Townships Boroughs Villages 

Blacktown 


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.


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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