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The
other village in the township [is] Balm Post-office, or Blacktown, as
it is called. John Heastley
built the second house in London, about 1831. Simon Uber had the first
blacksmith- shop the year previous. Peter
Uber erected the first-dwelling in 1830, and it is now
occupied by W. A. Coulter. Matthew
McDowell, Jr., came, in 1831, from Pine township, where Robert McDowell and Matthew McDowell, Sr., had
located, respectively, in 1799 and 1798, “taking up” a tract of 800
acres, on Cranberry Plain.
The
First Settler at Blacktown was Henry
Black, who was soon followed by his brother Alexander; the first house at
the place was a log-house, built by them.
The
First Store at the place was kept by James
S. Black, about 1845. It was a small grocery, and he did
not continue it long. It has since been operated by William Gilmore, Black & Stewart,
Black &. Painter, and Alfred
Painter, the present proprietor. When James S. Black kept it, his
stock consisted, principally, of a barrel of whiskey. He was not a
relative of the original settlers. The first blacksmith-shop was kept
by him, about 1843-44; and his brother, Alexander
T. Black, kept the first wagon-shop, about 1840. There are
now two blacksmith-shops, one opened, about 1855, by Henry T. Van Horn, and the
other, carried on for some years, by James
Stevenson.
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The
First Hotel was opened by Christian
Snyder, about 1848, and hotels have since been kept by Henry Van Horn, James Stevenson
and Adam Ketler.
The
First School in the village was kept in a frame building, erected about
1847; that building
has been removed, and a substantial brick
structure erected in its place. The first teacher in the frame-building
was Harriet Black, now Harriet McCready, of New
Bedford, Mercer county, Pennsylvania.
The First Church was built by the German
Lutherans in the neighborhood of the year 1825. Their first preacher
was, probably, Rev. Daniel
Rawhouser. Their present [1877] pastor is Rev. Gottlieb Kranz.
The German Reformed Society built a church
above the Lutheran structure, on the hill, near the town, about 1862.
This society was organized by Rev.
Abner Dale, who was their first minister. Their present
pastor is Rev. Mr. Differbacher.
The two societies, for some time, worshiped in the old building
belonging to the Lutherans; the present edifice of that society being
the second on the site. The old church was a rough frame-building, and
was torn down to give place to the new one.
History
of Mercer County,
1877, page 82
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