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BOROUGH OF LUMBER CITY
Lumber City is a pleasantly situated borough on the north side of the West Branch River. It contains a number
of fine residences of brick and frame material. On the south side of the river is a steep bluff, or mountain, several
hundred feet high; but the beauty of its slope is somewhat marred by the cutting out of its best timber. On the
north and to the east of the town is a gradual ascent leading back to and approaching the famous Grampian Hills.
Fine farms surround the borough on all sides, save the south. Agricultural pursuits are the leading industry of
the vicinity.
Lumber City was the third borough to be incorporated in Clearfield county and it was erected out of part of Penn
township. The court records of this incorporation are so incomplete that the date does not appear thereon, but
the borough was incorporated in the year 1858. During the lumbering. days the town grew rapidly, and on acount
of its location was an important point for the raftsmen.
Although comparatively small in point of population, Lumber City is large so far as relates to area. When the borough
was laid out, the school district from which it was taken was divided, leaving a considerable area without any
established school district. To remedy this the borough limits were extended so that it is now very large in area,
and includes, in whole or in part, several farms in the neighborhood.
The borough has two churches, fine school buildings, and is on the Curwensville & Bower Branch of the New York
Central & Hudson River Railroad, six miles up the river from Curwensville.
The forward movement in education in the borough dates from May, 1873, when the Rev. J. C. Greer established the
Academy. The first public school building in the borough was, however, erected prior to 1857, and the grammar school
building built in 1879 and 1880. A new public school building has recently been erected and was dedicated November
30, 1910, when appropriate exercises were held in the Methodist Episcopal church. This is a thoroughly modem, brick-cased
building, 63 x 72 feet, single story, four rooms. It is steam heated, has ample halls and cloak rooms, and individual
seatings, and is well lighted. The faculty consists of S. LeRoy Bossard, principal; Bessie J. Lehman, grammar school;
Elizabeth Hue, primary school.
The principal industry of Lumber City, in addition to farming, is a large fire brick plant. The population of the
borough is about three hundred.
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