whether John Brewster of Hill Valley, who signed the December 1850 notice, or the Journal editor Africa calls Dr. Brewster, is the Santa Fe builder Dr. William Brewster; the date of the fire; a 1961 Daily News feature and a 1976 marker, which have not been seen here and are not cited; and where Santa Fe stood on today's parcels. The scanned text of Welch garbles several words, and quotations follow the scan.

Sources

  1. J. Simpson Africa, History of Huntingdon and Blair Counties, Pennsylvania (1883), Borough of Mount Union, p. 354 (warehouse, store, tavern, 1848)
  2. Charles Howard Welch, History of Mount Union, Shirleysburg and Shirley Township (1909): p. 127 (warehouse fire); p. 128 (name and rivalry); p. 128 (eastern end of the village); pp. 647 and 648 (Exchange Hotel of Santa Fe, 1851); p. 127 (the 1848 warehouse and the old tavern)
  3. Milton S. Lytle, History of Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania (1876), p. 274
  4. The Huntingdon Journal, 15 January 1850, p. 3, advertisement 'For Sale or Rent' (also 8, 22 and 29 January 1850)
  5. The Huntingdon Journal, 3 December 1850, p. 3, advertisement 'Santa Fe Warehouse' (also 10 and 17 December 1850)
  6. The Huntingdon Journal, 8 January 1852, p. 1, patent medicine agent list (a standing advertisement dated 30 January 1851; same text 30 January 1851, p. 3)

Checked 2026-11-01 · Primary sources and the Pennsylvania Newspaper Archive

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Photographs from Mount Union borough

Mount Union in T. M. Fowler's bird's-eye view, 1906, the year after the quarantine.Mount Union in T. M. Fowler's bird's-eye view, 1906, the year after the quarantine.Library of Congress Panoramic Maps (T. M. Fowler, 1906) · Public domain
Perspective View of House Looking North. Gable End Not Visible in Photograph Was the Canal Side. - John Sharrar House, West Water Street near Division StreetPerspective 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 · pa2853.photos.038950p
East Broad Top Railroad & Coal Company, Roundhouse, State Route 994, West of U.S. Route 522, Rockhill FurnaceEast Broad Top Railroad & Coal Company, Roundhouse, State Route 994, West of U.S. Route 522, Rockhill FurnaceLibrary of Congress · pa3371
The corner of Shirley and Jefferson streets in Mount Union, a recent photograph.The corner of Shirley and Jefferson streets in Mount Union, a recent photograph.Wikimedia Commons (CC0) · CC0
A ferry on the Juniata near Mount Union, as Myer Souders describes itA ferry on the Juniata near Mount Union, as Myer Souders describes itShared by Myer Souders
Downtown Mount Union, from the Historic American Buildings Survey of the town.Downtown Mount Union, from the Historic American Buildings Survey of the town.Library of Congress HABS PA-2822 · Public domain

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