Smethport, Pennsylvania, includes McKean County Courthouse and Bucktail Civil War Monument, churches, the McKean County Jail Building and McKean County Historical Society Old Jail Museum, the Upper Tavern, Hamlin Lake, and numerous historic residences and mansions along West Main Street, West King Street, State Street, West Green Street, East Main Street, South Mechanic Street, Rosehill Avenue, and Church Street. In 1807 Dutch land surveyors selected Smethport as northwest Pennsylvania's most perfect town site. Vast tracts of timber, rich oil reserves, and the arrival of rail transportation caused McKean County's economy to skyrocket in 1870, and by the 1880s Smethport's Mansion District was in full construction. In 1861 the Bucktail Regiment was formed in Smethport. In 1894 Henry Hamlin, then a resident, was the wealthiest private banker in the U.S. The first automated bowling pin setter was invented in Smethport in 1906, and Wooly Willy, a popular children's magnetic toy, was created there. Hamlin Lake, in the center of the village, invites visitors to picnic, hike, fish, kayak, or canoe.