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Altoona Members of the Blair County Bar Association and Judge Bell,
taken in front of the Court House, March 1896.

Eleventh Avenue from Fourteenth Street, Looking East to Eleventh Street, Altoona, Pa.

Scenes at Horse Shoe Bend, on Pennsylvania Railroad at Kittanning Point,
Six Miles West of Altoona.

Broad Avenue Presbyterian Church corner Broad Avenue and Twenty-fourth Street, Altoona, Pa.

View of Westmont, a Suburb of Altoona,
Looking Southeast from Main Line of Pennsylvania Railroad.

Observatory at Lookout, Wopsononock, on the A.,C.& N.R.R.
4 Miles from Altoona in a direct line.

Masonic Temple, cor Eleventh Street and Twelfth Avenue, Altoona, Pa.

Fourth Ward School House and High School Building,
corner of Seventh Avenue and Fifteenth Street, Altoona, Pa.

Blair County Almshouse, near Hollidaysburg. (Robinson & Crockett, Architects.)

David Kinch.               W.T. Howard.            Theo. Burchfield.          D.A. Gilland.  
                                  S.J. Breth.                     Thos. Hurd.                   C.J. Mann.                  T.H. Turner.                                    

ALTOONA - LOCATION AND DESCRIPTION.

Altoona is situated about thirty miles southwest of the geographical center of the great state of Pennsylvania, just at the eastern base of the Allegheny mountains; near the headwaters of  the Juniata river; the " Blue Juniata " of Indian song and legend, and on the Pennsylvania railroad. It lies in the upper or western end of Logan valley, or " Tuckahoe " as this vicinity was called in early days, in the central part of Logan Township, in Blair County. By rail it is 117 miles east of Pittsburgh and 235 west of Philadelphia, although an air line would be one-fourth to one-third less. Baltimore and Washington are 150 miles southeast and Buffalo 200 miles directly north, but by rail the distance to these points is nearly twice as great.

Originally laid out in a narrow valley, it has filled this and climbed the hills on either side and grown in all directions, so that a large part of it is built on hills of moderate elevation. The city lines as now established embrace a territory two and one-fourth miles long and one and one-fourth miles wide ; but it is built up as a city a distance of four miles long and two miles wide. Less than fifty years old, it has grown with such surprising rapidity that it is now the eighth city in the state, in population, and second to none in material prosperity.

The lowest ground in the, city is 1120 feet above the level of the ocean and the hills rise 100 to 150 feet higher, making the site and surroundings picturesque in the extreme and furnishing innumerable points of observation, from which nearly the entire city may be taken in at one view; yet in few places are the ascents so abrupt as to interfere with the laying out and grading of streets and avenues. The railroad passes through the heart of the city from northeast to southwest and the avenues are laid out parallel with the tracks. Crossing these at right angles are thoroughfares of equal width denominated streets; and both streets and avenues are given numerical names, beginning at a base line and numbering in regular order from that. First avenue is near the southeastern boundary of the city and First street near the northeastern limit. To this general rule there are some exceptions, but on the whole the city may be said to be regularly laid out.

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In the central part of the city, on the lower ground are located the railroad company's machine and locomotive shops, freight warehouse, passenger station and an immense hotel, around which the business of the city clusters, this being the "hub;" although the ever increasing business of the road has necessitated the building of additional shops at two places in the eastern suburbs.

Altoona is unique in having its site away from any considerable stream of water, but to the northeast a short distance is the Little Juniata, and to the southwest Mill Run, both of which furnish a considerable quantity of pure mountain spring water, while still farther to the west and south are Kittanning and Sugar Run streams, the former being the source of supply for the city water system.

The character of the buildings of Altoona is very creditable; considering her youth. There are 7,000 to 8,000 dwellings within city limits, inhabited by 36,000 industrious, frugal, well-informed, cheerful and happy people, while more houses and 8,000 more people are just without the corporate lines. All taken together make one thriving city of 44,000 inhabitants; and the time is not far distant when its boundary lines will be extended to include them all.

Aside from the business blocks, which are nearly all brick, about three-fourths of the buildings are frame, a few are stone, and the remainder brick or brick cased; nearly all are neat and comfortable; many are more than this; while not a few are palatial in architectural design and finish, the home of wealth and refinement. Eleventh avenue, on the northwest side of the railroad, from Eleventh street to Seventeenth street, is the great comercial and mercantile center, where real estate and rents are highest. Here are the banks, newspapers, postoffice, the great dry goods stores and hotels, with the passenger station but one square distant. The wholesale establishments are principally on Eleventh street between Tenth and Eleventh avenues, and Green and Eleventh avenues between Seventh and Ninth streets. The manufacturing district, aside from the railroad shops, is on Ninth and Margaret avenues, west of Seventeenth street; and this is also the location of the retail coal trade and dealers in builders supplies, lime, sand, brick, terra cotta pipe, etc. Other business centers of considerable importance are Twelfth street and Eighth avenue, Eighth avenue and Ninth street and Fourth street and Sixth avenue. The most desirable residence locations are on

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Twelfth avenue between Eleventh and Sixteenth streets, and Broad avenue, formerly Broad street, between Nineteenth and Twenty-seventh streets, and Fourteenth avenue near Eleventh street.

The street car lines, City Passenger and Logan Valley, motive power electricity since 1891 traverse Eleventh avenue from Ninth to Eighteenth streets, Seventeenth and Bridge streets from Eleventh to Eighth avenues, down the later to Fourth street, thence to Sixth avenue and out Sixth to First street and beyond to Bellwood junction; the entire length of Chestnut avenue from Eleventh street to First street, and beyond to Juniata borough one mile, and Bellwood seven miles northeastward; on Union and Broad avenues, from Eleventh avenue to Thirty-first street, near the new suburb Westmont; from the corner of Seventeenth street and Eighth avenue to Seventh avenue, out Seventh avenue to Twenty-sixth street, and along the street to Fifth avenue; the corner of Twelfth street and Ninth avenue along the avenue to Thirteenth street, along the street to Fifth avenue and along this avenue to Thirty-first street, and southeastward to Lakemont Park three miles, and Hollidaysburg, the county seat, six miles.

There are now over eight miles of finely paved streets in the city, including the three kinds most popular, asphaltum, concrete block and vitrified brick, extending over a large part of the best business and residence portions of the town, and the coming season will see this largely augmented. Altoona is well sewered; having a sewer system, recently completed, capable of meeting the requirements of a city of 100,000 inhabitants.

Altoona is supplied with water from two mountain streams which empty into the gathering and storing reservoirs at Kittaning Point, a picturesque spot six miles west of the city, within the circle of the famous "Horse-shoe" bend of the Pennsylvania railroad and under the very shadow of the Alleghenies' crest. The drainage area is wood covered mountain sides and the water consequently pure and cold and sweet. It is brought to Altoona through large iron pipes by force of gravity which is sufficient to carry it to all residences in the city. The water works are owned and managed by the municipality.

The city building is situated on the corner of Twelfth street and Thirteenth avenue. Here the mayor has his office, the police headquarters and city prison are here, and the office of water superintendent and street commissioner as well as the council chambers, where common and select councils meet regularly twice a month.

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The other city officials have their offices in rented rooms pending the erection of a magnificent new City Hall to cost $100,000. 000.

Altoona, although the metropolis of the county, containing more than half the total population, is not the county seat, not having been in existence when that was established at Hollidaysburg, then a thriving borough. The court house and county offices are easily accessible, however, by electric cars which arrive and depart every quarter hour between six o'clock in the morning and ten o'clock at night.

The society of Altoona is excellent, and the people are of more than average intelligence; the undesirable foreign element, so predominant in some cities, is almost entirely absent here. The citizens of foreign birth are mostly German and English, of the educated class, and are among the most respected. There is a church building to every eight hundred of population, nearly all denominations being represented, Catholic, Protestant and Jewish, all well attended. The public schools are of the best and there are beside, a number of parochial and private schools, kindergardens and commercial schools.

Every citizen of Altoona has a business, profession, or trade, and works at it; few drones or idle people are found in this busy hive of industry. As might be expected where industry reigns, the people are law abiding, peaceful, moral; criminals are few, crimes rare, litigation not popular. While there are a number of legal gentlemen resident here it is a noticeable fact that most of them depend more upon the results of successful business ventures for their income, than on fees received from legitimate law practice.

While from its elevation, it might be inferred that the climate would be severe, the facts are otherwise; the mountains break the force of the north and west winds and the winters are seldom more rigorous than on lower levels in the same latitude elsewhere, and the usually prevailing weather of spring and fall is marvelously delightful. The air is so pure and stimulating, so full of ozone, that to those in good health mere existence is a delicious luxury and even the invalid enjoys living until the last.

On the whole Altoona is a veritable ''gem of the mountain," beautiful to view and pleasant to live in; its excellent qualities are only beginning to be appreciated and understood. As time passes it will continue to grow in size and in the affections of those who have their homes here, or who for limited periods visit the place, to feast their eyes on the beauties of nature so lavishly displayed, and breathe the pure invigorating air.

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SUBURBS AND SURROUNDINGS.

Millville, which, as the term is used, comprises Allegheny and part of Westmont and is all that suburb lying southwest of the city line at Twenty-seventh Street and northwest of Ninth Avenue and the Hollidaysburg Branch Railroad.. The greater part of this suburb, as well as part of the city now within the Fifth Ward, was plotted and laid out by Dr. S. C. Baker and called Allegheny about the year 1870; but a smaller plot adjoining Allegheny on the west was called Millville, and as Millville, the town on the two plots, has been known for twenty years. However, the railroad station on the branch at this point, about one and one-fourth miles from the Altoona Station, is called Allegheny Furnace. Millville is quite level and is building up rapidly, being a very pleasant residence place. It is not incorporated.

Westmont, just west of Millville, is growing up very rapidly and seems destined to become the most popular suburb of Altoona. This results largely from the enterprise and liberality of its projector, E. H. Flick, Esq., who sells the lots for a very low price and on easy terms, and who has not only set shade trees along the streets and avenues, but has built a large number of fine houses there. The City Passenger Railway extends from the heart of the city, along Broad Avenue, through Millville and to within a few squares of Westmont, while the main line of the Pennsylvania Railroad skirts it on the northwest, and a station will doubtless be located there at an early day. It will be about two miles west of the Altoona Depot.

Northeast of Eighteenth Avenue and east of Eleventh Street is a populous district, outside the city line, known as Fairview. It is situated on ground considerably elevated above the central parts of Altoona, is a pleasant place to live and is the home of a great many employes of the Pennsylvania Railroad Car Shops.

Oakton lies on high ground west of Eleventh Street and northwest of Twenty-fourth Avenue. -. Millertown is just northwest of the Fifth Ward beyond Eighteenth Avenue and west of Washington Avenue and Eighteenth Street. It has about 500 inhabitants and is soon to be incorporated with some of the surrounding territory as a Borough by the name " Logan. " - Newburg is northwest of Millertown, along the Dry Gap Road, which is a continuation of Washington Avenue over the mountains to Ashville, Cambria County.

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Collinsville is the oldest town in Logan Township and was the location of the Postoffice from 1817 until Altoona was founded. It lies southeast of the Sixth Ward of Altoona, in Pleasant Valley, and is reached by an extension of Sixteenth Street from First avenue, the distance being but one-half mile. Only about 200 people live here and it presents a decayed and ancient appearance, but in the immediate vicinity are several fine farms with good farm buildings and large thrifty orchards, and Pleasant Valley is not a misnomer.

Juniata is an incorporated Borough and lies about one-half mile Northeast of the city line at North Second Street and Chestnut Avenue, on the north side of the railroad. It is the location of the Juniata Locomotive Shops of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company. But the borough lines do not take in the works, as the Company prefers being on the outside. There had been a small village occupying part of the present site of Juniata for ten or more years prior to the erection of the Locomotive Shops, known as Belleview, but not incorporated. On the erection of these shops, however, in 1889 buildings sprung up like magic around them, and little Belleview had such a boom that she outgrew herself and her name. "Juniata" was adopted as the most appropriate name and a borough charter was obtained August 7th, 1893. The Logan Valley electric cars run here from Altoona every few minutes and every half hour a car goes to Bellwood, five miles northeastward. Juniata has in addition to the Locomotive Shops a large iceing station of Armour & Co., several stores, a fine brick school building and three churches, also a postoffice, which, as there is another Juniata in the State, is called Kipple. The southern terminus of the Altoona, Clearfield and Northern Railroad is at Juniata, the passenger station being on the line of the Electric Railway and near the entrance to the Shops.

East End, Greenwood and Pottsgrove are all east of the Eighth Ward of Altoona and on the south-eastern side of the railroad. They have a combined population of nearly 1,000 and will eventually all grow together and be taken into the city, as the Twentieth Ward perhaps. One George Pottsgrove built a dam on the little mountain stream here many years ago and operated a small saw and grist mill until his water right was purchased by the Altoona Gas and Water Company and the water piped to the new town of Altoona in 1859.

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Llyswen is the latest suburb to be added to Altoona and lies farthest from the city, being on the Logan Valley Electric Railway, about one mile south of the city line at Fifth Avenue and Twenty-seventh Street. This is intended to be the aristocratic suburb, and lots are sold with some restrictions as to buildings and use. A number of fine cottages have already been erected there and a fine station and waiting room by the Logan Valley people, whose cars pass in either direction every fifteen minutes.

All these suburbs are in Logan Township, and with the possible exception of Llyswen should be taken into the city.

Eastward from Altoona two and one-half miles, on the Pennsylvania Railroad is Blair Furnace Station, a small village containing no stores nor business places. It is the nearest station to Juniata and but half a mile distant. . The next station eastward is Furnace. There is no village at this station, but nearby is the old "Sabbath Rest'' Furnace and a postoffice with that hallowed name, given to it in the early days because the owner of the furnace banked the fires on Saturday night and allowed his men to rest on Sunday, contrary to the custom of most other iron manufacturers at that time.

Westward from Altoona on the Pennsylvania Railroad is Kittanning Point, six miles distant. No town here nor stores, but there are coal mines and villages a few miles up the gulch and this is their nearest railroad station. The famous Horse Shoe Bend is here and the reservoirs which contain Altoona's water supply. The road begins to ascend the highest mountain here and the grade is steep most of the way for seven miles to Bennington just on the county line and only a small place. An iron furnace used to stand here, but it has been recently torn down. Leaving Bennington the road passes under the apex of the mountain by a tunnel one mile long and the town of Gallitzin is reached, fourteen miles from Altoona, in Cambria County and within the Mississippi Valley. Gallitzin has 1,000 to 1,200 inhabitants and is an important mining town. Three miles farther west is Cresson, only a small place of 500 to 600 inhabitants, but growing. It is the location of the Cresson Springs Hotel, an immense hostelry owned by the Pennsylvania Railroad and popular as a resort. Two railroads branch off from here to the northward, to Coalport and Ebensburg. . -. The next few stopping places are small mining towns, and the first place of importance is Johnstown, famous the world over for its awful flood horror, May 31st, 1889. Also famous as the location of

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the Cambria Iron Company, one of the largest iron and steel manufacturers in the United States. Johnstown is thirty-nine miles west of Altoona. .-. The other places of importance between Altoona and Pittsburg are Blairsville Intersection, where the West Penn and the Indiana Branches of the Pennsylvania Railroad diverge from the main line, Latrobe, Greensburg, Jeannette, Irwin and Braddock.

Southward from Altoona the Hollidaysburg and Morrison's Cove and Williamsburg Branches of the Pennsylvania Railroad extends to Eldorado, three miles from Altoona, 200 to 300 inhabitants. .-. Duncansville, six miles, 1,000 inhabitants. .-. Hollidaysburg seven miles, the County seat and containing, with its sister borough Gaysport, 4,000 people. .-. Roaring Spring seventeen miles, where there are extensive paper mills and flouring mills. . -. Martinsburg twenty- miles, in the southern part of the County and in a rich agricultural district. .-. Henrietta a small place, formerly of some note as the location of some of the Cambria Iron Company's mines and quarries. From here it is but three miles across the mountain to the Huntingdon and Broad Top Railroad in Bedford County. Eastward from Hollidaysburg the Williamsburg Branch extends some fifteen miles along the Frankstown Branch of the Juniata past Frankstown, the oldest town in the County, but now half deserted and fallen to decay, with but 100 to 200 inhabitants. .-. Williamsburg, a place of 1,000 inhabitants, noted as the birth place of a number of prominent citizens now of Altoona. It was formerly on the main line of travel between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. The old Pennsylvania Canal passed that way, and before the locomotive's whistle had been heard in a dozen Pennsylvania towns, steam packets sailed past this then thriving burg at the rapid rate of four to five miles per hour.

Northward from Altoona the Altoona, Clearfield and Northern Railroad, starting from Juniata, climbs up the mountain twelve hundred feet in a distance of six miles to Wopsononock, where there is a good hotel and other features which make it a popular summer resort. Excursion trains loaded with pleasure seekers leave the Juniata Station hourly on Sundays, during the summer, for this resort. A considerable amount of lumber and coal is brought down the mountain in the winter over this road. It extends several miles beyond Wopsononock but does not reach any town of importance, although the intention is to continue it to Phillipsburg.

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Northwest from Altoona, starting from Sixteenth Street and Eleventh Avenue, long before the city was laid out, a country road extended up what is now called Washington Avenue, and beyond to the foot of the mountain two miles and then obliquely to the mountain top four miles, to the ''Buckhorn,'' which is the name applied to an old tavern at the summit of the mountain. This was the old Dry Gap Road and is still so called. From the Buckhorn it begins to descend the mountain and four miles farther Ashville in Cambria County is reached. The Blair County line is at the summit of the Allegheny mountains, a few hundred yards east of the Buckhorn.

History of Altoona.

An exposition of the present status of a city leads naturally to inquiry regarding its history and growth. This inquiry we shall meet and endeavor to satisfy in the following historical sketch:

The decade between 1850 and 1860 was a most eventful one in the history of the United States. It witnessed the opening era of successful and general railroad building and the culmination of the causes which led up to the great civil war. At the commencement of this ten year period Altoona had her birth, at its close she was a flourishing Borough of 3,500 inhabitants, standing where before was only forest, sterile fields and one poor farm house. The 224 acres of farm and woodland, on which the original Altoona was built and which is now principally included between Eleventh and Sixteenth Streets and Fourth and Fourteenth Avenues, constituted the farm of David Robeson and was not worth more than $2,500 for farming purposes at that time, but the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, then pushing to completion their all-rail route from Philadelphia to Pittsburg, and looking for a site for their shops wanted it and therefore Mr. Robeson, by a fortunate early discovery of the fact, was able to obtain his own price for it.

Archibald Wright, of Philadelphia, acting presumably for the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, though just what relation he sustained to it is not clear, purchased the Robeson farm of 223 acres and 123 perches for $ 11,000. The deed was dated April 24th, 1849 and is recorded at Hollidaysburg in Deed Book, Vol. " B, " page 441. The boundaries of the farm were about on the present lines of Eleventh street from Fourth to Fourteenth avenues

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on the northeast and Sixteenth street between same avenues on the southwest, Fourth avenue from Eleventh to Sixteenth streets on the southeast and Fourteenth avenue between the same streets on the northwest. On this tract of land original Altoona was laid out during the latter part of the year 1849, and the plot, as laid out, was acknowledged by Archibald Wright, in Philadelphia, February 6th, 1850, but was not recorded until February 10th, 1854, at the time the young town was organized into a Borough. This original plot is on record now in Hollidaysburg in Deed Book, Vol. " E, " page 167, It is on parchment and the original is pasted into the book. At the same time another plot, almost an exact counterpart, was recorded as the        "official " plot of the Borough. On these early plots the streets and avenues have names instead of numbers .

Altoona in this plot is described as lying in '' Tuckahoe Valley," that being the name applied to this upper end of Logan Valley, which extends to Tyrone. Adjoining the Altoona plot at that time was the John McCartney farm on the northwest, the McCormick and Andrew Green farms on the northeast, the William Bell farm on the southeast and the William Louden farm on the southwest. The Louden and Green farms were soon after plotted and offered for sale in building lots, and later all the McCartney and most of the Bell farms have gone the same way. At the time of the founding of Altoona the Pennsylvania Railroad Company was a young corporation, their charter having only been granted in 1846, and they had not yet completed their road from Philadelphia to Pittsburg, although it was surveyed and in process of construction. It was completed to Altoona from the east, single track, on the same line as now in 1850 and extended from here to Y Switches near Duncansville and one mile from Hollidaysburg, and from there trains ran over the Allegheny mountains on the old Portage Railroad, a state institution completed in 1833. The Altoona Passenger Station stood near the corner of Ninth avenue and Twelfth street until 1854, when the Pittsburg Division of the Pennsylvania Railroad was completed past Kittanning Point on its present line and a new depot was built at the present location. The first depot on the corner of Thirteenth street and Tenth avenue was a two-story brick building and was replaced by the present structure in 1887. The Logan House was built in 1854-5 by the Railroad Company, but did not extend back to Eleventh avenue as now although it was an immense affair and, at that time, greatly out of proportion to the little village in which it stood.

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The two lines of the railroad west from the city, the one completed and the other being graded, diverging as they did then is accountable for the peculiar wedge shape of the site of the Company's first shops, and the fact that the avenues on the northwest and southeast sides of the railroad are not parallel but diverge at an angle of about thirty degrees from Eleventh street westward.

No lots were sold in the new town until 1831, and the first deed made, as the records at Hollidaysburg show, was February 11th, 1851, for two lots on the corner of Twelfth avenue and Thirteenth street to the First Presbyterian Church, price $100 for the two. If any earlier deeds were made they were not recorded.

The first residence in Altoona was of course the old Robeson farm house which was of logs and stood within the square bounded by Tenth and Eleventh avenues and Thirteenth and Fourteenth streets. The first building erected after Altoona was laid out was a rough board one to be used as an office for the railroad contractor and a boarding house for the men; it also stood in the square last mentioned, near the old farm house.

Beginning in 1851 lots sold rapidly and buildings went up on every side; the new town grew so fast that early in 1854 when but little over three years old it was incorporated as a borough with a population of about 2,000 people. Churches and schools were built, hotels, stores and a bank were opened, a newspaper was started in 1855, and everything prospered from the very start. A plot laid out by Andrew Green, northeast of Eleventh street and called Greensburg, was taken into the Borough in 1855.

In 1859 a Gas and Water Company was formed by private parties and they constructed a storage reservoir on the hill at the corner of Twelfth street and Fifteenth Avenue and piped water to it from Pottsgrove; laid mains in the principal streets to carry water to the consumers. They also erected gas works on Eleventh avenue below Ninth street. Water and gas were supplied by this company first on December l5th of that year. Simultaneously with the water works came the organization of fire companies and a fire engine was purchased, the first being a hand engine.

The census of 1860 showed the borough's population to be 3,591. Then came the great Rebellion and Altoona was a place of considerable importance, furnishing cars and engines to transport soldiers and munitions of war, as well as her full quota of men to defend the Union. All through that four

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years' period Altoona grew and throve. After the war closed the citizens erected a handsome monument in Fairview cemetery to commemorate her fallen heroes.

The city charter was procured in February, 1868, the bounds being extended so as to take in the territory northeast to First street, southeast to First avenue, southwest to Twenty-seventh street and northwest to Eighteenth avenue, with a population exceeding 8,000. In 1870 the census takers found 10,610 people here. In 1870 a daily paper, the Sun, made its appearance. In 1868 a market house was built at the corner of Eleventh avenue and Eleventh street, later converted into an opera house. By this time there were three newspapers here, two banks, thirteen churches, a number of good hotels, a large machine shop and car works, additional to the Pennsylvania Railroad Company's plant, and soon after (1872) a rolling mill was erected. The Pennsylvania Railroad Company was also obliged to enlarge their works at this time (1869-70), and, the original grounds reserved being completely occupied with shops, tracks, switches, etc., a larger tract of land was purchased along Chestnut avenue below Seventh street and the car shops were erected at First to Fourth streets. In 1872 the city purchased from the Gas and Water Company their water pipes and water franchise and proceded to build a reservoir at Kittanning Point and lay a 12-inch pipe from there to the storage reservoir constructed on First avenue between Twelfth and Thirteenth streets. About the same time Eleventh and Eighth avenues were macadamized, some sewers constructed, and the city issued its first bonds, $200,000 in 1871 and $150,000 in 1873, to meet the large expenditures thus incurred.

The years 1870, 1871 and 1872 were fruitful of many new enterprises in Altoona; new businesses were established, new churches built, several building and loan associations organized, two new banks opened, the rolling mill built, etc., but the panic of 1873, together with the failure of the largest banking firm of the city, in that year, put a damper on many business ventures and retarded the city's growth somewhat, as did also the great strike and railroad riots of 1877. Yet in 1880 the official government census showed that the place had nearly doubled in the preceding decade, 19,710 people being found resident here. In 1878 a park and Fair ground was enclosed at Broad and Twenty-seventh streets and the

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Blair County Agricultural Society held a fair there which was a great success. But the next year failing to get the State Fair to exhibit here none whatever was held and in 1880, the weather being unfavorable, the fair was a failure and the Fair ground was never used for such purposes again. It has since been sold out in lots and thickly built upon and the Agricultural Society now hold their fairs at Hollidaysburg. This is the only enterprise that ever failed in Altoona permanently.

In 1882 the first street railway was completed and opened for traffic (July 4th). In 1880 a telephone exchange was located here, in 1886 an electric light company and July 4th, 1891, electricity was made the propelling power for the street cars, so at this date Altoona was fully abreast of the times in the use of electricity for all purposes.

In 1888 the need of a complete and comprehensive sewer system was fully realized and the work of providing for it begun. Since that time the four natural drainage areas of the city have been supplied with large main sewers, and now it is believed no better sewered city can be found in the state, although the work of laying smaller branches and feeders has not yet been completed .

In 1889 a large silk mill was erected on Ninth avenue at Twenty-fifth street along the Hollidaysburg Branch Railroad, and during the same years several large business blocks were built in the heart of the city, the Masonic Temple, Phoenix Block, etc.

In 1889, it having become apparent that the macadamized streets were not suitable for a city of Altoona's size and importance, Eleventh avenue was finely paved with asphalt blocks between Eleventh and Seventeenth streets, and during the same and following years many other avenues were paved, asphalt and vitrified brick being used on some of them, so at this time the city streets are well paved in the best business sections and the work of paving additional streets and avenues is going steadily on.

In 1889-90, the Pennsylvania Railroad Company was again obliged to enlarge their plant and they purchased a large tract of land at Juniata, below the car shops, on which they erected extensive locomotive works. About the same time a new railroad was projected and completed to Wopsononock, a beautiful pleasure resort, six miles north of Altoona, and later extended to the coal fields of Cambria county; Clearfield and the north being its ultimate destination .

In 1893 a new Electric Passenger Railway Company was organized, " The Altoona and Logan Valley," and constructed electric roads to Hollidaysburg six miles southeast and to Bellwood seven miles northeast, thus furnishing convenient and cheap transportation to the county seat and other nearby towns. At the same time the same company constructed a beautiful park, lake and picnic grounds at Lakemont, midway between Altoona and Hollidaysburg, furnishing a place of recreation and amusement of incalculable benefit to the residents of the city and providing an additional source of profit to the road. May 1st, 1895, a paid Fire Department superseded the volunteers in the work of protecting the city from the ravages of fire.

Population.

The population of Altoona has previously been referred to and given in round numbers as 44,000, which is believed to be as nearly correct as it can be told without a new count, as the number is increasing daily. This of course includes the suburbs. A careful census taken by the directory canvassers in May, 1895, made the population of the different wards and suburbs as follows:

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Rolling Mill, Sixth Ward Suburbs and Allegheny Furnace..................................................................................................507
Seventh Ward Suburbs to Juniata..............................................................30
Juniata from Wopsononock Depot to Blair Furnace..............................1,418
Eighth Ward Suburbs, Pottsgrove, East End, and Greenwood................. 867

Total Suburban which ought to be taken into the city...............................6,633

Grand total, the real Altoona.................................................................42,235

Since the foregoing census over 200 new houses have been erected and occupied within the territory embraced. The steady growth of Altoona within city limits is shown from the Government Census as follows: Population in 1860 (the first after it was founded).................................. 3,591
Population in 1870 ..............................................................................10,610
Population in 1880 ..............................................................................19,710
Population in 1890  .............................................................................30,260

The total population of Blair county, 1890, was 70,866, and now it cannot be less than 80,000. Population of the State of Pennsylvania, 5,258,014. Only nineteen counties inthe State have a population equalling or exceeding that of Blair.

Assessed Valuation of Altoona.

Valuation of any place, as shown by the roll, gives but a very imperfect idea of its real wealth, yet it forms a basis or fair estimates. One portion of our wealth is not taxed and can therefore only be guessed at; this consists of thestock of goods in shops and stores, furniture and fixtures which do not go with the real estate; this probably amounts to more than $5,000,000 in Altoona.

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THE RELATIVE WEALTH OF THE WARDS AS SHOWN IN 1895.

First Ward assessed at .............................................$ 2,343,240
Second Ward assessed at............................................1,720,585 
Third Ward  assessed at...............................................2,468,291
Fourth Ward assessed at..............................................2,261,485 
Fifth Ward assessed at ................................................2,026,005 
Sixth Ward assessed at................................................1,742,065 
Seventh Ward assessed at............................................1,127,130
Eighth Ward assessed at...............................................1,769,575

     Total.......................................................$15,458,376

	The valuation of the entire county in 1895 was $31,252,097, from which it will be seen that
 Altoona City proper pays almost one-half the county tax and if the city limits were extended, so as to
 take in the suburbs which should be included, her valuation would be considerably more than one-
half that of the entire county.	          
           
          
          
        
     

Dates of Important Events in Altoona.

The first permanent white settlements of any account in the immediate vicinity of Altoona were made about the year 1810, although Thomas and Michael Coleman are said to have settled in Logan Township as early as 1775, and Hugh and John Long to have resided in Pleasant Valley in 1788.

Altoona was projected in 1849 and laid out in town lots by Archibald Wright of Philadelphia, the same year, but he sold no lots until 1851.

The deed of the land from David Robeson to Archibald Wright is dated April 24th, 1849.

The plot of Altoona was acknowledged by Mr. Wright, before an alderman in Philadelphia, February 6th, 1850.

The Pennsylvania Railroad Company began building their shops here in 1850 it is said, although the deed for the ground on which they stood was not made by Mr. Wright until August 6th, 1851.

The first lots sold by Archibald Wright, after he had plotted the town, were two on the corner of Twelfth avenue and Thirteenth street to the trustees of the First Presbyterian Church, for the price of one hundred dollars, the deed being dated February 11th, 1851.

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The first house was erected in Altoona in 1851 on Tenth avenue between Thirteenth and Fourteenth streets. John B. Westley, the carpenter and contractor, is still living in the city.

The first train of cars came into Altoona in 1850 from the east, and September 17th, 1850, cars ran through to Duncansville, and December 10th, 1850 to Pittsburg; crossing the mountains over the Alllegheny Portage which belonged to the State. The Hollidaysburg Branch was then the main line.

The Mountain Division, from Altoona west, via Kittanning Point, was not completed until 1854. The line was originally a single track.

The first passenger station was a frame building and stood on Ninth avenue between Twelfth and Thirteenth streets. It was moved to the north corner of Twelfth street and used for a fire engine house. The second floor is now Logan Hall.

The first president of the Pennsylvania Railroad, with whom Altoona had any concern, was J. Edgar Thompson.

The first postoffice in this vicinity was at Collinsville, from 1817 to 1851; during the latter year it was removed from there and established under the new name at Altoona.

Altoona was organized as a borough in February, 1854.

The first Burgess of Altoona was George W. Patton.

Altoona became a city in February, 1868.

The first mayor of the city was General George Potts.

The first stores in Altoona were those of Bernard Kerr , father of R. A.O. Kerr, Loudon & Feree and Adlum & Irwin. Mr. Kerr kept the first one in the old log farm house of David Robeson.

The first druggist was George W. Kessler; he began business in Altoona in 1853.

The first doctor was Gabriel D. Thomas, who resided in Pleasant Valley prior to the founding of Altoona, and who built one among the first residences in the new town.

The first lawyer was William Stoke, it is said, but he had no office here and only came to transact some business for the Pennsylvania Railroad, whose attorney he was. L. W. Hall, Esq., now of Harrisburg, was located here in 1855, and Col. D. J. Neff in 1860.

The first preacher to reside in Altoona was Rev. Henry Baker, who was pastor of the Lutheran church at Collinsville

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prior to the beginning of Altoona, and who came here with his congregation during the second year of its history.

The first public house in the vicinity was a tavern, where the White Hall Hotel now stands ; it was built by George Huff about the year 1834.

The first hotel erected in Altoona was the Exchange, which stood on Tenth avenue between Thirteenth and Fourteenth streets, where the Arlington now stands. It was kept by John Bowman. Among the earlier hotels was the Altoona House, where the Globe now stands; it was a frame building and burned down about the year 1887.

The first school-house erected by the borough was built in 1834 on the corner of Seventh avenue and Fifteenth street. Prior to the founding of Altoona a union church and schoolhouse combined stood on the present corner of Sixteenth street and Union avenue, just outside the early limits of Altoona. It was built during the year 1838 by the school directors of the township in conjunction with the Lutheran, Presbyterian and Methodist denominations and served the double purpose of church and school-house until the erection of churches and schools in Altoona. It is now used as a church by the African Methodist Episcopal congregation.

The first city superintendent of schools was John Miller.

The first church building erected in the new town of Altoona was the First Presbyterian, on the corner of Twelfth avenue and Thirteenth street in 1851. A minister from Hollidaysburg preached here every alternate Sunday beginning in November, 1851. It was a fair-sized frame building and was destroyed by fire in 1855. The trustees disposed of the ground December 3, 1855, for $3,000 and it is now occupied by the residence of the late William Murray. The congregation built on their present location in 1854.

The first bank established in Altoona was that of Bell, Johnson, Jack & Co. in 1853. It was later operated by William M. Lloyd & Co .

The first newspaper here was the Altoona Register, published for a short time by William H. and J. A. Snyder, in the spring of 1855. It did not survive the early frosts of that year, and after its suspension was succeeded by the Tribune, January 1, 1856, McCrum & Allison, proprietors.

The daily edition of the Tribune was first issued April 14, 1874. It was suspended April 14, 1975 and resumed January 28, 1878,

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since which time it has appeared regularly. The weekly has been published continuously since its
establishment, January 11, 1856.

The first daily newspaper published in Altoona was the Sun, which began a daily issue May 2, 1870, and suspended after seven months.

The Mirror was first issued June 13, 1874; the Times May 21, 1884 and the Gazette April 8, 1892.

The first water works in Altoona were owned and operated by the Altoona Gas and Water Company, a private corporation, which began to supply the borough with water December 15, 1859.

The first gas for, illuminating purposes, was furnished by the same company, beginning at the same time ; rate per 1,000 feet then $3.00, now $1.20.

The water-works were purchased by the city in 1872 and the first reservoir at Kittaning Point constructed soon after.

The first fire company, the Good Will, was organized in 1859, just prior to the completion of the water-works.

The first fire engine, a hand machine, was housed here October 22, 1859.

The first steam fire engine in Altoona was purchased by the Pennsylvania Railroad Company and brought here in 1867.

A paid fire department superseded the volunteers May 1, 1895.

The soldiers' monument in Fairview cemetery was erected July 4, 1867.

The first city directory of Altoona was issued in 1873 by Thomas H. Greevy, Esq. Since 1886 they have been published biennially by Charles B. Clark, Esq.

A county directory was published in 1882.

The first street improvements were the macadamizing of Eleventh and Eighth avenues in 1871-2.

The first good street paving was laid on Eleventh avenue, in 1889, asphalt block, between Eleventh and Bridge streets.

The first extensive and systematic sewer building was begun in 1888; although the first sewer, Eleventh avenue between Thirteenth and Fifteenth streets, was constructed in 1870. D. K. Ramey, contractor.

The first street railway began carrying passengers July 4, I882; the line extending from First street and Chestnut

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avenue to Eleventh street to Eleventh avenue, up Eleventh avenue to Bridge street and on Seventeenth street to Eighth avenue to Fourth street. Motive power---horses and mules;equipment -- six small cars.

Electricity was first used here to propel street cars July 4, 1891. The Logan Valley Electric Passenger Railway was completed and passengers carried to Hollidaysburg, June 14, 1893 and to Bellwood, July 1, 1894.

Telephone service in Altoona began in March, 1880.

Electricity for illuminating. in 1886. Streets lighted by electricity in 1888. For five years prior to that they were lighted by gasoline lamps, although gas had been used at a still earlier period.

The first planing mill, except that of the Pennsylvania Railroad, was built prior to 1860 by McCauley & Allison, on the corner of Green avenue and Eighth street.

The most extensive fire which had occurred in Altoona prior to 1896, was on April 16, 1869, burning about half the square enclosed by Eleventh and Twelfth avenues and Thirteenth and Fourteenth streets. It began on the corner of Eleventh avenue and Fourteenth street ; loss $60,000 to $70,000; but on January 6, 1896, a fire at the corner of Eleventh avenue and Eleventh street destroyed the Central Hotel and other property to the value of $100,000.

The Rolling Mill began operations in 1872.

The Silk Mill was built in 1888-9 and began operations in the spring of 1889.

The Altoona, Clearfield and Northern Railroad, formerly Altoona and Wopsononock was built in 1890-91.

Railroads of Altoona.

Being on the main line of the Pennsylvania Railroad, the great double track trunk route between the East and West, Altoona enjoys superior advantages in the matter of transportation. Cars from every part of the Union come to Altoona with their original lading, and freight may be billed through from here to the Pacific or Gulf coast and the Dominion of Canada. Altoona being the terminus of a division, all trains stop here to change engines and crews and take on through passengers for east or west. A number of branch lines reach every corner of the county to the

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South and east: Williamsburg, Martinsburg, Roaring Spring, Henrietta, Newry; and the terminus of the Morrison's Cove Branch at Henrietta is only about three miles from the Huntingdon and Broad Top Railroad, extending from Huntingdon south to Bedford and Hyndman, Pa., and Cumberland, Maryland.

At Bellwood, seven miles eastward, connection is made with the Pennsylvania and North Western which extends northwest through the rich coal regions of Cambria, Clearfield and Jefferson Counties to Punxsutawney and there connects with the Rochester and Pittsburg Railroad to DuBois, Bradford and Western New York.

At Tyrone, fourteen miles northeast, three branches lead off to the north and northeast; the Tyrone and Clearfield extending to Clearfield, Curwensville and DuBois; the Bald Eagle Valley extending to Bellefonte and Lock Haven, connecting at the latter point with the Philadelphia and Erie road for Williamsport on the east and Renova, Emporium, Kane, Warren, Corry and Erie to the west; and the Tyrone and Lewisburg branch extending northeast to Pennsylvania Furnace in Centre County.

At Huntingdon, thirty-four miles east, connection is made with the Huntingdon and Broad Top for Bedford and Cumberland, the latter on the line of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad.

At Cresson, fifteen miles westward, two branches lead off from the main line, one extending to Ebensburg, Spangler and Carrolltown, and the other to Ashville, Frugality and Coalport .

There is also another short road, the Altoona, Clearfield and Northern, extending from the eastern suburb, Juniata, to Wopsononock mountain resort, and coal fields of Cambria County, which bring considerable amount of coal and lumber to the city. Another railroad is likely soon to be constructed to Altoona, coming from Philipsburg on the north. Altoona, with her nearly 50,000 inhabitants is too valuable a prize for railroad enterprise to remain long with but a single through line.

The railroad traffic passing through Altoona is immense The tonnage of the Pennsylvania Railroad system for 1895 was about one-seventeenth of the entire tonnage of the United States, and probably one-half of this passed through Altoona.

Twelve passenger trains leave Altoona daily for the west and eleven for the east, and some of these trains are composed of two or three sections; practically so many additional complete trains.

Six passenger trains depart each day for the southern part of the county over the branches previously mentioned.

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The number of freight trains leaving and arriving depends of course on the condition of trade, crops, etc.

Altoona has one of the largest freight yards in the country, being over five miles long and capable of holding thousands of cars.

STATISTICAL OF THE PENNSYLVANIA RAILROAD .

Capital stock.................................................... ..........$139,301,550
Miles of railroad owned and operated east of Pittsburg and  
            Erie....................................................................... ......4,490
Miles of railroad owned and operated west of Pittsburg and
        Erie .................................................................................4,326

Total mileage of owned, operated and leased lines................... 8,816
Number of tons of freight hauled on lines east of Pitts-
        burg and Erie, year ending Dec. 31,   1895 .............78,259,526
Number of passengers carried in 1895............................37,452,437
Value of shops at Altoona, buildings and grounds,
        not including machinery, about ................................$2,000,000 
Number of men employed in Altoona shops, December roll,
       1895; Machine Shops 4,051, Car Shops 2,364, Juniata
       Shops 789; Total ............................................................7,204
Number of men employed on the three divisions entering
      here, who reside in Altoona; estimated by taking 1/2 Pittsburg
      and 1/3 of Middle Division ................................................1,880

Total Pennsylvania Railroad employes in Altoona......................9,084

Monthly pay roll for shops .................................................$325,000
Monthly pay roll for Division. employes and trainmen
         residing in Altoona.........................................................75,000
Amount paid out monthly for material and supplies, about.......100,000
Total amount of money put in circulation here monthly
                     by the Railroad Company, about ...........................500,000

Altoona has two lines of electric cars; both are under one management and the service is very satisfactory.

The first road was built in 1882 by the City Passenger Railway Company and was opened on the 4th of July of that year with a notable demonstration. Electricity was not then in use and horses were the motive power. The line at that time was about three miles long, extending from First street

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to Eleventh avenue to Bridge street, to Seventeenth street, to Eighth avenue, to Fourth street where the cars were turned on a turn-table and went back over the same route. Soon afterward a branch was constructed from the corner of Eighth avenue and Seventeenth street to Seventh avenue, to Twenty-fifth street.

In 1889 and 1890 a line was constructed from the corner of  Eleventh avenue and Bridge street to Eighteenth street, to (Union avenue, to Broad street and along Broad street to city line at Twenty-seventh street. The line was also extended from Fourth street and Eighth avenue, to Sixth avenue, to Lloyd street, below First street.

In 1891 electricity took the place of horses and a power house was erected on Nineteenth street between Ninth and Margaret avenues.

In 1892 the Altoona and Logan Valley Electric Passenger Railway Company was formed and in 1893 they built a line to Hollidaysburg, six miles long.

Early in 1894 they built a line to Bellwood, seven miles.

The Hollidaysburg line begins at the corner of Twelth street and Ninth avenue and extends along Ninth avenue to Thirteenth street, along Thirteenth street to Fifth avenue, along Fifth avenue south-eastward to city line and beyond that to Hollidaysburg.

The Bellwood line extends from the corner of Eleventh street and Eleventh avenue to Ninth street, to Howard avenue, to Third street, to Lexington avenue, to First street, to Chestnut avenue and north-eastward on the country road to Juniata, and from there crossing the railroad, down the valley of the Little Juniata - five miles farther to Bellwood.

The Logan Valley, soon after its completion, secured a controlling interest in the City Passenger, and the two roads are now operated practically as one, under the same Superintendent.

In the city cars run six minutes apart, and on the Logan Valley to and from Hollidaysburg, every fifteen minutes, and to and from Bellwood every half hour during the day and until a late hour at night.

Fares in the city, including a transfer if desired, over any of the City Passenger Lines are but five cents, and the same charge is made to Lakemout Park or Llyswen, and ten cents to Hollidaysburg.

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To Juniata, the fare is five cents and to Bellwood ten cents additional. No transfers are given between the City Passenger and the Logan Valley.

Lines have also been projected on other streets and avenues in the city beside those already noted, and some of them are likely to be built soon, especially one up the Dry Gap along Nineteenth street or on Washington avenue.

The Logan Valley Company laid out and beautified a fine park with a large artificial lake at a point midway between Altoona and Hollidaysburg which they called Lakemont, and which has no equal for beauty in the state. It is visited daily in summer time by hundreds and often by thousands of people, and in winter time the lake affords excellent skating, no charge being made for admission at any time.

The number of employes is 175.

 The capital stock of the City Passenger is....................... $200,000
And of the Logan Valley, authorized $500,000 issued...... 375,000

                    Total stock outstanding............................. $575,000
   The number of passengers carried in 1895 was 2,800,000.

The officers of both companies are:

JOHN LLOYD, President.
C. A. BUCH, Secretary and Treasurer.
S. S. CRAINE, Superintendent.

Business and Resources of Altoona.

In addition to being the location of the principal shops of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, the depot and base of supplies for engines, cars and furnishings, and the headquarters of the General Superintendent, the Superintendent of Power and Superintendents of other lesser departments, employing, in the aggregate, over 9,000 men, which would suffice alone for the foundation of a large city, Altoona has other substantial advantages.

Situated on the main line of this great trunk route between the East and West, she is surrounded on all sides with the elements of wealth and prosperity. Large deposits of bituminous coal and beds of fire clay to the north and west.

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Iron ore to the southeast; limestone in almost inexhaustible supply on three sides and mountains of ganister stone nearby, indispensable in the manufacture of steel and formerly imported from Europe. Lumber regions to the north, east and west, and a rich agricultural country south. All reached and penetrated by the Pennsylvania Railroad and branches or leased lines; with competing lines contemplating an entrance, her future stability is assured. Altoona is also the natural distributing point for the territory within a radius of forty to one hundred miles in every direction and is destined, at no distant day, to become an important wholesaling city.

MANUFACTURING INTERESTS.

The manufacturing interests of Altoona are now largely with the Railroad Company, and include the production of engines, cars, both freight and passenger, and all kinds of railroad supplies. We have in addition to this mammoth industry:

One Rolling Mill employing 135 to 175 men, and producing annually $250,000 to $300,000 worth of merchant bar iron.

Two Iron Foundries.

One Silk Mill, employing 250 women and boys preparing the raw silk into yarn for the loom.

One Ice Plant, employing 30 men and manufacturing 50,000 pounds of ice per day from pure distilled water, by chemically produced cold.

Twelve Planing Mills, employing in the aggregate 350 to 500 men in the mills, manufacturing rough lumber into doors, sash, frames, etc., also several hundred carpenters outside.

One Brick Yard, employing 25 to 40 men and producing 3,000,000 building brick annually.

One Brush Factory.
One Broom Factory.
One Soap Factory.
One Washing Machine Factory.
One Mattress Factory.
Three Manufactories of Soft Drinks.
Three Marble and Granite Works.
One Steam Dye Works.
One Flouring Mill.
Two Chop and Feed Mills.
Four Breweries, employing 50 men in the aggregate.

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One Candy Manufactury.
Three Cabinet Shops.
Six Cigar Factories, employing 75 persons.
Four Ice Cream Manufactories.
Eleven Merchant Tailors, employing in the aggregate 50 to 200 persons.
Forty Shoemaker Shops, employing 75 to 100 men.

Five Wagon Shops, employing 20 to 30 men making and repairing - principally the latter - wagons, carriages and sleds.

Eleven Watchmakers and Jewelers, employing in the aggregate 25 men repairing watches and clocks used in Altoona and vicinity.

Five Harness and Saddler Shops, employing 20 to 30 men making and repairing harness for the local trade.

Eleven Bakeries, employing 50 to 60 men in the production of bread, cakes, etc., mostly for home consumption.

Nine Printing Offices, printing four daily and four weekly newspapers, besides irregular publications.

One Book Bindery, doing the local work of the city and vicinity.

MERCANTILE.

In the mercantile line there are the following and plenty of room for more :

Four Wholesale Grocery and Provision Houses.

One Wholesale Wood and Willow-ware House.

Three Wholesale Produce and Commission Houses.

Three Wholesale Confectioners.

Seven Wholesale Coal Dealers.

Four Wholesale Cigar and Tobacco Houses.

One Wholesale Dry Goods and Notion House.

Three Dry Goods Houses that sell wholesale and retail.

Six dealers in Builders Supplies, besides the planing mills.

Four banks with an aggregate capital of $400,000.

Ill addition to the above are several wholesale agents who carry only samples for firms in other cities.

In the retail trade there are:

Seven Dry Goods Stores.

Nine Book and Stationery Stores.

Three China, Glass and Crockery Stores, exclusively, besides three Novelty Stores that handle large quantities of  the same goods.

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Fourteen Clothing and Gents' Furnishing Stores.

 Three Hat and Gents' Furnishing Stores.

 Twenty-two Retail Coal Dealers.

 Twenty-two Drug Stores.

Six Flour and Feed Stores.

Ten Furniture Stores, three of which carry other lines.

 Forty-six General Stores.

One hundred and thirty Grocery and Provision Stores.

Two Butter Markets.

Seven Hardware Stores.

 Six Installment and House-furnishing Stores.

 Fifty-five Meat Markets.

Ten Milk Depots.

Six Millinery Stores.

Five Music Stores.

 Five Novelty, Notion and 5 and 10c. Stores.

Eleven Shoe Stores, and twenty to thirty other dealers that sell shoes.

 Four Tea Stores.

 Nine Jewelry Stores; watches, silver, etc.

Three Department Stores, (these are enumerated also with the dry goods.)

PROFESSIONAL.

Eight Aldermen ; one for each ward.
Forty-seven Lawyers.
Sixty-two Doctors, including two ladies.
Thirteen Dentists' Offices. Four Architect Firms.

MISCELLANEOUS.

Four Florists and Greenhouse proprietors.
Fifty-four Barber Shops.
Thirteen Blacksmith Shops.
Two Carpet-cleaning Establishments.
Twenty Master Painters and Paper-hangers.
Five Fruit Stores carrying fair stock, besides numerous smaller ones.
Six Steam and Hand Laundries.
Five Livervy Stables.
Six Photograph Galleries.
Twenty-four Plumbing Shops.
Six Sewing-machine Agencies.

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Twelve Restaurants.
Eight Tin Shops.
Twenty-seven Hotels, and twenty-two others with hotel license.
Eleven Fire Insurance Agencies.
Five Life Insurance Agencies.
Three Money Loaning Agencies ; real estate security.
Two Pawn Shops.
Seven Real Estate Agencies.
Thirty-four Building and Loan Associations.
One Theatre or Opera House.
One Music Hall - East Side Theatre.
One Variety Theatre or Musee.
One Natatorium or Swimming School.
Twelve Public Schools and Five Parochial Schools.
Three Business Colleges, or Commercial Schools.
Forty-two Churches, comprising sixteen denominations, with church property valued at $1,200,000.

TRANSPORTATION, LIGHT, Etc.

Two Railroads in operation and others projected.

Two Electric Passenger Railways with twenty-five miles of track; lines to Hollidaysburg on the south and to Bellwood on the northeast.

One Express Company.

Two Telegraph Companies.

Two Telephone Companies.

One large Electric Light Plant, whose 200 two-thousand candle power arc lights, supplemented by those of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, make Altoona the best lighted city in the country.

One Gas Company, with one of the finest plants in the state, making both coal and water gas.

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Pennsylvania Railroad Shops at Altoona.

These are the largest railroad shops in the United States and employ over seven thousand men. They consist of three distinct plants in different parts of the city.

The original plant lies between Ninth and Tenth avenues, between Eleventh and Sixteenth streets, and occupies twenty-eight acres of ground, the buildings having an actual floor area of over ten acres. Originally all the departments were located here: locomotive, freight car and passenger car, and machinery and supplies. This part is now called the "Machine Shops," and includes the following shops and departments:

One iron foundry, size 1OOx250 feet, where all the iron castings used in the construction of cars are made, with the exception of car wheels.

One brass foundry, size 60x80 feet, where car wheel bearings and all brass castings are made.

One blacksmith shop, size 56x273 feet, with a wing 66x124 feet, containing thirty fires and three bolt furnaces.

One blacksmith shop, size 67x188 feet containing twenty fires.

One blacksmith shop in part of old No. 2 round house containing twenty-six fires.

One wheel foundry, size 73x140 feet, and a wing, 56x94 feet, with engine-house and boiler-house adjoining. The cupola chamber of this foundry is 29x40 feet, and the ladle will hold 20,000 pounds of melted iron.

One new wheel foundry, size 66x160 feet, with cupola of forty tons capacity.

One boiler shop, size 70x125 feet, with an addition or L, size 53x62 feet, and another building used for finishing which is 58x124 feet. Also about two-thirds of the old No. 2 round-house is used as a boiler shop and devoted to repairs.

One flue shop, 45x126 feet, where the flues of the boilers are made and repaired.

One lathe shop, 70x426 feet, two stories high, where castings are planed and turned smooth, cylinders bored out, etc.

One vise shop, T-shaped, one part 60x250 feet, and the other 60x90; also a grinding room 60x120 feet. In this shop the different pieces of steel used in the construction of engines are filed and ground smooth, and fitted with great precision, so as to work perfectly in the position for which they are designed.

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One air-brake shop, size 60x75 feet, in which the air-brake machinery and supplies are made; also steam guages, safety valves, etc.

Three erecting shops, two of which are 66x350 feet, and one 52x356 feet, in which the locomotive engines are put together and made things of life, power and beauty. Traveling cranes, capable of lifting twenty- five tons weight are used to handle the heavy pieces of iron and steel used here.

One paint shop, 36x300 feet, in which the engines, tanks and cabs are painted, ornamented and varnished.

One tin and sheet iron shop, size 67x150 feet, where all the tin work and many articles in sheet iron and copper are made.

One telegraph machine shop, size 48x60 feet, in which much fine work is done in the manufacture and repair of telegraphic and electrical apparatus and supplies.

One pattern shop, size 70x140 feet, furnished with a 30-horsepower engine, planers, saws and other wood-working machinery. Here all the patterns for the various castings used in the shops are made. A pattern storehouse, 50x100 feet, is connected with this shop.

One cab and tank shop, size 42x105 feet, in which cabs and tanks are repaired, wheelbarrows and cow-catchers made and other work done. The new cabs are now made at the Car Shops.

One carpenter shop, 28x60 feet, with office attached. This is the headquarters of the carpenters who repair roundhouses and shops, build signal towers, repair bridges, etc.

One roundhouse for Middle Division engines, size 235 feet in diameter, with turntable and thirty-one tracks. Here engines are groomed, cleaned, examined and have slight repairs made to them when required after each trip, and prepared for the next run.

One roundhouse for Pittsburg Division engines, size 300 feet in diameter, with turntable and forty-four tracks. The men who take charge of the engines when they come in and make them ready for succeeding trips are commonly called engine hostlers.

One building, two stories high in part and three stories in part, size 40x200 feet, used as storehouse and testing room on first floor, and offices, testing department and chemical laboratory on second and third floors. The store contains the various small tools and supplies used about the shops and along the road between Pittsburg and Philadelphia; and the storekeeper keeps a record of all material used in the construction of everything made in the shops or furnished to other shops along the road. Many thousands of dollars worth of goods pass through the storehouse monthly.

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The testing department examines and tests all material bought for use in the shops, before it is accepted; this being done by both mechanical and chemical tests.

The clerical department, keeping a record of all the work done, cost of the same and the time of the men, requires the assistance of more than forty accountants.

The department of labor is also one of considerable importance and requires over one hundred men loading , unloading and shifting cars and keeping the shop yard in proper shape. The foreman of this branch has a small office building for his use.

The watchmen form another part of the service, not less important than the others, as it is their duty to guard against fires and theft. Over forty of them keep watch of the buildings, grounds and merchandise; sixteen by day and twenty-five by night.

The different kinds of work done here will be apparent from the foregoing, and some conception of the amount from the following figures:

Average amount of iron melted at the iron foundry for the past ten years, 38,500,000 pounds, or 19,250 tons annually. This does not include the wheel foundry.

In the car wheel foundry, 100,000 to 110,000 wheels are moulded annually, each wheel weighing 500 to 700 pounds.

In the boiler shop an average of two locomotive boilers per week have been made for ten years past, besides many stationary boilers and repairs to thousands of both kinds annually.

The other departments are conducted on a scale of equal magnitude.

G. W. Strattan is Master Mechanic of these shops.

The Car Shops, "Lower shops," as they are commonly called, though not so appropriately since the erection of the Juniata shops still farther eastward, were the first enlargement made by the company after the original site at Twefth street became overcrowded. They were erected in 1869-70, and are situated between the main line tracks and Chestnut avenue, from Seventh street eastward to a point below First street, the lumber yard extending still further eastward for a distance of one-half mile to Juniata shops. Previous to the building of these shops, the car work, both new and repair, was done in the shops located near Twelfth street, but since then all such work has been done here at these car shops.

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The car shops occupy 91 6/10 acres, including yards, and consist of the following buildings: No. 1 planing mill, in size 72x355 feet, filled with all kinds of planers, mortising and boring machines, and other wood-working machinery, driven by a 250 horse-power Corless engine, which is located in an adjoining building, 25x100 feet, and to which all shavings are carried through large iron pipes by force of suction of large blowers. The various pieces of wood used in the construction of cars are here made ready to fit into their proper places without change.

No. 2 planing mill, 44x77 feet, with carpenter shop attached, 40x115, and engine room 16x38, and boiler room 25x39. This planing-mill is engaged for the most part in getting out work for the company's buildings, depots, telegraph towers, etc., but much other work is done. There are machines for wood carving, and for turning all kinds of handles for tools.

A blacksmith shop 80 feet wide and 493 feet long, in which are fashioned all the various shapes of iron for use in carbuilding. Here are steam-hammers of 1,200 to 5,000 pounds stroke, used in forging heavy irons. A bolt machine weighing 60,000 pounds, capable of making 1,000 two-inch draft pins in a day; another of 40,000 pounds weight, which makes 3,000 coupling pins in a day. Immense iron shears, capable of cutting a bar of cold iron 3 inches thick and 6 inches wide in a second's time, or punch a hole three inches in diameter through a plate of cold iron two and one-half inches thick with the same facility.

A bolt and nut shop, 30x 135 feet.

A truck shop, 75x85 feet, where car trucks are put together ready to set the car body on.

A machine shop 70x130 feet. Here are two hydraulic presses for forcing wheels on the axles and taking them off when unfit for further service. These presses can exert a power equal to the weight of one hundred tons, and wheels must go on the axle with a pressure of not less than twenty-five tons in order to be secure.

An upholstering shop, 70x200 feet, divided into several rooms.

A cabinet shop 70x167 feet, and another room 70x200 feet, formerly the passenger car paint shop but now used by the cabinetmakers; also a room on the second floor of this latter building 50x70 feet; also another room 12x25, used for steaming and bending wood into various shapes.

A passenger shop (132x211 feet), and connected with this is a storage building for iron work 20x100 feet, and a shed for dry and worked lumber, 70x75 feet.

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This department is capable of building twenty-five passenger coaches per month, but as a great deal of repair work is done they seldom make so many new cars in a month. The magnificently luxurious parlor cars of the company  are all made here.

A paint shop, 135x420 feet, wherein all the passenger, parlor, mail, express and baggage cars are painted, ornamented and varnished. It will hold forty of the largest passenger cars, with room for men to work on all at the same time.

Another paint shop, 100x400 feet, in which freight cars are painted. It is not large enough, however, to hold all the freight cars usually in the process of building, and many are painted while standing on the tracks outside. Another paint shop, 53x54 feet, is used by the house painters who paint depots, telegraph towers and other company buildings.

An air-brake shop, 55x250 feet, with three tracks running the entire length of the building. Annexed to this building is a storage building, 25x60 feet, and an office for the foreman, 15x18 feet. Also a large covered platform, 20x90 feet, for storage purposes.

A freight car shop which is circular, 433 feet in diameter, with a turntable 100 feet in diameter in the open space, or court, in the centre. Within the covered space of this shop seventy-five freight cars can be built at once, and while numbers of others receive repairs on the tracks within the circle.

A tin shop, 70x175 feet.

A buffing room, 37x100 feet, occupying the second floor of a brick building near the tin shop.

A store house, one floor of which is 36x 124 feet, and another floor 36x87 feet, and an additional building, 30x50 feet, for storing nails.

An oil house, 16x26 feet, containing oils and cotton waste, used in the axle boxes of the cars.

A fire engine house, 30x50 feet, in which is kept a steam fire engine and hose carriage as a protection against fires.

A lumber yard covering twenty-five acres of ground, included in the 61 above, and in which are stored several million feet of the best lumber. The lumber being constantly received, dried and loaded for the shop, requires the assistance of seventy-five men.

Thirty watchmen are employed in these shops

The general foreman and the shop clerk's offices occupy a large brick building adjoining the storehouse, and the force, including officers and clerks, numbers twenty-three persons.

John P. Levan is the General Foreman of these shops.

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THE JUNIATA LOCOMOTIVE SHOPS.

This latest addition to the works of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company at Altoona were begun in September, 1888, and finished in 1889-90. The first engine was turned out July 29th, 1891. The buildings occupy a plot of ground 33 6/10 acres, lying just east of the Car Shops' lumber yard, and between it and the Borough of Juniata, and comprise the following:

A machine shop, 75x258 feet, two stories high.
A boiler shop, 300x386 feet.
A blacksmith shop, 80x306 feet.
An erecting shop, 70x354 feet.
A boiler house, 45x78 feet.
An electricity and hydraulic building, 45x60 feet.
A paint shop, 67x147 feet.
A paint storehouse, 51-9x5-9 feet.
An office and storehouse, 52x7l feet, two stories high,
A gas house; 17x91 feet.

These shops furnish employment now to almost 800 men, and have a capacity for building 150 new locomotive engines per year. T. R. Brown is Master Mechanic of Juniata shops.

In addition to these shop buildings there are two large office buildings standing on Twelfth street, one at the corner of Eleventh avenue, a three-story brick, about 50x120 feet, and one on the corner of Twelfth avenue, about 80x100 feet, three stories high. The former is used as the offices of General Superintendent of the road, the Superintendent of Altoona Division, Superintendent of Motive Power, Principal Assistant Engineer, Maintenance of Way Department and Telegraph Department. The latter contains the offices of General Superintendent of Motive Power, Motive Power Clerk and Mechanical Engineer. Other departments of the road, viz Ticket Receivers and Relief Doctors have offices in the second story of the Passenger Station.

The Railroad Company also own the Logan House building and grounds, and a large three-story brick double dwelling on Eleventh avenue, just west of the Superintendent's office, in which reside the General Superintendent of the Road and the General Superintendent of Motive Power ; also several other dwellings on Twelfth and Eighth avenues, occupied by others of high rank.

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Officers Pennsylvania Railroad Co., 1896

George B. Roberts, President.
S. M. Prevost, General Manager.
J. R. Wood, General Passenger Agent.
William H. Joyce, General Freight Agent.
A. W. Sumner, Purchasing Agent. James A. Logan, General Solicitor.
The foregoing have their office in the City of Philadelphia, in the magnificent building, erected for Passenger Station and General Offices, on the corner of Broad and Market streets.

The following officers are located in Altoona:
F. L. Sheppard, General Superintendent Pennsylvania Railroad Division.
C. A. Wood, Chief Clerk to F. L. Sheppard.
F. D. Casanave, General Superintendent of Motive Power.
W. H. Rohrer, Chief Clerk to F. D. Casanave.
B. F. Custer, Chief Clerk of Motive Power.
J. M. Wallis, Superintendent of Motive Power Pennsylvania Railroad Division.
W. E. Blanchard, Chief Clerk to J. M. Wallis.
C. T. Witherow, Motive Power Clerk.
H. M. Carson, Assistant Engineer Motive Power.
M. W. Thomson, Principal Assistant Engineer.
A. C. Shand, Assistant Principal Engineer.
D. J. Neff, J. D. Hicks and A. J. Riley, Solicitors.
John R. Bingaman, Chief Clerk Maintenance of Way.
W. S. Humes, Chief Clerk of Transportation.
A. S. Vogt, Mechanical Engineer.
Charles B. Dudley, Chemist.
R. E. Marshall, Superintendent Altoona Division.
O.F. Delo, Chief Clerk to R. E. Marshall.
W. F. Snyder, Train Master, Altoona Division.
W. F. Taylor, Chief Telegraph Operator, Altoona Division.
Christ McGregor, Yard Master, Altoona Division.
G. H. Neilson, Supervisor, Altoona Division.
H. B. Weise, Assistant Supervisor, Altoona Division.
D. Steel, Assistant Train Master, Pittsburg Division.
William Herr, Assistant Train Master, Middle Division.

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G. W. Strattan, Master Mechanic, Middle Division.
A. W. Mechen, Chief Clerk to G. W. Strattan.
John P. Levan, General Foreman Altoona Car Shops.
L. B. Reifsneider, General Inspector Altoona Car Shops.
T. R. Browne, Master Mechanic, Juniata Locomotive Shops.
Charles T. Wilson, Station Master at Altoona.
H. L. Nicholson, Ticket Agent at Altoona.
A. T. Heintzelman, Freight Agent at Altoona.

Other Industries of Altoona.

The Altoona Iron Company is the next in importance after the railroad shops. Their rolling mill was erected in 1872-3 and has been in almost continuous operation since April, 1873. Merchant bar iron of all kinds is manufactured here and the annual product reaches into the hundred thousands; 150 men are employed. H, K. McCauley is Secretary and Treasurer and Robert Smiley Manager of the mill.

A fine silk mill was erected in 1888-9 and has been in continuous operation ever since. A large annex was built a few years later and a still more important addition is now projected. About 300 employes find work here and the amount of wages paid out annually is nearly $40,000. No cloth is woven, but the yarn is prepared for weaving in the looms owned by the company in the East. Schwarzenbaugh, Huber & Co., of New York City, are owners of the new part and lessees of the original plant.

The ice plant of the Pennsylvania Ice Company, limited, located at Fifth avenue and Thirty-first street, is a large concern and supplies the greater part of the ice consumed in the city. They have a capacity for manufacturing 50,000 pounds of artificial ice per day and in addition have immense ice houses at Point View, between Hollidaysburg and Williamsburg, where great quantities of natural ice are cut and stored each winter. F. H. Seely is one of the heaviest stockholders and resident manager of the company.

Of the twelve planing mills in the city, those of William Stoke, M. H. Mackey & Sons, Orr, Blake & Co., Frank Brandt, A. Bucher and the Parker Bros. are the largest.

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The four breweries of the city have an extensive trade, that of the Altoona Brewing Company on Thirteenth street being the oldest and largest. Wilhelm, Schimminger and Ramsey operate it now.

The gas works of the Altoona Gas Company are the largest between Philadelphia and Pittsburg. The company was chartered in 1857 and for many years their plant was at the corner of Eleventh avenue and Ninth street, but the present plant at Seventh avenue, and First street was put into operation in February, 1892, shortly after which the old works were demolished and the ground is now occupied by track and a freight shed of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company. John Lloyd is President of the Gas Company and George H. Harper Superintendent.

The Edison Electric Illuminating Company was organized in 1887, by John Loudon, A. J. Anderson and others and established a plant on Tenth avenue between Tenth and Eleventh streets, which was occupied until April, 1896, when the present large and thoroughly equipped plant at Union avenue and Nineteenth street was completed and put in operation. W. R. Dunham is President, having been elected early in the present year, and A. J. Anderson Secretary and Business Manager, E. B. Greene, Superintendent.

The city water system of Altoona is one of great magnitude, the plant having now cost over $1,000,000. The gathering and storage reservoirs at Kittanning Point, on the Pennsylvania Railroad at the Horse Shoe bend about six miles west of the city, are works of art as well as monuments of engineering skill and well repay a visit and inspection. They have a combined capacity of 430,000,000 gallons and over 45 miles of iron pipe, from 2 to 16 inches in diameter, convey the water by force of gravity to the city and distribute it to all residents.

The newspapers of Altoona city comprise four dailies and five weeklies, including the weekly edition of two of the dailies. Two of the dailies, the Tribune and the Times, appear in the morning and tell of the various happenings of the world during the preceding day and up until midnight, while two others, the Mirror and Gazette, coming from the press about 5 o'clock in the evening tell of the happenings, local and general, during the early part of the day.

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A number of monthly publications are also issued in the interests of various lodges and societies, but none of general circulation. These will be referred to again in the article on the press of the county.

Altoona has a well organized paid Fire Department, which superseded the volunteer firemen May 1, 1895. It consists of a Chief Engineer and 35 men. Three steam fire engines in service and two for emergencies; five hose carriages in use and two extra ones, one hook and ladder truck, 7,000 feet of hose (1 1/4 miles) and 14 horses for hauling the engines, truck and hose carts.

There is in the city a library, the " Mechanics," which while not being free is largely patronized by the best class of citizens. It is fostered and materially assisted by the Pennsylvania Railroad Company. G. W. Stattan is President Rev. Allan Sheldon Woodle Vice-President, W. C. Leet, Secretary, Miss L. L. Snyder, Librarian and Dr. C. B. Dudley, Chairman of the book committee.

Altoona has a public hospital. The building was first erected in 1885 at a cost of $40,000 and was opened for the reception of patients January 1, 1886. The building has since been enlarged and now, with the grounds, represent a value of about $60,000. John P. Levan is President, L. B. Reifsneider, Secretary. The medical staff consists of Drs. John Fry, Chief of Staff, F. N. Christy, W. S. Ross, J. N. Blose and J. F. Arney, who serve without compensation. It is supported by voluntary contributions and State appropriations.

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Big Things of Altoona.

The people of Altoona are not given to boasting; they are, in fact, too modest in putting forth the claims of their city to prominence. If they had a city like Altoona in California, Colorado or Kansas it would be advertised all over the world and heralded as a marvel of the age, but, when an Altoona man goes away from home or speaks of the town he only admits that it is a pretty good place, business is good, the city is growing rapidly, etc. Some evidently desire rather to suppress than exagerate the facts, for fear too many people will come here.

Among the very large things of which they could boast, are:

The Pennsylvania Railroad passing through and giving the best possible service in the matter of transportation.

The freight yard of the railroad here is nearly five miles long and capable of holding half the cars in the United States when the tracks are all laid.

The largest railroad shops in America, building the finest cars and locomotive engines made and employing over 7,000 men.

A growth in the past forty-five years, unprecedented in the history of this country, from a few scattered families to almost 50,000 people.

A future whose outlook is most promising.

A surrounding country unsurpassed in the world for beauty of location and picturesque scenery.

A climate more favorable to health and longevity than the boasted climate of California.

Water and air as pure as any nature has provided for man in any place.

Of manufacturing establishments the largest, after the railroad shops, are a rolling mill, employing 150 men, a silk mill with 250 employes, twelve planing mills, furnishing employment to 300 to 500 men, an electric passenger railway having 25 miles of track, employing 175 men and furnishing rapid and cheap transportation in the city and suburbs and to the county-seat and Bellwood.

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Hollidaysburg.

"Whoever is alive a hundred years after this will see a considerable sized town here, and this will be near about the middle of it.

Thus Adam Holliday is said to have spoken to his brother William, as he drove a stake into the ground on the hill above the Juniata river, in 1768, where Hollidaysburg now stands.

He was right; in 1868 the borough of Hollidaysburg occupied the land which he chose for a farm in that early day and nearly 4000 people claimed it as their home. It did not require one hundred years to work the change; in 50 years a small village had sprung up and Adam Holliday's children were enjoying the advantages of a civilized community and the results of their father's labor - Adam was dead. In 75 years from the date of this remark Hollidaysburg was the largest and most important town between Harrisburg and Pittsburg, having both a railroad and a canal. At that time only a few cities in the United States could boast of a railroad. The Allegheny Portage being one of the very early ones of this country. One hundred years after the settlement of the place Hollidaysburg was a flourishing borough containing, with its suburbs, and Gaysport 4,000 inhabitants. Having two large iron furnaces, two rolling mills and large machine shops and foundrys, and being the county seat of one of the most important counties of the state. Thus was the prophecy of Adam Holliday fulfilled.

The Holliday brothers, when they started from their early home in the Conococheague Valley, did not intend to locate here, and clearing the ground for the seat of justice of a great county was farthest from their thoughts. They had intended to go to the Allegheny Valley near Kittanning, but could not get through Blair County, the beauty of the situation appealed to them too strongly to be resisted and they resolved to settle here.

Thousands of other people since that time have experienced the same difficulty in passing through Blair County, if they stopped long enough to take in all the advantages it offered, they were sure to remain and thus it is that now more than 80,000 people have their homes here and the number is being rapidly augmented. What another half century may bring to the Empire of Blair man knoweth not, but in the innermost thoughts of her friends are visions of future wealth, prosperity and greatness, so vast that they hesitate to give expression to imaginations, lest they be laughed at as visionary and impossible.

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Adam Holliday purchased 1,000 acres of land on the eastern side of the river including all of the site of Hollidaysburg and William obtained a like amount on the western side where Gaysport now stands. They bought from the Proprietaries - descendants of William Penn, and the price paid was five pounds sterling per hundred acres, equal to $220.20 for each thousand acre tracts. Each built a log house on his tract, as both were men of families and cleared and resided on their land for many years. William is supposed to have kept his until his death but Adam was disposessed of his on account of some imperfection in his title. He was paid for it however, by the government some time after the Revolution, receiving $17,000 or $18,000 which made him a very rich man for this region and that time.

As to the location of the first houses erected, authorities differ and the exact truth cannot now be determined. Mr. U. J. Jones, writing a "History of the Juniata Valley" in 1855 says Adam Holliday's house stood about where the American House now stands, while H. H. Snyder, esq., writing some 25 years later locates it on the southwest corner of Allegheny and Montgomery streets. Adam Holliday died at or near Hollidaysburg in 1801 leaving but two children, a son John and a daughter Jane. The latter married William Reynolds, of Bedford county, proprietor of Bedford Springs Hotel. John Holliday lived the greater part of his life here and here he died in 1843. He had a family of ten children, vis: Adam, born Nov. 9, 1804, who went to Oil City, Pa. Mary born April 25, 1806, married Andrew Bratton and moved to Lewistown, Pa. Sarah, born Dec. 11, 1807, married Soloman Filler and moved to Bedford, Pa. Lazarus L., born Nov. 5, 1809, died in Missouri, July 17, 1846. John, Jr., born Dec. 8, 1811 was a soldier in the Mexican war and died on ship board while enroute from Vera Cruz to Galveston Aug. 2, 1842. Alexander L. born May 7, 1814, resided in Hollidaysburg all his life, Jane born Aug. 27, 1816 married J. L. Slentz and moved to Pittsburg, where she died in 1869. Caroline, born July 12, 1818, married D. McLeary and resided at Hollidaysburg all her life time. William R., Sept. 16, 1820, moved to Massachusetts. Fleming, the youngest, born May 25, 1823, and moved to the west. The names of children and grandchildren of William Holliday and what became of them we have been unable to learn, in the short time at our disposal.

The exact date at which Hollidaysburg was laid out, is in some doubt, but it was prior to the beginning of the present century,

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probably about 1790; though H. H. Snyder in his historical research came to the conclusion that it was at least ten years earlier because a Janet Holliday owned a lot, and a Janet Holliday was killed by the Indians in 1781. It is probable, however, that it was Jane Holliday, daughter of Adam, and not Janet daughter of William, who met so early and sad a death. Whatever may have been the date, the original plot contained but 90 lots 60x180 feet in size and the streets were Allegheny, Walnut and Montgomery a diamond was formed by taking 30 feet off the end of each of the four lots cornering there. As Allegheny street was 60 feet wide and Montgomery street 50 feet, it follows that the diamond was 120x170 feet, and so it has remained to the present time. The original plot cannot now be found and the only copy known is not dated.

The little town did not grow rapidly at first and in 1814 there were but three houses, a small store and a blacksmith shop. In 1830 it was not nearly so large or important a village as Frankstown, but when the canal was finished and the great basin and terminus located at Hollidaysburg the place immediately began to grow and in 1835 it was a very important town, far exceeding Frankstown. The Hollidaysburg Sentinel and Huntingdon, Cambria and Bedford County Democrat, the first issue of which was published Oct. 6, 1835, in a descriptive article said that the population was 1,200 and that no town in the interior of the state enjoyed more advantages than Hollidaysburg. This census included Gaysport. In 1836, eight daily transportation lines operated on the canal and railroad and the tolls collected on the canal, railroad, and for motive power that year amounted to $154,282.74. The borough was chartered in August that year and the council held their first meeting at John Dougherty's house Sept. 20, 1836.

Higher vilization soon became apparent for the young borough went in debt in June 1837 for public improvements. One of the bonds, or evidences of debt, reads as follows:

"HOLLIDAYSBURG BOROUGH LOAN.

'This is to certify that there is due to bearer from the Burgess, Town Council, and citizens of the Borough of Hollidaysburg ONE DOLLAR bearing an interest, redeemable in the payment of taxes, by virtue of an ordinance passed by the Town Council June 19, 1837."
''JAMES COFFEE, BURGESS."

$5,342.69 of these "borough notes" were outstanding on the 6th of April 1844, at which time the total indebtedness of the borough was $ 16,311.30.

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The ''Huntingdon, Cambria and Indiana County Pike" was completed from Huntingdon through Hollidaysburg to Blairsville in 1819 and the canal from Huntingdon to Hollidaysburg in 1832; the first boat coming from Huntingdon Nov. 28. The Allegheny Portage railroad was completed late in 1833 and operated in 1834 making a line of transportation by boat and rail complete from Philadelphia, through Hollidaysburg to Pittsburg, and Hollidaysburg became one of the most important towns between the two points, an extremely prosperous business place. When the new county was formed and Hollidaysburg made the seat of justice, in 1846, it added still more to her prestige and it seemed as if her cup of prosperity was full to the brim. A few years later, 1851, the Magnetic telegraph as it vas then styled, was extended from Bedford to Hollidaysburg and during the following year 1852 the railroad from Altoona was completed.

Until the construction of the canal, the business center of Hollidaysburg was at the diamond but with the advent of the canal it all gravitated to the basin at the foot of Montgomery street. A town hall and market house was erected about 1835, midway between the diamond and canal basin and many stirring scenes have been witnessed where now oppressive quietness reigns since the railroad superseded the canal and the latter was abandoned. The old market house was abandoned excepting a part which was fitted up for the borough fire company, but later it was entirely disused, and after standing tenantless for several years was finally torn down, at a period still quite recent.

The large warehouses and store buildings which were erected near the basin have been changed to dwellings and in some cases removed since the railroad superseded the canal, and the business part of the town has gone back to its old location around the diamond and along Allegheny street. Many of these changes occurred before the advent of any considerable manufactures. The furnaces, and rolling mills are of more recent origin than the railroad and even this industry seems to have reached its highest point some years ago.

The canal began to fall into disuse soon after the completion of the Pennsylvania railroad and in a few years more was entirely abandoned as a channel of commerce; the water stood stagnant within its banks a few years longer when it was drained off and the embankments broken down, the stone in the locks taken away for other uses and now the line is only faintly traceable through the county. The Allegheny Portage railroad began at the western

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end of the basin and continued thence across the Juniata and through Gaysport to Duncansville and "Foot of Ten" where it began its steep ascent of the mountain to another plane, along this plane to another incline and so on to the mountain top, and down on the other side to Johnstown, 39 miles from Hollidaysburg, the beginning of the western division of the canal.

Iron manufacturers had been operating in the upper Juniata Valley for 50 years before any furnaces were erected in Hollidaysburg, but to compensate, in some degree, for this, those built at Hollidaysburg, in 1855, were much larger and more complete than any others and used coke for fuel instead of charcoal as the earlier and smaller ones in the county had done. The first of these furnaces called the Hollidaysburg furnace but later known as No. 1, was built by Watson, White & Co., at a cost of about $6o,ooo. It stood on the Gaysport side of the river. The principal contributors to the enterprise were Col. William Jack, McLanahan, Watson & Co., Robert and B. M. Johnston, David Watson, William Jackson, A: M. White and Samuel S. Blair Esq. It was first put in blast Nov. 18, 1856, and had a capacity of 120 tons per week.

Chimney Rocks Furnace, later known as No. 2, was built in 1855-6 by Gardner, Osterloh & Co.. Although bugan later than the other it was completed first, but was of  less capacity. A few years later, owing to financial difficulties, these two furnaces came under one control. The Blair Iron & Coal Company composed of Watson, Dennison & Co. and the Cambria Iron Co., of Johnstown. They were thus operated for many years. Quite recently however, the old No. 2 furnace was abandoned and torn  down so that now there is but one furnace at Hollidaysburg.

The Hollidaysburg Iron and Nail Company is the name of the corporation now owning and operating one of the rolling mills at Hollidaysburg. The mill is located near the No. 2 furnace and was built in 1869 by B. M. Johnston. In 1866 some new members were taken in and the company chartered under the above name. The works have been operated almost continuously for thirty-six years.

The other rolling mill was built later and is now operated by the Eleanor Iron Company, R. C. McNeal Secretary and Treasurer. These are both quite extensive works, the Iron and Nail Company employing 150 men. Nails were made here at one time, but the nail department has not been in operation for some years.

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McLanahan, Smith & Co. have an extensive foundry and machine shop in Gaysport, where they manufacture large quantities of machinery which is shipped to various parts of the country, the Southern States especially. These works were first started in 1857 as the Bellrough foundry and have been enlarged several times since by successive owners.

HOLLIDAYSBURG DATES.

First settlement made in..............................................1768
Janet Holliday and brother massacred by Indians.........1790
 Town laid out about...................................................1790
Pike completed though ...............................................1819
Canal completed to here and first boat run...................1832
Portage Railroad completed........................................1833
Population 1,200 in.....................................................1836
Incorporated as a borough .........................................1836
Great flood.................................................................1838
Made county-seat.......................................................1846
First court held in M. E. church, July 27.......................1846
Magnetic telegraph from Bedford................................1846
Pennsylvania Central Railroad and first train.................1852
First foundry...............................................................1837
First fire engine (hand engine)......................................1837
First iron furnace.........................................................1855
First rolling mill............................................................1860
First water-works, from Brush Mountain  ...................1867
Present countail jail completed.....................................1869
Presbyterian church completed....................................1870
First steam fire engine..................................................1871
Present Court House built............................................1877
Largest fire, Wayne and Allegheny streets loss, $2,000,
           April, 14...........................................................1880
Telephone service from Altoona...................................1881
Memorable flood, May 31...........................................1889
Electric Passenger Railroad from Altoona.....................1893
Water brought from Blair run........................................1895
 Celebration of Semi-Centennial, June 11 and 12..........1896