Lewistown’s roots in ‘founding mother’
Borough has long supported its nation
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Happy quasquibicentennial, Lewistown
The Borough of Lewistown looks far different today than it did throughout its formative years. Above, the view a driver would see traveling the Narrows in 1910 — long before modern highways came along. Right, downtown Lewistown was bustling in the 1950s with Montgomery Ward occupying a key portion of the Square. At the top are two views of the middle of town in the form of a panoramic postcard — the photo on the left was taken sometime after 1906 and the one on the right prior to 1918.
Juniata River Valley Visitors Bureau
LEWISTOWN — The Borough of Lewistown is celebrating a significant birthday today, and if there were a cake, it would have 225 candles on top.
Incorporated in 1795, Lewistown will celebrate its quasquibicentennial — a word you may never hear again — this summer with a day of events in commemoration of the town’s heritage.
To say the past 225 years have been eventful is an understatement. As an important crossroad during the building of America, many events and people that shaped not only this area, but this country, can trace their roots back to the county seat of Mifflin County.
Situated on the north bank of the Juniata River at the mouth of the Kishacoquillas Creek, Lewistown, as noted on a Pennsylvania Historical Marker, is the site of five stages of travel, the old turnpike, the Pennsylvania Canal, the Juniata River, the Pennsylvania Railroad and today’s highway system. All of these forms of travel have lent a hand in shaping Lewistown’s history.
Happy quasquibicentennial, Lewistown
The Borough of Lewistown looks far different today than it did throughout its formative years. Above, the view a driver would see traveling the Narrows in 1910 — long before modern highways came along. Right, downtown Lewistown was bustling in the 1950s with Montgomery Ward occupying a key portion of the Square. At the top are two views of the middle of town in the form of a panoramic postcard — the photo on the left was taken sometime after 1906 and the one on the right prior to 1918.
First Settlers
The first European settlers in the area were of Scotch-Irish decent, arriving about 1750. Discovering the promising advantages and opportunities this area presented, the settlers began negotiating with the Native Americans for the purchase of valuable land. The most notable family to settle here was the Buchanan family in 1754. After securing much of the land where Lewistown now stands, Arthur and Dorcas Buchanan built a cabin near the mouth of Kishacoquillas Creek. However, the destruction of nearby Fort Granville during the French and Indian War forced the family to return to Carlisle, where Arthur died in 1760.
In 1762, his widow warranted his land in Lewistown and returned in 1765 to operate a trading post alone with her children, a startling decision for the era. As the decades passed, Dorcas became a very successful and admired businesswoman and was known to be “a high spirited, determined woman, full of energy and fire and possessed of a nature easily aroused.”
Known as Lewistown’s first European woman settler, Dorcas died at the age of 93 and her tombstone can be found at the cemetery at the corner of Water and Brown Streets. Dorcas’ legend can still be found around her former stomping grounds. A marker was placed at the mouth of Kishacoquillas Creek by the Juniata River where she may have first arrived, a former elementary school was named in her honor and a street in the borough still bears her name.
Fort Granville
As more settlers arrived and efforts were made to build cabins and clear land, the French and Indian War disrupted their efforts. A string of forts was constructed to defend the Pennsylvania frontier during this conflict. This included Fort Granville, erected in 1755-56. Located just east of present-day Lewistown, the fort was twice attacked by Native Americans. It was destroyed on July 30, 1756 when the entire garrison was either killed or carried into captivity and the fort was burned. Two Pennsylvania Historical Markers commemorate the event and are located at 1200 W. 4th St., Lewistown, even though the exact location of the fort is unknown.
Samuel Edmiston
Credited with foresight and considerable thrift, Samuel Edmiston purchased 300 acres of land and began laying out a town with lots set for schools, a courthouse, jail, cemetery and a park along the Juniata River (now known as Victory Park).
Development began with 70 lot holders in 1793 and by 1795, the town grew to 120 dwellings, including a combined courthouse and jail, which stood at the present site of the Mifflin County Correctional Facility.
During this time, the new county of Mifflin was formed in 1789 and Lewistown, named after William Lewis, a Philadelphia Quaker, lawyer, legislator and federal judge, became the county seat.
Transportation
In 1807, a turnpike from Harrisburg to Lewistown was approved by the Pennsylvania legislature and finally opened in 1817. Weekly coaches were operated by the Juniata Stage Company. Part of the turnpike included the Stone Arch Bridge built in 1813.
The Pennsylvania Canal was completed as far as Lewistown in 1829. The first boat named the “Juniata” arrived in November, drawn by two white horses, and the star spangled banner flying at the boat’s end. To celebrate the boat’s arrival, a celebration was held with a firing of the cannon, the cheering of onlookers and the music of the Lewistown band.
People of note who traveled the canal through Lewistown include U.S. senators Daniel Webster and Henry Clay; Gideon Wells, secretary of the Navy under President Abraham Lincoln; and Lincoln himself. Lincoln traveled through the area by canal prior to his election as president, stating, “I know well the people of the Juniata Valley…”
In 1849, the Pennsylvania Railroad opened to Lewistown with the first freight train arriving on Aug. 23. Passenger trains started to run regularly, once a day each way, starting on Christmas eve of that year.
Historic
Courthouse
Construction of what is now known as the Historic Courthouse on Monument Square was completed in 1843. The grand building was fabricated using 345,000 bricks, 25 kegs of nails, four iron vault doors and frames and six cast iron columns 26 feet high for a total cost of $15,000. The building became the scene of church gatherings, fraternal meetings and public spectacles, including a wire walker who crossed the street from a hotel across the street to a window in the back of the courtroom. The courtroom was also the scene of hundreds of naturalization ceremonies and the murder trial of the only man ever executed in Mifflin County history, Frank Lee. Susan B. Anthony spoke here on women’s suffrage in the 1880s.
Today, the courthouse continues to be a place for gatherings and home to many local artifacts.
Logan Guards
On Aug. 8, 1858, the original Logan Guards, comprised of volunteer citizens, were organized with John B. Selheimer named as captain. At the beginning of the Civil War, the news of the fall of Fort Sumter in Charleston, South Carolina, spread across the country and the nation’s capital city lay helpless to a Southern attack.
Less than 48 hours after the fall of the fort on April 11, 1861, President Lincoln sent out a call for 75,000 volunteer troops to protect the city of Washington. Captain Selheimer advised Pennsylvania Gov. Curtin that the Logan Guards of Lewistown were ready to move and offered their services.
Immediately, throngs of people gathered around the town square to see the 92 men leave to answer Lincoln’s call. The volunteers stepped off toward Lewistown Junction to board the train to the state capital, and from there to Washington.
The Logan Guards played a unique role in the Civil War and were recognized for their service by receiving a stone from Lincoln’s tomb in Springfield, Illinois. The stone sits in the base of the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Monument, which was built in 1906.
Monument Square
The Town Square, or what we know now as Monument Square, was once the site of farmer’s markets and social gatherings. An effort to beautify the square was generated in 1895 during Lewistown’s centennial.
To raise money for a monument, residents could by a share for $1 each or a quarter share could be purchased for 25 cents. Taxes were raised to help pay for the $15,000 project.
Construction of the monument began with several items of interest including a glass jar holding a list of soldiers from Mifflin County in the Civil War, a button and badge from the G.A.R., other military records, United State coins from the war years, plus an 1895 Lewistown centennial medal placed behind the Lincoln Stone.
Made of Vermont granite, the Solders’ and Sailors’ Monument measures 64 feet, 6 inches high. The figures on the four sides of the monument represent the branches of the military at that time – Navy, Infantry, Artillery and Cavalry.
A dedication was held June 21, 1906, with more than 25,000 people in attendance. The monument was rededicated in 1969, to become a memorial to all service people from Mifflin County.
Maj. Gen. Frank Ross McCoy
Born and raised in Lewistown, Major General Frank Ross McCoy is Lewistown’s most decorated citizen. Impressed by his father’s military record, McCoy entered West Point in 1893. McCoy served the country in many locations around the world moving up in rank until he became a Major General in 1929.
During a brief retirement, McCoy moved back to Lewistown in 1938, but was called to become president of the Foreign Policy Association in New York, a position he held during World War II. He was also part of the commission appointed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to investigate the Pearl Harbor disaster. In 1945, he was appointed by President Harry Truman as a U.S. Member of the Far Eastern Commission, serving as chairman.
McCoy passed away in 1954 in Washington. His home at 17 N. Main St. and many of the family’s belongings were given to the Mifflin County Historical Society. The McCoy House Museum has a room dedicated to the McCoy family’s belongings.
Tropical Storm Agnes
Lewistown is no stranger to great floods. During the flood of 1889, 125 houses were carried away or damaged by flood waters. In 1936, the St. Patrick’s Day Flood hit Lewistown with an estimated $4 million in property damage with $2 million being to the American Viscose Corporation plant, 800 homes flooded and three deaths.
In 1972, Tropical Storm Agnes would devastate the community with thousands of homes destroyed and American Viscose hit once again. “The Viscose” employed 2,000 workers and sustained the local economy, but after the flood of 1972, the plant closed its doors. This closing shook the local economy, but revitalization efforts by the community earned Lewistown a great honor.
All-American City
Less than two years after the disastrous storm changed the lives of Lewistown residents and surrounding communities, citizens stepped up to help their fellow neighbors and neighboring towns to bring the area back from the brink. The Mifflin County Industrial Development Corporation and the Juniata Valley Area Chamber of Commerce worked to attract 11 new industries to the area and three existing industries to expand, creating 1,900 new jobs.
Known as “the town that wouldn’t quit,” Lewistown was named one of the nation’s 10 All-American Cities for 1973 by the National Municipal League. The award was given in recognition of the borough’s economic recovery, improved health services and downtown redevelopment.
Residents saw this honor for what is was, an award for what they did yesterday and a challenge of what they could do for tomorrow.
Today
That same fighting spirit continues 225 years later with community leaders who work hard everyday to make this a town worth living in, working in and traveling to. Dorcas’ entrepreneurial spirit can be seen in the young business owners who believe in this town. Wonder what Edmiston would think of the town he envisioned all those years ago?
Plans for a 225th birthday celebration are in the works for this summer and will be announced at a later date.
SOURCES:
Souvenir Booklet on the History of Lewistown Pennsylvania and the Greater Lewistown Area, circa 1970
The Logan Guards: The Civil War’s First Defenders from Lewistown, Pennsylvania, by Forest K. Fisher, 2011
Mifflin County’s Trail of History: Monument Square and the Lincoln Stone, 2018
Mifflin County’s Trail of History: Historic Courthouse, 2009
The Sentinel, All-American City Special Edition, April 15, 1974
