LeRoy Heritage Museum, Inc. - Museum

LEROY & BARCLAY MOUNTAIN HISTORY

Set in southwestern Bradford County, LeRoy is a rural community in the heart of LeRoy Township. It was first settled in 1795 by two brothers, Hugh and Sterling Holcomb, whose family came from Granby, Connecticut and settled in Ulster, Pennsylvania in 1793. Seeley & Hannah (Holcomb) Crofut came soon after the brothers and built a farm where the LeRoy Cemetery is now located.

In 1835, LeRoy Township, originally named Union, was formed out of Canton and Franklin Townships. The name was suggested by Ira Crofut, son of Seeley, and is a French combination of two words meaning, "the king".

Agriculture, lumbering, and mining have all played a part in the history of LeRoy Township and former Barclay Township (now Barclay Mountain). These industries attracted people to the mountain from many different countries to find work.

The southern portion of LeRoy and neighboring Franklin (originally Barclay) Townships are well known throughout Bradford County for its diverse history. Known as Barclay Mountain (after Robert Barclay of England who purchased the land in 1794), this region has been host to coal mining activities dating back to 1812. The first settlement in what later became Barclay Township was in 1856. Coal from this area was shipped to locations all over the northeastern United States. Coal mining operations continued in the Barclay Mountain/LeRoy Township area into the early 1980's.

Lumbering in this area dates back to 1808 when Hugh Holcomb built a sawmill in the center of what is now the community of LeRoy. Later, hemlock bark was harvested in the mountains of LeRoy Township to feed the local tanneries. Lewis Brothers Lumber Company later cut much of the timber from the mountains in a portable sawmill. In 1902, the town of Laquin was born in old Barclay Township and by May of the following year, the Laquin Lumber Company began to saw lumber under contract with the Union Tanning Company. Union was owned by the United States Leather Company, one of the largest companies in the nation at that time.

Lewis Brothers Lumber Company at Carbon Run

Laquin, Pa.

Laquin included five companies which, all of which used wood in one way or another. These were:

By 1932, all of Laquin's plants had shut down leaving no work and no reason for families to stay in town. The community was quickly deserted and by 1941 no people and few buildings were left in town.

The Civilian Conservation Corps spent several years on the mountain beginning in 1933. The CCC was one of President Roosevelt's New Deal programs and was responsible for replanting trees on the mountain, building roads, feeding game, and generally restoring the mountain after years of logging.

LeRoy Township is also home to Sunfish Pond County Park. Sunfish Pond has drawn visitors to the mountain for over 100 years. In 1915, the Pennsylvania Game Commission was authorized to establish game refuges on private lands. Refuge #12, which includes much of the southern portion of LeRoy Township, was the first refuge on private land in Pennsylvania. Sunfish Pond was part of the game refuge, and a game protector was hired to live in a house at the pond. In the early 1970's, the Commission traded the land surrounding Sunfish Pond for a tract of land elsewhere, allowing the creation of Sunfish Pond County Park.

Today the major industries have disappeared, survived only by the memories of days gone by.

The LeRoy Heritage Museum is housed in the former Open Hand Grange hall in the center of LeRoy. This building has played an important roll in LeRoy for many years.

Open Hand Grange #153 was organized on March 9, 1874 by District Deputy S.W. Buck of LeRaysville with 30 charter members..

The name of this grange was suggested by A.T. Lilley. During these early years of the organization, meetings were held at various places in the community. The members vowed that if they ever had a hall of their own, they would extend their "open hand" to anyone who wanted to use it.

Open Hand Grange members about 1895.

The Open Hand Grange began holding meetings in the upper room of the Open Hand Hall Association building (the town hall), shortly after its construction in 1876. It was designed by F.J. Bailey and built at a cost of between $1,300 and $1,400. The grange purchased the building in 1904. The first floor of the hall was rented to community groups, and also used for traveling shows. A grange mercantile store, and library were once housed here as well as the LeRoy Post Office at one time. The most noticeable aspect of the building is the beautiful wainscoting on the first floor. This wainscoting, which covers the walls from floor to ceiling, was cut in a local sawmill and installed 100 years ago.

The old building represents the vital role that agricuture played in the history of LeRoy.