Mount Union borough
The Packing Shed
The packing shed at the Harbison-Walker works. This is where it all ended up, finished silica brick, crated and loaded onto the Pennsylvania Railroad for the steel furnaces of Pittsburgh and beyond. Mount Union brick lined the mills that built America. Photo: Library of Congress (HAER)
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.
Then the railroad passed on and much of Marklesburg's trade was diverted to other points. Beatty as the first chief burgess. Mill Creek, a station on the Pennsylvania railroad six miles east of Huntingdon, was laid out in October, 1848, by James Simpson for David Zook & Company. It takes its name from the stream upon which it is situated. The first stores in this locality were opened at Wilson's Mills about 1828. Mill Creek was incorporated as a borough on December 13, 1905, with I. Mount Union, the second town in importance in Huntingdon county, was first laid out by William Pollock in 1840, for John Sharrer. In 1849 Dougherty & Speer purchased the adjoining tract, having received a charter for the Drake's Ferry & East Broad Top railroad, and this place was designed by them as a transfer point, though no steps were taken to build the railroad. The first building in this immediate locality was a stone house near Drake's ferry, occupied by William Pollock as merchant and postmaster. This building was subsequently <iestroyed by fire.John W. Jordan, ed., History of the Juniata Valley and Its People (New York: Lewis Historical Publishing, 1913) · character 228,685 of the scanned text
Williamsb'g...Loncer & Hileman. Martinsburg MET LAN NE Martinsburg..Crawford & Morrow. Pennsylvania Railroad Foundry: so cbe aeta Altoona......... Pennsylvania Railroad Co. Duncansville Foundry.. - Duncansville.J. These establishments, chiefly run on charcoal, made such rapid inroads upon the forests, that each succeeding year it became more difficult and expensive to provide the necessary supply, and from time to time such as proved unprofitable were abandoned, and others were run on coke. Many of the stacks enumerated in the above lists are cold, and will never again be put to the uses for which they were built. A few, more favorably located, continue the manufacture of the celebrated brand of " Juniata Charcoal Iron." CHAPTER XV. List of Marriages by Rev. JOHN JOHNSTON was born near the city of Belfast, Ireland, in 1750, and came to America about 1784. He was installed pastor of the Hart's Log and Shaver's Creek Presbyterian congregations in Novem1 Copied, March 15,1879, from entries in the handwriting of Rey. Johnston, now in the possession of his grandson, A. Johnston. ber, 1787, and of Huntingdon soon thereafter. He married Jane McBeth, of Cumberland County, and for a short time resided in Shaver's Creek Valley.J. Simpson Africa, History of Huntingdon and Blair Counties, Pennsylvania (Philadelphia: Louis H. Everts, 1883) · character 379,601 of the scanned text
He was defeated for the state senate as a Douglas Democrat in i860, but the succeeding year was elected to the lower house of the legislature without opposition. When the assembly convened he tried to organize the house without distinction of party and wanted the legislature to pledge the state "to the cordial support of the general government in the supression of the rebellion." This policy was declined by the Democratic caucus and Mr. Scott and other war Democrats acted with the Republican members in organizing the house. In 1863 he advocated the reelection of Governor Curtin and he supported Mr. Lincoln for the presidency in 1864, In 1868 he was a delegate to the Republican national convention and at the ensuing session of the legislature was elected United States senator, taking the oath of office on March 4, 1869. As senator he served upon several important committees and was an active participant in shaping the legislation of that period. Aside from his professional labors and his political activity, he was interested in various enterprises calculated to advance the material interests of his native county.John W. Jordan, ed., History of the Juniata Valley and Its People (New York: Lewis Historical Publishing, 1913) · character 151,798 of the scanned text
Sources
- Brick Yards README + LOC HAER pa2727 (Packing Shed)
- Photograph credit: Library of Congress (HAER)
Checked 2026-07-25 · Historic Mount Union collection