The Founding of Milton

The first European settlers in this area came primarily from eastern Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware, and were mostly English, German, Irish, and Scotch. Among the best known early settlers was Marcus Huling, who built a tavern and blacksmith shop here and sold them just three days before the British and Seneca Indians stormed and burned Fort Freeland north of McEwensville on July 28, 1779, during an uprising that burned every small settlement in the area to the ground; it is believed that Huling was a British spy who fled beforehand. Andrew Straub, a Lancaster County native who settled here with his family in 1779, became recognized as the founder of Milton after building his first log home near the current site of the Milton Public Library and purchasing a 200-acre tract from the estate of Colonel Turbutt Francis that extended from Ferry Lane along Front Street north to Broadway and east slightly beyond the present railroad tracks. Several months earlier, James Black, a Sunbury merchant, had also purchased a 200-acre tract from the Francis estate; the part he developed joined Straub's at Broadway and extended north to Locust Street and east to the railroad area. Straub laid out his town lots in 1792 and Black laid out his tract in 1795, and for many years the two sections were informally known as Upper Milton and Lower Milton. To attract settlers and promote the community, Straub, an experienced millwright and miller, built and operated a log gristmill on Limestone Run for grinding wheat and corn, with a sawmill attachment for cutting planks and boards, near the current intersection of Race and South Front Streets. As Milton developed, small businesses opened especially along Front Street, lower Limestone Run and the square bordered by Broadway, Front, Mahoning, and Filbert Streets grew as industrial and business areas, and industry expanded greatly in the early to mid-1800's. John Armstrong's Milton Steam Tannery began producing leather hides in 1795 near Elm and Mahoning Streets; five whiskey distilleries operated within a few years of Milton's founding, including two owned by Moses and Samuel Teas and others owned by John McKisson, John Schneider, and John Sweeney near lower Limestone Run, with two more later established in the Upper Market Street area. Other early enterprises included the Milton Brewery, erected by William Nice at the northern intersection of Mahoning and Arch Streets, the Milton Roller Mill built by Fleming W. Pollock in 1835 as the first steam flourmill in this part of the state, the Steam Sawmill established in 1842 by William McCleery at the southeast corner of Locust and Arch Streets as the first steam-powered sawmill in the area, and R.F. Wilson & Company's Fly Net Factory, established in 1856 by Robert Wilson at South Front Street and Ferry Lane, which made the first patented flynet for horses and mules. Additional industries included Milton Car Works, W.K. Wertman's Carriage Works, D. Clinger's Planing Mill, other planing mills, a cigar factory, brickyards, and a railroad repair shop. Continuing its prosperity, Milton was incorporated as a borough by act of the state legislature on February 26, 1817, and at the first election the following month John Chestnut was elected Chief Burgess, the office known today as mayor.

Milton, Pennsylvania · United States