The SNYDER COUNTY POST History Page

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From the Archives of
The
Middleburg Post

114Years Ago - 1897

JANUARY
1. E.E. Pawling enters into law partnership with F.E. Bower
17. George Snyder, of Mc/Clure, eloped with Miss Alice Herbster.
28. Diptheria epidemic at Beavertown.
31. John Ettinger and son, Sherman, aged 18, outlaws, of Adams Twp., resist arrest and flee to Centre County.

FEBRUARY
2. State Capitol burned
10. Jacob Walter, aged 83 years, died.
20. William s. Arbogast bought the Eagle Hotel.

MARCH
3. C.C. Seebold sold the Washington House, Main St., Middleburgh to Carbon Seebold.
11. POST published sketch of Gov Simon Snyder.
11. Prof Daniel S. Boyer, of Freeburg, wrote 728 words on a postal card.
23. It has been decided to erect a third church edifice for Row's church at Salem.
28. Fake picture agent is working in Snyder County.

APRIL
1. Carbon Seebold takes possession of the Washington House.
15. POST published historical sketch of Row's church at Salem.
29. Potatoes are selling at 10 and 12 cents a bushel.

MAY
1. Charter for Penn Telephone Co., granted.
3. POST installed a gasoline engine and a newspaper folder and changed the Campbell Cylinder press to a power press.
13. POST publishes an anonymous spicy letter from West Buffalo Township, Union County.
22. Fire destroyed barns of Frank Bachman, Allen Moyer, W.F. Feese and did other damage.
27. POST published first list of deceased soldiers buried in Snyder County.

JUNE
18. Water works for Middleburg defeated by popular vote, 43 to 55.

SEPTEMBER
7 Bird Adams and Charles Walker, of New Berlin, were lodged in jail here, charged with carrying food to Murderer Adams.
20. Penn Telephone Co. builds first telephone line between Middleburg and Selinsgrove, establishing service between the two towns.

    Though steam engines had been used as locomotives to draw railroad cars in England as early as 1814 and in America as early as 1830, it was not until the 1880's and '90s that the major problems of the horseless carriage were in process of being solved. The largest hurdle was to surpass the need for coal, with its weight, bulk, and storage space.
    Another impediment was the availability of good roads in the country. Early "cars" as they came to be called frequently had to be pulled out of the mud or ditch by a team of horses. Horses greatly feared these vehicles, and frequently ran away from their owners. The farmers and teamsters driving teams of horses often hated to meet them on the highways. Many times, farmers disrupted their use and often deliberately left the stranded motorist to his own fate.
    The first car to come to Snyder County was a Stanley Steamer, bought in Philadelphia by Calvin Boyer, of Mt. Pleasant Mills in 1906. It is reported that it took Mr. Boyer three days to drive it from Philadelphia to his home.
    Other owners of the horseless carriage was Dr. H.M. Nipple, Dr. Frank J. Wagenseller, Wallace Baker, and John Kinney. Professor Heber c. Hendricks had a Stanley Steamer for his first car, a used one, that he had paid $200 in 1908. The first automobile in Beavertown was a 1905 Locomobile Steamer, owned by Mr. Lester Spaight; the second one was a Crestmobile purchased the following year by Mr. John Kearns, Sr.
    These early automobiles found a place of manufacture in Beavertown with the rise of the Kearns buggy, soon replaced by a four cylinder, four cycle water cooled engine with dual ignition called the Kearns Cycle Car. It was an assembled car, and had a wheel base of about 8 feet. By 1913, it had a self-starter, electric lights, a three speed gearbox and attained a speed of 55 mph. This car sold

for $425,   completely equip-ped, and its period of manufacture lasted from 1907 to 1914 and claimed many exports to other countries around the world.
    After the end of World War I, Charles Kearns began manufacture of a work car, or Utility Car, as it was termed, for both work and pleasure. A DU and a CD model were made, each selling for $850, completely equipped, minus bumpers, windshield wipers, and stop light.
    The Kearns plant employed fifteen men, working 10 hours a day and assembled five units per working day. Mr. Kearns paid his men a minimum wage of $5 per day. Later, Mr. Kearns would say that Henry Ford stole the idea of Ford paying $5 per day from him.

Shown here is the Mr. Dick Sedgewick of Dover, NH and his auto made in Beavertown in 1908. He and Charles Kearns of Tuscon AZ, the son of the designer and builder of the car, Max Kearns, came to the B.V.H.S. Grand Reunion and then went on to the Beaver Fair where this photo was taken on September 23, 1995.

1910 Kearns

This magazine ad spoke highly of the 1912 Kearns Model "I", complete with a one year warranty.

Longtime Middleburg jeweler Sam Hackenberg and his family proudly sit in their new 1910 Model T Ford. It is reported that he could make the trip from Middleburg to Penns Creek in 19 minutes, a noteworthy speed of 15 mph at the time.

In 1917, Charles Kearns was inducted into the Armed Forces which resulted in the closing of the plant. When he returned to civilian life in 1919, he began the manufacture of the delivery trucks mentioned earlier. He also began building fire trucks which, for the most part, were

built at a plant in Danville. They had a good reputation for being well built and many units were sold, retailing between $5000 and $7500. In 1928, due to ill health, he dold the complete plant with its equipment, bringing automobile manufacturing in Snyder County to an end.

In a related note, the first gasoline station in Snyder County was founded at Selins-grove at the hardware store of Mr. George and Charles Hendricks. The gasoline was drawn from a barrel and then strained through a chamois skin in order that no water or foreign matter might enter the tanks.
Mr. George Schoch, after attending an apprenticeship in Wilkinsburg in 1908, opened the "S" Garage in 1909, where he worked on the "gas buggy" for their owners. This is the first known garage in Snyder county.

Some information for this article gleaned from Snyder County Historical Society Journal, Vol II.

The Brief Automobile Industry
of Snyder County