Circa 1731 - Conrad Weiser, Pennsylvania’s agent to the American Indians, in company with American Indian Chief Shikellamy, visited Madame Montour at the American Indian village of Otstonwakin/Otstuagy (at confluence of Loyalsock Creek and Susquehanna River). Madame Montour was the matriarch of the village. Madame Montour was born in Canada; her father was a French fur trader, her mother an Algonquian Indian. Madame Montour moved to Otstonwakin in the early 1700s with her husband Carondowanna, a Seneca chief. When he was killed by the Catawba Indians in North Carolina, she became matriarch of the village. She served as interpreter for the Pennsylvania authorities because she could speak English, French and the American Indian languages. Her son Andrew was also an interpreter and served in the French and Indian War for the English.
circa 1741 - Count Zinzendorf, Moravian missionary, traveled through Lycoming County. Benigna, the Count’s daughter, and Anna Nitchsman accompanied him.
1753 - Moravian evangelist John Martin Mack, accompanied by several friends, visited the American Indian village of Madame Montour’s niece French Margaret, located near the mouth of Lycoming Creek.
1763 - The Battle of Muncy Hills took place during the French and Indian War. It was a clash between the American Indians and white men seeking homestead sites in American Indian territory.
1763 - At the Treaty of Fort Stanwix, at the end of the French and Indian War, the British purchased the land that became Lycoming County from the Iroquois Nation who controlled the lands. It was known as the New Purchase.
1769 - In April of this year, the land office opened and offered land for sale in the New Purchase. Samuel Wallis, West Branch Valley land speculator, built his stone mansion west of present Halls Station. It was known as Muncy Farms and was a rallying point for frontiersmen during the Revolution.
1769 - Presbyterian Rev. Philip Vickers Fithian made a missionary tour by horseback through the West Branch Valley.
1776 - On July 4, the Fair Play Men met under the Tiadaghton Elm, on the west side of Pine Creek, and framed their own Declaration of Independence.
1778 - Hoping to starve the Continental Army by destroying the crops in the interior, parties of hostile American Indians and British Tories harassed the frontier. A massacre occurred at the Plum Tree thicket, now Fourth and Cemetery Streets, on June 10, 1778. It precipitated the Great Runaway, an event in which frontier families abandoned the area and fled down river for protection to Fort Augusta in present day Sunbury.
1779 - Early pioneer and French and Indian War veteran Capt. John Brady was reportedly ambushed by three Indians at Wolf Run on April 11 and killed. Brady had a fortified home in Muncy.
1780 - Pennsylvania passed a law which provided for the gradual abolition of slavery. By 1848, all Pennsylvania slaves were legally free.
1795 - On April 13, Lycoming County was formed from Northumberland County. It encompassed all the lands of Northumberland County situated west of Muncy Hills and was a domain of 12,500 square miles, comprising most of north central Pennsylvania. Through the influence of Colonel William Hepburn, a former senator from the region, Williamsport was designated county seat. Hepburn owned land known as Deer Park at the present site of Pennsylvania College of Technology. He was Lycoming County’s first president judge.
1796 - Michael Ross laid out 111 acres of his farm in town lots and conducted a public sale (July 4). These acres comprised the area of original Williamsport, and were bounded by the river on the south, North Street on the north, West Street on the west, and Academy Street on the east. Ross came to Lycoming County as an indentured servant to Samuel Wallis, from whom he learned surveying.
1796 -The Russell Inn, a log structure, was erected on the northeast corner of Third and Mulberry Streets. It was the first structure in Williamsport. It burned in the Great Fire on Aug. 20, 1871.
1796 - Construction of the Williamson Road, a road connecting Williamsport to the Genesee Lands in New York State, was completed. For thirty years it served as the main thoroughfare between southern NY and central PA. Route 15 approximates its route.
1798 - The first brick house in Williamsport was erected on Front Street, between Market and Mulberry, by Andrew Tulloh, a lawyer. The bricks were made on the banks of Grafius Run where that stream crossed Hepburn Street.
1799 - The Post Office opened with Samuel E. Grier as first postmaster.
1800 - The first jail was constructed at the northeast corner of William and Third Streets.
1801 - The Lycoming Gazette was founded as a weekly newspaper. The Sun-Gazette traces to this publication and is now the fifth oldest daily newspaper in Pennsylvania.
1804 - Construction of the first official courthouse building is completed.
1806 - Williamsport was incorporated as a borough on March 1.
1806 - Lodge No. 106, Free and Accepted Masons was constituted on March 3.
1809 - James Cummings introduced stagecoach service between Williamsport and Northumberland. Travel time was 14 hours. Mail was also handled.
1811 - The Williamsport Academy for the Education of Youth in the English and Other Languages, in the Useful Arts, Sciences and Literature was founded April 2 with a $2,000 state appropriation. It later became Dickinson Seminary and then Lycoming College.
1812 - Lycoming County men mobilized for the War of 1812 were attached to the 10th Division, 1st Brigade, commanded by Maj. Gen. John Burrows, founder of Montoursville. They were not called to active duty because the county rated “frontier protection” from the Indians.
1829 - An anti-Masonic riot occurred June 29. It reflected the intense political feelings of that period.
1831 - Jacob L. Mussina established the Repasz Band, the oldest brass band in America still in existence.
1830s - 1865 -- The Underground Railroad, a system of safe houses and routes for slaves escaping to freedom, was organized. Many Lycoming County abolitionists, including Daniel Hughes, served as conductors and agents.
1834 - The West Branch Canal opened on Oct. 15. The first boat to pass through the canal en route to Jersey Shore was that of George Aughenbaugh. The first freight carried into town was iron for the foundry of John B. Hall.
1834 - Enactment of the common school law by Pennsylvania Legislature led to public education here. In May of 1835, the first public schools opened in Williamsport.
1835 - The West Branch National Bank, the county's first bank, was established with John H. Cowden as president, James Armstrong and Tunison Coryell as cashiers.
1839 - The Elmira and Williamsport Railroad opened. At first it only reached Trout Run. By the 1850s, it had extended to Elmira.
1846 - Major James H. Perkins selected Long Reach of the Susquehanna River as the ideal location for a log boom, and incorporated the Susquehanna Boom Company.
1849 - The first bridge across the Susquehanna River was constructed at Market Street. It was a toll bridge.
1851 - The Susquehanna River, North and West Branch Telegraph Company constructed a line to Williamsport. It opened an office in the jewelry store of J. L. Mussina who was its first operator.
1851 - Peter Herdic settled in Williamsport. Williamsport's most enterprising 19th century entrepreneur, he purchased hundreds of acres of land, built homes, sawmills, and other manufactories. He bought an interest in the Susquehanna Boom. He established the Williamsport Passenger Railway system (trolley) in Williamsport and was instrumental in establishing water and gas works. He sold houses to his workmen on small monthly payments- thus, pre-dating building and loan associations. He invented the Herdic coach, which was a horse-drawn conveyance.
1856 - The Woodward Guards, an artillery company was organized. It was named in honor of Associate Judge Apollos Woodward.
1856 - The Williamsport Water Company was organized.
1856 - The Williamsport Gas Company was organized. Gaslights were used here for the first time on Feb. 24, 1857. The city’s population then was 2,500.
1858 - William F. Packer, of Williamsport, was elected Democratic governor of Pennsylvania for a three-year term.
1859 - Artist Severin Roesen settled in Williamsport and produced still life paintings of fruits and flowers. He was no longer in the city by 1872. His work became famous in the 1960s.
1860 - The county’s second courthouse, designed by Philadelphia architect Samuel Sloan, was built.
1861 - The Woodward Guards and Williamsport Rifles mobilized on April 23 in response to President Lincoln’s call for volunteers at outbreak of the Civil War. (They engaged the Confederates at Falling Waters, Va., on July 2).
1861 - The State Fair was held here in September.
1865 - The Williamsport Passenger Railway Company (the trolley), organized in 1863 by Peter Herdic, opened to handle Fair traffic.
1865 - Run-off from rain and snow caused severe flooding on March 17. The flood destroyed parts of the Susquehanna Boom and parts of the West Branch Canal.
1866 - Williamsport was chartered a city by act of the Legislature, Jan. 19. The city held the first municipal election in May and named Major James M. Wood as mayor.
1867 - The Savings Institution of Williamsport was incorporated on April 12 with $10,000 capital. In 1956 it was rated the highest priced bank stock in America.
1867 - Newberry was annexed to Williamsport.
1867 - The Young Men’s Christian Association was organized in March. It was incorporated in 1875.
1868 - Lycoming County was constituted a one-county judicial district, Feb. 28. Benjamin S. Bentley was appointed first president judge.
1868 - Construction of the county prison on the northeast corner of William and West Third Streets was completed. It was built on the same site as the first jail. The second prison closed but the building still stands. A new prison was built on the southeast corner of Hepburn and West Third Streets in 1986.
1868 - Ulman’s Opera House opened on May 4 at the southeast corner of Market Square with a seating capacity of 1,000. It closed in 1874.
1869 - Williamsport High School was established with 13 pupils.
1869 - The Lycoming Gazette and West Branch Bulletin merged on Nov. 22 to form the Gazette and Bulletin.
1870 - Elliott’s Academy of Music opened on the southwest corner of Fourth and Pine
Streets. It closed in 1893.1870 - The Lycoming County Normal School, a school for teachers, was organized at Montoursville. In 1877, it moved to Muncy.
1871 - The Great Fire occurred Sunday night, Aug. 20; it consumed 45 properties in the neighborhood of Third and Mulberry Streets. Mulberry Street Methodist Church and the mansion of Ex-Governor William F. Packer fell prey to the flames.
1871 - The Sawdust War was a 22-day strike of sawmill workers. They sought a 10 hour work day and a 25-cent raise. Men brought to trial and found guilty for inciting the riot were pardoned by Gov. John W. Geary before they reached prison.
1872 - The Home for the Friendless was founded on November 18 by a group of Williamsport women. It provided a home and food for the welfare of homeless and friendless women and children, especially aged women. It was the forerunner of the Williamsport Home. A board of directors composed of women directed its operations.
1874 - On February 24, a meeting was held in the Pine Street Methodist Church in Williamsport for the purpose of initiating a Women’s Temperance Movement in the area. In November, a permanent organization was formed with Mrs. Jersuha P. Bailey Mussina, known as Mother Mussina, as president. The membership grew to include over 2000 men and women.
1873 - The Panic of 1873 contributed to the eventual bankruptcy of Peter Herdic, Williamsport’s most enterprising industrialist of the 19th Century.
1876 - An ordinance provided for curbstone markets at various city locations, including both sides of Market Street from Church Street to North Alley. The outdoor market was popular until 1931 when it moved into the Growers Association Market, a large market house at Market and Church Streets.
1876 - Incorporated in 1873, the Williamsport Hospital opened its first facility April 1 at Elmira and Edwin Streets. Dr. Jean Saylor Brown was instrumental in the successful establishment and operation of the hospital. Dr. Rita Biansia Church became the first Superintendent and Resident Physician of Williamsport Hospital in 1881. The hospital was one of only 178 hospitals in the U.S. and the first general hospital in north central Pennsylvania.
1876 - Hiram R. Rhoads established the telephone exchange on May 1. It had 25 subscribers.
1881 - A state law ended segregation in Pennsylvania schools. By 1948, all schools in this area were integrated.
1884 - Dietrick Lamade founded Grit Publishing Company. This Sunday publication passed the million-circulation mark early in 1956.
1885 - As the lumber industry declined, Cyrus La Rue Munson, lawyer and financier, and John F. Laedlein, real estate and insurance agent, organized the Board of Trade to encourage industrial diversification. They enticed several companies to locate in Williamsport including the Demorest Manufacturing Company (now Textron Lycoming), Williamsport Wire Rope Company, H. Diston Manufacturing, and the Royal Braid Company.
1889 - The June flood was the worst in the city’s history up to that date. It swept away millions of feet of logs in the Susquehanna Boom and wrecked the West Branch Canal. It damaged sawmills, lumberyards, homes, businesses, roads, pavements and utility pipes. Waters reached 6’ heights in downtown Williamsport.
1891 - The Lycoming Opera House opened. It cost $85,000 and seated 1,800. It was situated at West Third and Laurel Streets in Williamsport.
1891 - The Williamsport Passenger Railway system (the trolley) was electrified by Hiram R. Rhoads.
1891 - The Girls Friendly Society, the forerunner of the Williamsport YWCA was founded and officially became the YWCA in 1908. The organization met at various locations until 1929 when its present building at 815 West Fourth Street was completed.
1894 - A flood in May damaged homes, businesses and industries.
1894 - City Hall was erected at 454 Pine Street on the site of Ross Park, originally a cemetery.
1895 - Williamsport native Henry Clay McCormick, leading member of the bar, was appointed attorney general of Pennsylvania. He filled that post for four years.
1895- The Lycoming County Centennial Celebration took place. An exhibition building was constructed in Williamsport to display antiquities related to the county’s history.
1897 - The first Parent-Teacher Association was established in Clay School.
1898 - The Twelfth Regiment of the National Guard was mobilized into federal service on April 28 for Spanish-American War. It mustered out on Oct. 29 after having suffered 28 typhoid fever causalities.
1906 - Williamsport observed its centennial on July 4.
1906 - The Imperial Motor Company manufactured the Imperial motor car in Williamsport. The Panic of 1907 caused the company to go out of business in 1908.
1907 - The Lycoming Foundry and Machine Company was reorganized from the bankrupt Demorest Manufacturing Company. It manufactured engines for automobiles including the Cord, Auburn and Elcar.
1907 - The Williamsport Board of Trade founded the Lycoming County Historical Society.
1907 - Endowed by lumber businessman James Vanduzee Brown and his wife Carile, the James V. Brown Library opened to the public on June 21 with 12,000 books on its shelves.
1914 - The Williamsport High School burned, April 4.
1914 - World War I brought hundreds of young men to the defense of their country. Lycoming County causalities numbered 132.
1923 - The Muncy Valley Hospital was founded and opened in a Victorian house on East Water Street in Muncy.
1924 - The Board of Trade changed its name to the Williamsport Chamber of Commerce.
1924 - The Hippodrome Theater fire occurs on Feb. 16. The Hippodrome was located on West Fourth Street next to the Weightman Block.1929 - The Williamsport Airport, at Montoursville, was dedicated July 20.
1929 - The Great Depression hit the nation. By 1933, Williamsport suffered 25% unemployment.
1931 - The Curbstone Market, an outdoor market along Market Street in Williamsport was abandoned, Feb. 1.
1933 - Electric trolley cars gave way on June 10 to motor buses for local transportation.
1933 - A group of prominent local businessmen formed the Committee of 100 to raise funds to encourage firms to move to Williamsport. Merging with the Chamber of Commerce to form the Community Trade Association, the group brought 30 new firms to the city.
1936 - The Flood of March 17-18 caused the river to crest at 33.9’. Flood waters reached High Street. It was known locally as the Hello, Al flood because Al Glaes, operating a short-wave radio station from his home on High Street, kept the city in touch with the rest of the world after the flood disrupted electricity and telephone service.
1939 - On June 6, the first Little League Baseball game was played on a sandlot outside Bowman Field in Williamsport. Carl Stotz conceived the idea of a Little League, and he and Bert and George Bebble managed the first three teams.
1941 - The U.S. entered WWII after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. Joe Lockard, of Williamsport, gave warning of the impending attack, but was ignored by the higher-ups. More than 9,000 Lycoming County men and women served in the armed forces. Lycoming County causalities reached 306. Many local industries produced goods for the war effort during WWII (1941 - 45).
1941 - The Williamsport School Board created the Williamsport Technical Institute for high school and post-high school students. It grew into the Williamsport Area Community College, and later became Pennsylvania College of Technology.
1951 - Divine Providence Hospital was established in Williamsport. Sister Emilene Wehner served as administrator from its opening until her retirement in 1985.
1955 - Dikes affording flood protection for Williamsport were completed.
1955 - The Gazette and Bulletin merged with The Williamsport Sun on Sept. 12 to become the Williamsport Sun-Gazette, an afternoon publication.
1956 - More than $650,000 was subscribed by industry residents for the Lycoming Industrial Fund. This sum was to be used to procure new industries and expand employment.
1969 - The county courthouse, built in 1860, was razed and a new modern building erected. It is the county’s third official courthouse.
1972 - Hurricane Agnes drove pounding rain into the region in June causing the ‘72 flood. Downtown Williamsport, protected by the dikes, suffered less than the surrounding communities including Loyalsock, Montoursville, and Muncy.
1974 - The Growers Market Association, located at Church and Market Streets, closed.
1977 - The Lycoming Mall, located east of Montoursville and west of Muncy on
Route 180, opened.1980 - Sister Henry Lambert of the Sisters of Christian Charity, founded St. Anthony’s Center on June 13. Its purpose: to feed the less fortunate a free hot meal each day of the week.
1993 - The Community Arts Center, a restoration of the Capitol Theatre that was built in 1928, opened in downtown Williamsport.
1995 - Lycoming County held its Bicentennial Celebration.
1996 - On January 18 & 19, melting snow and driving rain caused the river to crest at 26.7’ above flood stage. Dikes protected the city but the swollen creeks and streams caused severe flooding throughout the rest of the county. An ice dam breaking upstream on Lycoming Creek created disaster; six people in the county lost their lives.
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