There is no more beautiful scenery to be found in Lycoming County than that of the Muncy Hills and in the vicinity of Montgomery, lying at the base of Penny Hill, from the top of which a picture of unsurpassed beauty unfolds itself.

Montgomery stands in the center of a section celebrated for its historic interest. Cornelius Low was probably the first settler in 1778 and was soon followed by John Lawson and Nicholas Shaffer.

The town grew slowly and for many years it was only a counterpart of many other such towns throughout Pennsylvania. It was made a postoffice March 26, 1836, with Samuel Rank as first postmaster and was incorporated as a borough March 27, 1887.

Before the advent of the railroad the town was known only for its famous eel dinners given frequently by the Menges families who lived on the other side of the river between it and the canal. They maintained nets at a point where the river entered the canal at the Muncy dam and often caught as many as 1,500 in a night. These they kept in live boxes ready to be taken out and cooked at a moment’s notice as only the Menges housewives could cook them. Parties came from all over the state to get these eel dinners and the fame of the Mengeses extended far and wide. It is a safe assertion that no one could cook an eel as well as the Menges women.

And thus it was with Montgomery until the Catawissa Railroad, afterwards purchased by the Reading, was built through from West Milton to Williamsport, thus giving the town what few other places, if any, possess, two large railroad companies whose tracks run so nearly side by side that a person can step from one to the other. Other towns have two railroads and some of them more, but it is doubtful whether any other town in the state has two with their tracks so close together.

This adventitious circumstance attracted the attention of a New Hampshire Yankee, Levi Houston, who located there in 1873. Houston was a skilled mechanic, having followed the trade since boyhood, and he quickly recognized the advantages of Montgomery as a manufacturing center. He started a foundry and machine shop and from that date Montgomery’s commercial prosperity was assured. The machine shops developed into a plant for making wood working machinery which went to all parts of the world. It was afterwards absorbed by the American Woodworking Machine Company with branches in several parts of the United States and has been recently acquired by The Yates-American Machine Company.

Other manufactories followed in the wake of the Houston interests until now there is a string of them extending along the entire length of the town. Montgomery has developed into a live, up-to-date manufacturing center, with a prosperous business whose heads are all charged with dynamic energy. There is little unemployment in Montgomery, as all the plants run practically on full time with plenty of orders to keep them going. There is the Montgomery Table Works, employing about 250 men; The Isaac C. Decker Company, Inc., employing 150; the Penn Furniture Company, with 125; the Montgomery Lounge Company, with about 75; Yates-American Machine Company, 50; the J. C. Decker Company, Inc., about 75; Lycoming Upholstering Company, 75; Wood Products Company, 30; Eastern Millwork Company, 35; H. E. Pysher Furniture Company, 35; the J. D. Baer Company, 30, and the E. F. Paff Company, 20.

Montgomery’s two banks are in a flourishing financial condition with a constantly increasing volume of business and the merchants have a good trade in the town, and with the surrounding farmer community.

The splendid concrete bridge across the river at Montgomery has greatly helped the town, as it has diverted a large volume of trade which formerly went to places farther down the river.

Montgomery has one weekly newspaper, good schools and churches and possesses all the advantages of a live manufacturing center. Its citizenry is almost wholly American, of the best type and most of them are home owners. A delightful social atmosphere pervades the borough and the community spirit is alive. Taxes are reasonable and real estate values not beyond the reach of the man of moderate means. In 1920 the borough had a population of 1,798.