[birds chirping] [music playing] MALE NARRATOR: "To write a history of a county, following through all its stages of growth, is no ordinary task.

There is much in the history of Blair County that can be written with a feeling of pride.

Yet, there has been a remarkable neglect or indifference along nearly all lines of endeavor among our forefathers in preserving the records of their doings.

It is therefore highly important that a permanent and effective historical society be organized in the interest of the history that is being made."

Jesse Sell, 1911.

[music playing] FEMALE NARRATOR: Blair County stands at an intersection of past and present.

The region has witnessed its share of struggles and heartache, indifference and decline.

Yet, history also reveals tales of fortitude.

Shaped by geography, fueled by industry, forged by war, and remade through innovation, the area's story is representative of the evolving American experience.

The story of Blair County is really a microcosm of American history, where you have all these American historical events, like the frontier of the 1700s, and you have abolition, and various wars, and industry.

Blair County has all of that.

And so when we tell the stories of Blair County, really, you're telling the story of America.

Blair County history is important because this area saw advances in transportation, manufacturing.

Blair County really was a link to Western Pennsylvania and the greater American West from there.

FEMALE NARRATOR: At the heart of the region's evolution is the relationship between people and the land.

The Allegheny Mountains long served as barriers and gateways to early travelers.

The later emergence of an elaborate canal system in the mid-19th century would conquer this natural obstacle in a way previously thought impossible.

But there was perhaps no greater force for change than the coming of the railroad.

The nucleus of this enterprise in Central Pennsylvania was to become Blair County's largest community.

MALE NARRATOR: "Altoona has been called the railroad university of North America, and with large justice.

Not only is it the largest distinctively railroad town on any railroad system in the world, but it is the center of a system of railroad education, more advanced and more successful than any other."

Railroad Gazette, 1907.

In its earliest days, this region within the Alleghenies had really been nothing more than a halfway stop for a lot of people pushing westward to Pittsburgh, which was known as the gateway of the west at this time.

And it was that expansion within the 1830s and the 1840s in particular which spurred the creation of The Pennsylvania Canal and also the Allegheny Portage Railroad.

With locomotion, and steam engines, and all of this new technology coming into being, the up and coming Pennsylvania Railroad saw an opportunity here in Blair County.

And one day, 1849, they approached the humble farmstead of a local citizen by the name of David Robeson, who owned a 233-acre farm.

They came and knocked on his door and they informed him that they wished to pay him $11,000 for his plot of land.

A railroading community emerged from it.

By the time we get to the mid-1850s, there were over 5,000 people, most of them hardworking, railroading families who called this place home.

The primary reason as to why the Pennsylvania Railroad wished to establish a community here was to create repair shops, because the trains going up and down the Allegheny Front were going to be requiring a lot of maintenance.

And by 1862, Altoona was building its own steam locomotives and for the next century, this is one of the primary things that it would be known for.

FEMALE NARRATOR: Some 6,000 locomotives would be built there over that time.

But one of The Pennsylvania Railroad's most impressive undertakings is still known as a great engineering marvel of the modern world.

As the company grew in size and influence, so did its desire to push west and cross new boundaries.

The need to conquer the mighty Alleghenies culminated in the construction of the Horseshoe Curve, which opened on February 15, 1854.

The Horseshoe Curve was just a monumental feat of engineering.

It took over three years to construct.

There were over 300 largely immigrant workers, many of them from County Cork, Ireland, who had come to the United States during the Potato Famine.

They had been seeking to build new lives for themselves, and they truly put themselves in a lot of harm's way as they were trying to dig out these terraces on the Allegheny Front with nothing more than pickaxes and black powder.

Both then and now, the Horseshoe Curve remains one of the major East-West corridors for railroad commerce in the United States.

FEMALE NARRATOR: The railroad influenced every aspect of life in the city.

The Altoona Hospital's construction was spearheaded by the PRR.

The company likewise built an extensive Master Mechanics Library for the benefit of workers, and also operated the beloved Cricket Field, a popular athletic and civic complex that hosted the likes of Babe Ruth and Satchel Paige.

Vaudeville performers gained celebrity at the Mishler Theatre and other popular playhouses downtown.

Though society here was not without labor unrest and social strife, Altoona was recognized as a cultured company town.

The railroad required workers, and lots of them.

African-American, Italian, Irish, and German migrants flocked to Altoona, creating neighborhood nicknames such as Little Italy and Dutch Hill.

Churches, boarding houses, and bars appeared on every corner.

Immigrants brought pastimes, like bowling and bocce.

Streets were filled with the aromas of cultural cuisines.

The railroad thus stirred the ingredients of this ethnic melting pot.

An early symbol of the community's railroad affluence was the majestic Logan House Hotel that accommodated royalty, presidents, generals, and celebrities of all manner.

The most iconic event to take place at the Logan House was the Loyal War Governors' Conference of September 1862.

With the American Civil War underway, Pennsylvania Governor Andrew Curtin summoned a dozen northern governors in the hope of gaining renewed political support for the beleaguered Abraham Lincoln.

In this ornate parlor, political matters of the day were discussed with considerable enthusiasm and vigor.

There were a number of key factors that the governors ultimately concluded with, predominantly that they would raise an additional 100,000 troops in the name of the Union cause.

And perhaps most important among their resolutions was a public declaration of support for Abraham Lincoln's recently announced Emancipation Proclamation, the document that would legally free the slaves within the Confederacy.

It's a symbolic moment in the political context of the Civil War because it shows northern leaders, in particular, were becoming more open minded to the idea of emancipation.

And for this reason, one could argue that it's perhaps the most important historical event to take place in Altoona.

FEMALE NARRATOR: Anti-slavery issues had been on the minds of regional residents for many years preceding the Governors' Conference.

Central to this matter was Pennsylvania's unique political geography and physical terrain.

Although Blair Countians often felt far removed from the South, tensions over slavery nonetheless erupted in their streets.

MALE NARRATOR: "Slavery, the last relic of barbarism and oppression, may well be considered as the sum of all human villainies, the parent of treason, which includes the sum of all human crimes."

Altoona Tribune, 1865.

The Underground Railroad in this particular area, one thing that made it very popular is how close it is to the border states, be it Virginia, Maryland, and what we now call West Virginia.

You have the Mason-Dixon line.

Those who were escaping were very aware of that if they crossed that border line, they were in free country.

FEMALE NARRATOR: A chief aim of regional abolitionists was to assist freedom-seeking runaways evade the powers of the Fugitive Slave Acts.

These federal laws enabled slave owners to reclaim their fleeing human property in otherwise free northern states.

A prominent figure in Blair County's underground railroad activities was William Nesbit, a free Black man who eventually gained national political prominence.

As a barbershop owner, Nesbit not only held popular checker tournaments, but also used his business space as an important venue for grassroots networking.

William Nesbit, born in Carlisle in 1822, moves from that area to Hollidaysburg, approximately 1843, 1844.

Hollidaysburg has the canal, so the transportation from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh and back was growing very important.

In reaction to the 1850 Fugitive Slave Law, he and the several other families traveled to Liberia, a country that was founded by free Black slaves.

They're looking at whether or not Black people should move.

FEMALE NARRATOR: After four months in Liberia, Nesbit penned an expose claiming that African-Americans should remain in the United States as free individuals as they were the ones who helped build the nation.

With these convictions in mind, Nesbit became a leader in the National Equal Rights League.

He was a power broker in the Republican Party and rallied as a lobbyist for the 14th Amendment, which provided citizenship to formerly enslaved people in 1868.

His son served in the acclaimed 54th Massachusetts Infantry during the Civil War.

He was also a personal friend of Frederick Douglass.

Nesbit's influence was felt locally, as well as nationally.

In 1858, Nesbit approaches the white school teacher for Altoona, it's a small city, they've got one school, first to 12th grade, about bringing Black children to join in and be a part of that school.

In 1881, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania passed a law to integrate all schools, that there should not be any Black schools separate from white schools.

Nesbit, of course, integrated that way before then, in 1858.

So that idea of education being very important to all children no matter what your color is, that still exists here, at least in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

FEMALE NARRATOR: In 2020, artist Deb Bunnell and the students of the Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art summer camp paid tribute to the modern civil rights movement by commemorating the achievements of William Nesbit.

The result was a mural adorning the exterior of Altoona Pipe and Steel's 9th Avenue Office.

The painting stands as a vivid memorial to a long, unsung hero of Blair County.

But the struggles Nesbit waged were hardly the first conflicts over race and power in the region.

The county was once home to various native nations who resided here centuries prior to the Revolutionary War.

MALE NARRATOR: "To His Excellency, George Washington, You have compelled us to do that which has made us ashamed.

Innocent men of our nation are killed one after another, and of our best families.

But none of your people who have committed the murders have been punished.

Look up to the God who made us, as well as you.

We hope He will not permit you to destroy the whole of our nation."

Chief Cornplanter, 1790.

FEMALE NARRATOR: Prior to the 1740s, little forest had been cleared for farming.

The land now called Blair County was once occupied by the Delaware, but ownership was claimed by the Iroquois.

While there is little historical evidence of large native settlements, the region was utilized as a vast hunting ground and corridor of commerce.

The coming of European squatters by the 1750s posed grave threats to the status quo.

Native peoples, often at odds with each other, now had to determine new alliances in the name of survival.

Further in Western Pennsylvania and into the Ohio River Valley, you have the Shawnee.

From the north, you have, not necessarily residing in most of Pennsylvania, but certainly exercising a lot of influence, the Haudenosaunee or the Iroquois, a confederacy of five, and later, six nations, who by virtue of dominating the fur trade, exercises a lot of control over a pretty vast area.

Right around the time the State Constitution being passed in 1776, you do see a pretty swift shift from a pacifist policy, which makes it pretty hard to wage war, to a policy that's much harder in terms of really forcing American Indians westward.

And this, of course, is coming on top of centuries of decimation by disease and attrition being pushed off their land gradually.

FEMALE NARRATOR: During this unrest, the merchant, general, and congressman, Daniel Roberdeau, campaigned to use Penn family lands in Sinking Valley for lead mining.

This effort could help fulfill continental demands for munitions and establish an economic foundation.

The venture was not without risk.

There is an attempt at lead mining organized by Daniel Roberdeau, but he also had it stockaded because this was an area where there was going to be a lot of vulnerability to the British and to British allies.

The lead mining experiment did not work out particularly well, so the deposits of lead in the Sinking Valley just were not concentrated enough.

It just took too much time and labor to extract it from the ore.

It wound up becoming a defensive place to which families could retreat when there was a raid or when they were scared of a raid.

FEMALE NARRATOR: Despite these dangers, European settlers found Pennsylvania attractive for numerous reasons.

Land acquisition policies were more generous to economically disadvantaged colonists than those of neighboring New York.

Religious tolerance and separation of church and state were likewise very appealing to migrants.

So they're coming in and they're looking to settle their own communities.

And they're generally going to be coming from someplace where they specialize in agriculture.

So being able to find land that you can use to cultivate is going to be one of the major appeals.

FEMALE NARRATOR: Native peoples responded to the hostile incursion on their lands with a series of offensives all throughout the American Revolution.

In August 1779, the children of William Holliday, the namesake of Hollidaysburg, were murdered when the family farm was attacked.

Settlers often responded with acts of equal violence.

On the foggy morning of June 3, 1781, a company of Patriot Rangers and militiamen set out from their posts in Bedford and Frankstown to locate a band of Seneca warriors involved in recent raids.

While patrolling along the banks of the Juniata River's Beaverdam Branch, the troops were suddenly ambushed by the Seneca and their British allies.

At least one dozen of them were killed while the others fled or were captured.

A small monument marks the spot where the victims were buried.

In 2021, another monument was dedicated off Route 764, offering further details of the deadly encounter that occurred so long ago.

In Pennsylvania, the American Revolution had severe consequences for Native populations.

As one Iroquois reflected, "You cannot live in the woods and stay neutral."

Frontier speculators planned to dismantle Native landholdings beyond the Ohio River.

Conquering the Alleghenies was key to this broader strategy.

Various Indigenous societies were evicted from their homes and hunting grounds.

Though their legacies are all around us, it is never too late to reassess their fundamental role in shaping the region.

I think it would be wonderful if we moved towards a more complex and more inclusive narrative in terms of the history.

So for instance, in Hollidaysburg, outside of the courthouse, there's a monument, a statue that celebrates the rugged frontiersman who came out here and made something out of nothing.

And that's just not true.

A lot of the words that we were using -- so things like Juniata, Allegheny, these are all American Indian words, right?

So the people who originally were here, marked out this landscape, gave it names that were eventually going to be acquired by the people colonizing it.

FEMALE NARRATOR: Although lead mining operations at Fort Roberdeau were not economically successful, they did leave an industrial foundation that others would build upon.

The abundance of natural resources was a key factor in that process.

MALE NARRATOR: "Among the passengers who lost their lives by the bursting boiler of a steamboat on the Hudson River, we are sorry to announce, was Mr. D. Woods Baker, son of Elias Baker of Allegheny Furnace in Blair County.

His remains were brought home and interred near the residence of his father.

We've been informed that he was a very promising young man and possessed a high degree of talent.

His parents have the sympathy of many friends in their sad and melancholy affliction."

Blair County Whig, 1852.

FEMALE NARRATOR: Prior to the rise of Andrew Carnegie's steel plants, Blair County witnessed cottage iron industries evolve into major operations.

The area was rich with the necessary natural resources, and the arrival of better transportation, empowered ironmasters, such as Dr. Peter Shoenberger, Edward Bell, John and Daniel Royer, and Elias Baker.

In the past, this area was famous for its iron ore. Elias Baker moved here specifically to mine the iron ore, which was the richest in the country, and it was also the most extensive in the country.

And it was very lucrative.

There were almost 16 iron furnaces ultimately in Blair County.

So between the lumber, and the water, and the iron ore, it was a perfect setting for the iron furnaces.

And the limestone was so plentiful and durable that they used it to build Baker Mansion and the farmhouses that are scattered around the county.

FEMALE NARRATOR: Not far from Baker Mansion stands Allegheny Furnace, an iron-producing facility originally established in 1811.

Operations there ceased after only a few years due to the area's remoteness from larger markets.

There was no canal.

There was no railroad.

So you had to pack the iron on mules or horses and take it to either Pittsburgh or eastward toward Philadelphia.

That's a long way for mules to go with iron on their back.

So economically, the furnace failed.

It wasn't until the Pennsylvania Canal was built in 1834, when it opened, that Elias Baker came to this area because he could now buy the furnace, it was already there, and he could get his iron ore to market by way of the canal and railroad.

FEMALE NARRATOR: Baker purchased Allegheny Furnace in 1836.

The Bakers embarked upon the 170-mile carriage ride from Lancaster to their new property.

Elias's wife, Hetty, was seven months pregnant as the family made its journey through the mountains.

Empowered by the growing forces of the iron industry and transportation, Baker wrote of his desires for an impressive new home.

This dream resulted in a decade-long quest to construct an iconic mansion symbolic of his elite status.

The end result was neither easy nor affordable.

After going through multiple architects and economic hurdles, Baker Mansion was completed in 1849 after more than four years of construction.

The grand cost was $15,000.

It was nothing short of a mansion in the isolated wilderness.

There was no Altoona.

There was no State College.

There was no Tyrone.

These workers were in the middle of nowhere, and they had nowhere to go to buy their household goods or supplies.

So he did furnish them with a company store.

He printed his own paper money.

They, in turn, took that money and purchased their items in the store.

So they gave him back the money.

FEMALE NARRATOR: The humble worker cabins were dwarfed by the imposing manor on the nearby hillside.

Baker spared no expense for his 35-room mansion.

The home was filled with the latest luxuries and technology.

A grand hallway and double parlor continue to impress visitors to this day.

His iron ore mines were scattered around clear up to Bellwood and beyond, but he also had one at today's Lakemont Park.

And when he sold that land to the trolley company that built the park, they merely filled the mine, which was a surface mine, a big hole in the ground; they filled it with water, and that's the lake at Lakemont Park today.

FEMALE NARRATOR: The Bakers were hardly the only family seeking profit in the iron industry.

All throughout the county one can discover sturdy 19th century dwellings once owned by these powerful businessmen.

These are largely all that remain of Blair County's age of ironmasters.

Once the Horseshoe Curve opened in 1854, raw ingredients for iron manufacturing could be shipped to larger foundries in Johnstown or Pittsburgh.

By 1885, all Blair County furnace operations had been extinguished.

Today, Baker Mansion is the headquarters of the Blair County Historical Society.

It was acquired on lease in 1924 from the descendants of the Baker family.

Since its creation in 1906, this non-profit organization has taken an active role in preserving and interpreting this region's heritage.

To the north, one of Baker's neighboring competitors likewise sought his fortune.

MALE NARRATOR: "We have seen wilder gorges in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, but nothing to compare with this in softness of beauty, graceful outlines, and richness of foliage.

The sublime magnificence of the scene captivates the eye and causes the traveler to stand spellbound as he gazes upon it.

The scene resembles an immense panorama suddenly unveiled before the vision by some giant hands."

Philadelphia Times, 1881.

FEMALE NARRATOR: In Baker Mansion, the museum's most impressive portrait showcases Edward Bell in all his power.

Next to the Baker family, he was once one of the largest property owners in Blair County.

The vicinity of modern day Antis Township was settled by Irish, Scottish, and German immigrants who saw geographic similarities between their homelands and Central Pennsylvania.

They were followed by the Edward Bell family, who established their own iron forge in the early 1830s.

Bell's family background reveals the dramatic journey many endured to establish themselves in the region.

John Bell was a British sailor.

He and two friends toured around the United States and ended up in Nova Scotia.

He found a Scottish woman there that he fell in love with and married her.

They ended up settling in Alexandria, in Huntington County.

Their son, Edward, is the one that was really pivotal in building Bellwood and helping it grow.

He was their oldest son and as a teenager, he wanted to be a millwright, so he walked the whole way to Philadelphia to get the training that he needed.

And that's what he used later in life to build the Bellwood area.

They bought 100 acres of ground to start with.

He wanted a place that had a good water supply, so he found a place where there was a fork in the river, which is at the end of Bellwood on Main Street.

FEMALE NARRATOR: The original log house of the Bells, the oldest structure in the town, still stands on Main Street today.

Next door, the Bell's later constructed a grander brick mansion in 1822.

It was restored by Antis Township, and it's in beautiful condition.

The home was built with all bricks that were made in a brick kiln on that farm.

They obviously did a very good job that that house is still in the condition that it's in.

FEMALE NARRATOR: As Edward Bell's property grew, so did his family.

His children contributed to the enterprise, and in 1832, the family constructed Elizabeth Furnace.

Edward's son, Martin, was a devout Christian and wanted his workers to honor the Sabbath.

He didn't like the idea that his workers had to work seven days a week.

So he used his skills and figured out how they could bank the furnaces Saturday night and then not come back to work until Sunday night so that they could spend Sundays at church and with their families.

So it became known as Sabbath Rest.

Opportunities for local families further expanded in the 1850s with the creation of the narrow gauge spur line, called the Bell's Gap Railroad.

The route was designed to more easily transport coal and lumber through the rugged woodlands and to the main line.

That railroad was used until the 1930s.

It had outlived its usefulness.

In 2007, the Bellwood-Antis Community Trust worked with DCNR and a transportation enhancement grant and Antis-Township to build a rail trail there.

It's a wonderful way for people to get into those beautiful woods to see the reservoirs and things that go along that mountain.

FEMALE NARRATOR: Prior to the advent of railroads such as Bell's Gap, much of Pennsylvania's geographical, political, and financial terrain was defined by cutting edge transportation provided by the state's elaborate canal system.

No community in Blair County is a finer example of the canal's influence than historic Hollidaysburg.

MALE NARRATOR: "I had just crossed the summit of the Allegheny Mountains, and over which canal boats were transported.

In traveling by the road from Harrisburg, I thought the perfection of rapid transit had been reached.

We traveled at least 18 miles an hour when at full speed and made the whole distance averaging probably as much as 12 miles an hour.

This seemed like annihilating space."

Ulysses S. Grant, 1839.

FEMALE NARRATOR: The Pennsylvania Canal and its interconnected modes of transportation unleashed an era of innovation and excitement.

In the Alleghenies, the canal used 10 locks to conquer the great mountain barrier.

The school located at the base of the first lock was fittingly named Foot of Ten.

The Pennsylvania Main Line Canal cut down transportation across the State of Pennsylvania from about three weeks to five days.

Prior to the Pennsylvania Main Line Canal, there were fewer than 100 people in Hollidaysburg.

Once the Pennsylvania Main Line was complete, the whole way across the State from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh in 1834, a few years after that, population had grown to about 1,200 people.

And then by the later part of the 1840s, up to 3,000 people.

So it really saw a boom in population with the Pennsylvania Main Line Canal, but also in terms of opportunities.

FEMALE NARRATOR: During the Antebellum era, Hollidaysburg was a thriving port city -- part boom town, part wild west.

Muddy streets, hotels, brothels, saloons, and general stores were occupied by a colorful assortment of characters chasing profit or adventure.

In 1842, celebrated writer Charles Dickens rode the canals and vividly recorded his journey on the Allegheny Portage Railroad.

MALE NARRATOR: "The rails are laid upon the extreme verge of the giddy precipice.

Looking down from the carriage window, the traveler gazes sheer down without a stone or scrap of fence between into the mountain depths below."

Charles Dickens, 1842.

FEMALE NARRATOR: One advocate of the canal system was farmer, merchant, and public servant John Blair, for whom the county was ultimately named in 1846.

The borough of Hollidaysburg was chosen as its county seat.

The community was a bustling center of law, politics, and commerce.

The nation's bitter disputes over slavery eventually placed Hollidaysburg in the international spotlight.

This incident revolved around one freedom seeker, an enslaved man by the name of Jacob Green.

Jacob Green escaped from Colonel Isaac Parsons in Romney, Virginia, which is today part of West Virginia.

They learned that Jacob Green was more than likely going to move north and head towards Pittsburgh using the main line canal.

FEMALE NARRATOR: In October 1855, the colonel's nephew, James Parsons Jr., headed north into Pennsylvania in pursuit of Green.

A game of cat and mouse ensued in the streets of Hollidaysburg.

Parsons soon captured the runaway and questioned him.

An argument commenced between the two when Green denied his identity.

A group of local abolitionists confronted Parsons and demanded that Green be released.

Despite Parsons being federally protected by the Fugitive Slave Act, Blair County imprisoned him for kidnapping.

Although the slaver was soon released, the events foreshadowed the forthcoming conflict between North and South.

The Civil War nearly started in Hollidaysburg over the fate of one man.

Jacob Green was able to get away from James Parsons Jr., we don't exactly know where he went after Hollidaysburg, but Jacob Green was a free man.

FEMALE NARRATOR: Only a few miles to the south, in Blair County's rich farmlands, migrants as early as the 1760s likewise sought new lives and opportunities for themselves.

MALE NARRATOR: "The completion of the Morrisons Cove railroad was celebrated by an excursion on the part of the citizens of Martinsburg.

It takes in the magnificent plateau of limestone land.

Farm after farm of the richest soil is passed, and away in the distant plain are seen the spires of Martinsburg glistening in the morning sun.

The summit is gained, and then down to Martinsburg, this loveliest village of the plain."

Altoona Tribune, 1910.

When the first settlers arrived in Morrisons Cove, it said that they arrived with three things, their Bibles, their axes, and their plows.

Because at that point in time, Morrisons Cove was pretty much all forests.

And they were mostly German settlers.

We have some Scotch-Irish coming in.

But they were all very religious folk, similar in a way to what the Amish and Mennonite communities are today.

They were Dunkards.

In fact, during the Revolutionary War, a lot of them were known as the God's Will People because they're not going to donate any money to any cause either side of the revolution.

FEMALE NARRATOR: The "Great Cove" in which they settled had been renamed Morrisons Cove in 1770.

The Cove's namesake was James Morrison, a surveyor who played a role in the area's development.

By 1785, 1,500 acres were surveyed for farmer John Brumbaugh.

His sizable plot of land would eventually evolve into the community of Martinsburg.

Many families founded some of the most celebrated businesses synonymous with the Cove: dairy farms.

Ritchey's Dairy is a business that didn't start until 1940.

Oliver Ritchey was the first owner and president of the business.

The way they started, a lot of the dairies at that time were not delivering products, and so they made a conscious decision that they were going to try to get their products to as many people as they possibly could.

Most of the evolution of the dairy has been the result of being able to be accessible to people who wanted their products, and with the ice cream business and the product development, they've really become a very solid, not only a member of the community, but just an organization that has really prospered in the Cove.

FEMALE NARRATOR: In neighboring Roaring Spring, citizens built a reputation of their own through industry.

Like other areas of Blair County, the town embraced an economic boom from the Civil War.

A few miles from Roaring Spring, rich iron ore deposits were tested by the Union Army and determined to be ideal for casting artillery pieces.

In 1865, Daniel Bare and his business partners located the region's first paper mill by the spring.

When the plant opened, a team of 20 produced a half ton of paper per day.

By 1905, the enlarged facility manufactured 25 tons daily, much of it purchased by newspaper empires in the Midwest.

The reason Roaring Spring was selected for building a paper mill is you have the three most important resources nearby.

You're not far away from coal mines.

There's plenty of trees nearby, and water.

The big draw for Roaring Spring was the natural spring that produces about 8 million gallons a day coming out of the spring.

In the last couple of years of the paper mill's operation, they were using 4 to 5 million gallons a day.

So you can see why you need a reliable spring source.

What really changed the production was, in 1971, they were bought by Appleton Papers out of Wisconsin.

So you can see how over time they expanded operations and increased production.

Whenever the place closed in 2021, they were producing around 300 tons of paper per day.

Only about 20 of the 300 employees actually lived in Roaring Spring itself.

A lot of them lived in the surrounding communities, and of that 20 who lived in Roaring Spring, a lot of them actually moved to the area to work at the paper mill.

FEMALE NARRATOR: As earlier episodes of Blair County's past readily indicate, few industries are guaranteed to last forever.

When considering this reality, many citizens of Roaring Spring wonder what will be written in the next chapter of their community's history.

MALE NARRATOR: "Among our citizens, we have about 50 bright, shrewd commercial men, the majority of whom are property holders; all men of more than ordinary intelligence and keen observers.

And what is their verdict?

That Tyrone is far ahead of all other towns in good streets, good pavements, good lights, and in fact, all those essentials that make a town attractive and desirable as a place of residence, and one in which to invest their money."

The Tyrone Herald, 1897.

FEMALE NARRATOR: In Tyrone, the towering brick smokestacks are a constant reminder of how past and present are intertwined.

The borough, incorporated in 1857, flourished in the following decades thanks to the growth of The Pennsylvania Railroad.

Accessibility to the rails permitted the town's paper industry to reach new heights.

Founded in 1878, the Tyrone Paper Mill became one of the largest such plants in the United States.

In 1899, the West Virginia Pulp and Paper Company took charge of the facility.

In subsequent years, the factory expanded with a chemical division with ownership shifting to MeadWestvaco and ultimately to American Eagle Paper Mills.

Only blocks away, customers are reminded of a sweeter episode of Tyrone's history.

Gardner's Candies was founded in 1897 by 16-year-old James "Pike" Gardner.

Before opening a small downtown store, he operated a horse-drawn wagon to sell treats at local fairs and carnivals.

Gardner's gained fame for being one of the first to create a heart-shaped box for Valentine's Day.

Located between the company's candy store and ice cream parlor, a small museum highlights both the candy industry and the history of Tyrone.

The most unusual exhibit showcases a train wreck that occurred on Memorial Day, 1893.

The Walter L. Main Circus was traveling from Houtzdale to Lewistown when it approached a dangerous stretch of track outside Tyrone.

At McCann's Crossing, the train, which is 17 cars long, goes off the tracks.

14 of those 17 cars full of animals and circus performers and employees go over what is about a 30-foot embankment.

There would have been a much greater loss of life than there already was had the sleeper cars rolled as well.

The aftermath of the train wreck is the really captivating part for the community and the part that continues to intrigue the imagination today.

It's kind of hard to imagine.

You have 150 animals, some of which didn't make it, but some did.

And when the dust all settled after the wreck, you have a large number of animals that are now loose in the Pennsylvania wilderness, that for the first time, they're not in cages and there's no one trying to wrangle them.

And so you have elephants that are standing bewildered in a farmer's field.

You have a gorilla that is sitting on a stump and is swatting at crew as they're trying to figure out what's going on.

FEMALE NARRATOR: Locals naturally grew worried when many of the animals were unable to be found at the wreck site.

Residents approaching the crash noted boa constrictors dangling from trees and exotic birds flying through the air.

Most famous was the tiger that darted into the nearby woods.

The creature soon after attacked and killed a cow that was being milked by a young girl.

Given this threat to public safety, hunters set out and eventually killed the majestic beast.

Today, that skull is in the Tyrone Sportsman hanging on the wall as a memento.

In the days after the train wreck, Huntington kids report seeing a kangaroo.

The rail shops in Altoona actually write that there was a monkey hidden in one of the wrecked train cars as they were all brought to Altoona to be repaired or salvaged of what they could.

FEMALE NARRATOR: Tyrone residents turned out in droves to pay tribute to the fallen animals and their handlers as burials commenced.

Despite the dramatic loss of life, the Walter L. Main Circus was on the rails once more just nine days later.

MALE NARRATOR: "The men who gave their lives for their country did not owe any more to America than we at home do.

We at home should be willing to make those sacrifices.

The soldier is fighting for all the things he wants to come back to.

He'll go through all kinds of hell and physical torture to come back to his home the way he left it."

William Livengood, 1943.

FEMALE NARRATOR: Thousands turned out to hear Pennsylvania politician William Livengood utter those words at the dedication of Altoona's Honor Room.

On Memorial Day, 1943, the city unveiled this public listing of local service members.

"I have never seen anything that moved me so deeply," said one emotional resident.

The people of Blair County raised millions of dollars in war bonds.

High school students participated in scrap drives.

Old Civil War cannons, previously outside The Casino at Lakemont Park, were melted down for wartime use.

Residents planted Victory Gardens and contended with rationing of sugar, butter, cigarettes, gas, and more.

Altoona's Puritan Mills was contracted to manufacture uniforms.

Even more significant was the impressive industrial undertaking.

We were a central cog in the operation of the Arsenal of Democracy.

And in that, there was that entire effort on the part of the community.

Men, women, children, everyone was involved in the effort to help win the war.

It really was a high point for the community to see what they could do when they put their collective efforts together.

FEMALE NARRATOR: Blair County women played a vital role in these wartime endeavors.

The Pennsylvania Railroad actively recruited female workers.

Mothers, wives, and sisters, soon found themselves in the roundhouses and in the freight yards.

They also managed the Altoona Canteen, a stopover for soldiers and sailors traveling through the city by rail.

Following Pearl Harbor, Nazi military intelligence organized a daring sabotage plot devised by Adolf Hitler himself.

Its code name: Operation Pastorius.

English-speaking enemy agents were assigned to the mission.

Each man knew the culture and customs of the United States.

These eight saboteurs were delivered to the shores of New York and Florida in June 1942.

They landed with the intent to destroy key industrial landmarks.

Perhaps the most notable target was the Horseshoe Curve, which carried approximately 250 trains per day.

Hitler and his intelligence officers had realized that if they could disrupt the flow of freight and traffic along the Horseshoe Curve, that would take out about 90% of the material being made inside the United States going to supply the Allied forces fighting against the Germans.

FEMALE NARRATOR: After barely averting capture, two of the saboteurs, George Dasch and Ernest Burger, grew apprehensive of their plot.

Dasch ultimately surrendered to the Federal Bureau of Investigation and betrayed his fellow conspirators.

He then revealed the plan to destroy the Horseshoe Curve and other industrial sites.

Operation Pastorius had been foiled from within.

Once all the suspects were apprehended, they faced a military tribunal.

Since Dasch and Burger had abandoned the scheme, their sentences were reduced to imprisonment.

On August 6, 1942, the remaining saboteurs were executed by electric chair.

But what did this intrigue mean for Blair County?

After they were arrested, the FBI carried out a series of raids in Altoona.

And they already had some idea that Altoona might be a hotbed of aliens of both German and Italian nationality, mostly because folk's neighbors and their coworkers turned them in.

They would call the FBI and say, listen, I have a neighbor that listens to German radio programs and he reads a German newspaper.

So the FBI already had a pretty solid list of about 250 families in Altoona that they wanted to check out and investigate.

So they showed up and carried out raids on a number of those homes, destroyed some radios, confiscated some paperwork, and they took a lot of the residents of those homes, took them off to the Altoona Post Office, where they did interviews with a three-man loyalty board to ask them questions and see if they were satisfied with their status as aliens or whether they couldn't be trusted.

FEMALE NARRATOR: The invasion of homes in Dutch Hill and Little Italy provoked questions of wartime loyalty, even as local German and Italian Americans served in uniform.

Meanwhile, at the Horseshoe Curve, existing security was reinforced.

The guarded site remained closed to the public until 1946.

Paranoia over the Nazi plot inspired movies and even a children's novel.

World War II led to profound change in Blair County.

Over 8,000 residents served during the war.

Over 450 of them never returned.

Many citizens and veterans wondered what the future held.

Once the war ended, of course, the Pennsylvania Railroad issued a decree that the women should be dismissed, essentially, be fired.

They weren't needed any longer, that the men coming back should have their jobs back.

For the city and county as a whole, we see that high point of World War II, followed by the decline in population and the decline in need for workers.

FEMALE NARRATOR: 1946 was the first year in which the Pennsylvania Railroad failed to turn a profit.

The advent of diesel-electric engines, the emergence of interstate highways, and the growth of airlines brought an end to the golden age of steam, and with it, Altoona's prominence as the world's largest railroading center.

But not all was lost as Blair Countians navigated new economic landscapes.

Advanced highways propelled expansion for Altoona's Ward Trucking Company.

Nationwide infrastructure projects following World War II, allowed the business to reach larger markets in the 1950s.

Today, Ward Transport and Logistics is a multigenerational operation and offers shipment coverage throughout half the nation.

Another unique byproduct of the conflict is the Slinky, a beloved toy invented by accident.

In 1943, naval engineer Richard James was testing coils for use at sea.

When he inadvertently dropped one in his office, he noticed the steel spring bounce across his floor.

He had an epiphany, and the Slinky was born.

When the simple toy hit Philadelphia store shelves for Christmas, 1945, it became a sensation.

Richard and his wife, Betty, established James Industries and later, relocated to Hollidaysburg in 1964.

Every Slinky made since has been manufactured in Blair County.

Some 400 million have been produced.

The Slinky is now the official toy of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

World War II marked an industrial high tide for Blair County.

Never before or since had so many people lived and worked in the region.

The years that followed witnessed development and disintegration alike.

At the heart of this dynamic was a fierce struggle between balancing past and present.

MALE NARRATOR: "Here's a town where the screams of the engine are heard at all hours of the day and night -- where the roar of fires, the clang of machinery, and the busy hum of industry never cease from the rising to the setting of the sun."

Uriah Jones, 1858.

FEMALE NARRATOR: Central Pennsylvania has witnessed its fair share of commercial change over the generations.

Helping to navigate the many trials and transitions of the regional economy is the Blair County Chamber of Commerce.

The Blair County Chamber of Commerce has been in business for about 130 years.

We're an organization that is the largest chamber of commerce between Pittsburgh and Harrisburg.

We have over 1,000 businesses, representing almost 41,000 employees.

FEMALE NARRATOR: From one end of the county to the other, residents support family-owned businesses that have stood the test of time and have become beloved community institutions, especially when it comes to food.

Among these are Benzel's Bretzels, started by a German immigrant in 1911.

Adolph Benzel had worked for a number of pretzel manufacturers in Pennsylvania, decided that he wanted to start his own pretzel company, differentiated from a lot of the other companies by deciding to call his pretzels, Bretzels.

That has been maintained throughout the years.

FEMALE NARRATOR: To this day, Benzel still satisfies local cravings for salty snacks made with a hometown twist.

Much the same could be said of customers with a sweet tooth who make a trip to Boyer Candies.

In what originated as a small family venture in 1936, Boyer Candy has since become a celebrated destination.

Based out of its original plant on 17th Street, Boyer produces the Mallo Cup, an immensely popular marshmallow treat laced with coconut and covered in chocolate.

It was the first cup candy in history.

In 1950, Duncansville, the Meadows family introduced their very own frozen custard.

Lines of 50 or more customers formed at the stand's service windows.

The business remains popular today, giving rise to individually-owned and operated franchises.

Each location serves the same original recipe.

The brand retains its 1950s style for new generations.

Next door to the Meadows is one of several hundred locations of Sheetz convenience stores, perhaps the most successful entrepreneurial tale stemming from Blair County.

The massive Sheetz Corporation began as one small deli on 5th and Union Avenues.

Purchasing the property from his father in 1952, Bob Sheetz sold hundreds of pounds of chipped ham weekly.

His brother, Steve, assumed additional management responsibilities in 1969 as more stores opened.

From that point, the brothers aspired to have seven store locations within three years.

They outpaced their initial expectations and instead owned 14 stores by 1972.

In just over a decade, Sheetz had expanded to 100 locations.

This rapid growth forecast the broader business empire to come.

The corporation stands out as one of the largest gas and convenience store franchises in the country.

With an annual revenue in the billions, Sheetz has met great success in selling fuel, as well as the ever popular hoagies, known as MTOs, or Made-To-Order.

The Sheetz family is also well-known for its philanthropy in the Blair County Community.

DelGrosso Foods has also expanded its unique brand of culinary delights.

In 1946, Fred and Mafalda DelGrosso purchased Bland's Park in rural Tipton.

The old park was an ideal venue to sell their delicious foods and sauces.

Located near the former Altoona Speedway, the park grew exponentially as Baby Boomer families sought entertainment and escape.

The resurgence of the park led to the expansion of DelGrosso Foods, a highly successful company specializing in Italian fare.

Their product lines are recognizable to people from all over the country and Canada.

And I think it basically comes down to the fact that they produce a great product and they market it well.

The next generations have continued to build on the reputation.

Another destination that brings people into the area, another great family business, another great story, one of the best.

FEMALE NARRATOR: Now known as DelGrosso's Amusement Park, the former Bland's Park operates as a premier destination for family fun.

Park highlights include a thrilling annual 4th of July fireworks show and an expansive water park.

But decades before Bland's Park was created, railroading families sought reprieve at two other destinations known for their beloved rides and slides.

MALE NARRATOR: "The whole aim of the park is to get people away from the cares of business and domestic life for a day and provide for their enjoyment.

All are invited to join in the festivities.

All that remains is for the weatherman to do his duty."

The Altoona Tribune, 1909.

FEMALE NARRATOR: An even older regional amusement park was created as a means of boosting trolley ridership.

Opening in 1894, as a promotion for the Altoona and Logan Valley Electric Railway, Lakemont Park was an oasis in an otherwise soot-covered city.

Popular among children in the years after World War II was Kiddyland, which featured miniature rides and a petting zoo.

Fun-filled leisure activities rooted in this rustic setting live as fond memories for many Blair County families.

Rides and attractions evolved over the years, but the park remained a beloved destination for generations of pleasure seekers.

The most famous ride of all takes one back to the earliest days of amusement park attractions.

Formerly known as Gravity Railroad, the Leap-The-Dips was constructed in 1902 at Lakemont.

Falling into eventual disrepair, the ride was closed for nearly 15 years before reopening on Memorial Day, 1999.

Leap-The-Dips remains the world's oldest operating wooden roller coaster.

One old amusement park, which no longer exists, nevertheless boasts a unique legacy.

For young and old alike, Ivyside Amusement Park was a wondrous getaway.

From 1924 to 1945, the forested retreat offered numerous rides and refreshments.

Most stupendous of all the park's attractions was the world's largest in-ground swimming pool.

Measuring 121,000 square feet, the pool held 3 million gallons of water and could accommodate 3,000 swimmers.

The surrounding space featured several amenities, including a diving board, shaded Island, and boardwalk.

Even today, the colorful amusements of the bygone park still evoke a sense of joy among researchers.

I think my favorite is the waterslide, which is unlike what we think of waterslides.

It was pretty much a wooden sliding board with wooden carts on it, and the water part came when you actually hit the pool.

FEMALE NARRATOR: For as lively a destination as Ivyside Park was, it ultimately was not spared from the hardships and limitations of the era.

It really made it pretty much through to 1945, but obviously, the Great Depression and World War II, those were tough times for anything frivolous.

FEMALE NARRATOR: In 1939, Penn State Altoona was established at the former Webster School on Lexington Avenue.

Barely surviving the student exodus during World War II, the campus enjoyed a post-war resurgence with the GI Bill.

The college found its new home at the abandoned amusement park when administrators purchased the land from owner E. Raymond Smith.

Soon, faculty and students set out to remake the old property into a picturesque campus.

The park's former bathhouse was used as the main classroom building, until new facilities were constructed.

At the heart of this educational effort was Robert Eiche, campus director from 1939 to 1968.

He was really the one that got them through the war years because they were just starting.

It was just a fledgling sort of school.

He knew that he had to keep in touch with the students if they were going to come back after the war.

FEMALE NARRATOR: Despite significant challenges, Eiche's hopes to create a community-based institution of higher learning blossomed in the postwar era.

In the decades since, the campus has incrementally constructed additional buildings and has even occupied older structures downtown.

In 1997, the campus became a college offering multiple four-year degrees.

That was just a major change.

I was there for that, and I can remember the celebration and finding out that we were going to be a college.

FEMALE NARRATOR: As the evolution of Penn State Altoona demonstrates, educational history in Blair County has taken on many forms throughout the generations.

Whether serving college students or kindergarteners, each school boasts its own unique heritage.

Among the most intriguing of such institutions is Penn-Mont Academy in Hollidaysburg.

Penn-Mont Academy got started 60 years ago in the home of Aileen and Jerry Wolf.

They were looking to provide an education that was better for their children than what they were getting in the public school setting at the time.

So they did a lot of research.

They found the Montessori Method of education.

FEMALE NARRATOR: The Wolf Academy, based out of Aileen and Jerry's home on Union Avenue, was the third Montessori school to open in the United States, and the first in Pennsylvania.

Its inaugural class graduated in 1963.

It later got changed to Penn-Mont Academy.

They combined Pennsylvania and Montessori, and came up with the name Penn-Mont.

The mission at Penn-Mont is to provide a Montessori learning environment that will educate the whole child, prepare independent, lifelong learners, and inspire global citizenship.

FEMALE NARRATOR: Ever since the earliest log houses and clapboard homes were constructed in the area, citizens have yearned for accessible education for their children.

A long-standing aim of that learning process was to afford young people a sense of their roots and heritage.

To connect with that history, many need look no further than their own neighborhoods.

MALE NARRATOR: "At Hollidaysburg, the streets were almost rivers of mud and the houses seemed as if founded upon that yielding material.

The only mode of passage here is wading ankle deep.

Hollidaysburg has the air of a new clearing and looks so unfinished that one might suppose it to have been built within a year.

Its site is good, rising gradually from the basin to a pleasant elevation.

Many substantial buildings are going up, and it is evident that rapid increase is the destiny of the town."

Philip Houlbrooke Nicklin, 1835.

FEMALE NARRATOR: Stories are to be rediscovered in these old streets.

Tales of long ago families still linger in these brick and mortar spaces, some of which are nearly two centuries old.

Hollidaysburg, the long-standing seat of legal power in Blair County, stands as a role model of historical preservation.

The charming character of the borough evokes a bygone era, all while underscoring the power of place.

But how were these structures spared by the ravages of time, and by whom?

Chief among the entities that have helped cultivate an appreciation for the community's many 19th century landmarks is a grassroots organization known as Historic Hollidaysburg.

We are the historical society for Hollidaysburg.

We've been in existence for over 40 years now.

At one point in time, Hollidaysburg wasn't as appreciative of history -- as possibly forward-thinking.

So you had buildings back in then from the 1950s, '60s, and into the '70s that were being demolished, demolished for parking lots, for urban renewal.

It came to a tipping point when two very historically significant buildings were torn down.

So a group of concerned citizens got together and formed Historic Hollidaysburg in January of 1981.

FEMALE NARRATOR: As a result of the organization's early advocacy, the National Park Service included the district on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985.

Hollidaysburg was featured in the first 200 of such communities to receive that designation.

From that, we started researching historic buildings, creating a historic walking tour, and a book that we still market today, and the creation of the Historic Hollidaysburg Museum that we've had since 1985.

What we have in the collection over 40 years is we've assembled a lot of unique items from one of a kind photos to rare maps.

I know we have the only copy of an 1870 Hollidaysburg and Gaysport map.

We have one of less than 10 in existence Blair County 1859 maps.

We also have everyday items, like collector's plates, advertising from stores in downtown that are long gone.

All of the items in the Historic Hollidaysburg have been donated to us over the years.

FEMALE NARRATOR: Perhaps the greatest treasures of all are the historic buildings themselves.

In the neighboring borough of Duncansville, the Jacob Walters log house is particularly noteworthy for its age and durability.

Built in 1820 by one of the area's earliest white settlers, it is the oldest surviving structure in Duncansville.

The building is also tied to the colorful manner in which the borough obtained its name.

Jacob Walters, born 1758, he died 1834, was an early settler to the area now known as Duncansville.

You had Walters and his cabin, his homestead on the east end of Duncansville.

You had another gentleman by the name of Samuel Duncan on the west end of Duncansville.

So you had these two early settlers laying out plots of land on a map, and it became confusing about the name.

Was it Walterstown?

Was it Duncansville?

According to town legend, there was a coin toss on the bridge in town.

Heads or tails.

And Duncan won.

The Jacob Walter Cabin is unique because it's one of the last log cabins in the area.

To my knowledge, there are no log cabins left within the boundaries of the City of Altoona or within the borough of Hollidaysburg.

Back in 2010, the area of the cabin was looking at being developed, and they were going to bring the cabin down.

A local history enthusiast, collector, also a Historic Hollidaysburg board member purchased a cabin and restored it.

I think local people should care about local history.

And historic preservation is still important because people are still finding these local artifacts in their basements, in their attics, in their grandparents' basements and attics.

And if you don't appreciate it or know about it, it can be thrown out.

We should educate and continue to show people that it is worth preserving.

Because once you lose something to history, it's gone forever.

It's never coming back.

FEMALE NARRATOR: These words are worth consideration when looking back on Altoona's checkered past.

In the post-World War II era, Altoona residents planned for a future of strip malls and suburbs.

The pattern slowly led to the erosion of the once lively downtown business district.

Local leaders attempted to stem the infectious tide of blight from within.

Throughout the late 1960s and early 1970s, hundreds of structures were razed between 5th and 12th Avenues to make way for potential redevelopment, plazas, and modernized facilities for Altoona High School.

While many historical structures were lost in this seesaw process, activists saved others, including the majestic Mishler Theater.

Reinventing what was once the heart of the community remains an ongoing saga into the 21st century.

The uphill struggle to save these sites continues.

Such transitions might be contemplated when envisioning subsequent chapters of Blair County history.

What will the history books say?

What does the future hold?

As locals consider how they are going to remember their history, they cannot merely be boastful of it.

They need to go out and help save it.

What I would like to see in the next chapter of county history, to an extent I'm already seeing.

Slowly but surely there are businesses returning to downtown areas.

Young people are seeing the value in historic buildings that many of their parents and grandparents did not see.

Many of our historical buildings are being repurposed with mom and pop shops.

Thanks to the ingenuity and innovation and creativity of many entrepreneurs within our community, we can certainly see shades of the past being revived.

And that's what I like to see.

For the next chapter of Blair County's history, I would love to see a continuation of what is taking place now.

I would like to see the conversation continue about these special places and events that happened here.

I would like to continue to see visitors be inspired by these places, to explore these places, and for us to continue to educate the next generation about what happened here.

We really think that that's the way to get people to care enough to try to preserve their local history, and preserve these buildings, and preserve different sites, and objects, and help fund museums.

So really, it comes out of that spirit of creating a sense of community and belonging so that kids in high school all the way up to people who've lived in Tyrone for 50, 60 years can look at it and say, this is my community and these are our stories.

FEMALE NARRATOR: Blair County has been tested and shaped by the triumphs and tragedies that have molded the nation.

This is the story of a county, its land, and its people.

Much of the past has been lost, but not all of it.

These stories and places are now in your hands.

What will you do with them?

MALE NARRATOR: "The future of Altoona demands more than lip service of its citizens.

How useless for us to sit back and suggest that someone else assume these responsibilities for us.

We have a fine younger generation in our schools, and they have the right to demand of each of us that we contribute something to make this community more industrious, more cultural, and more attractive than we found it.

The challenge is unmistakable.

We must cease wishing.

We must cease criticizing without helping.

We must join hands, plan, and act.

Ours is an opportunity to prove that a community can create so much enthusiasm in the midst of uncertainty."

F.C.R.

Altoona Mirror, 1938.

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