Lock Haven, Pennsylvania

== History ==
=== Pre-European ===
The earliest settlers in Pennsylvania arrived from Asia between 12000&nbsp;[[Common Era|BCE]] and 8000&nbsp;BCE, when the glaciers of the Pleistocene [[Pleistocene|Ice Age]] were receding. Fluted point spearheads from this era, known as the [[Paleo-Indians|Paleo-Indian]] Period, have been found in most parts of the state.<ref name=historical>{{cite web | last = Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission | title = Pennsylvania Archaeology: An Introduction | publisher = Commonwealth of Pennsylvania | url = http://www.phmc.state.pa.us/ppet/archaeology/page1.asp?secid=31  | access-date = November 11, 2009 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080625100450/http://www.phmc.state.pa.us/ppet/archaeology/page1.asp?secid=31 |archive-date = June 25, 2008}}</ref> Archeological discoveries at the [[Memorial Park Site|Memorial Park Site 36Cn164]] near the confluence of the West Branch Susquehanna River and Bald Eagle Creek collectively span about 8,000&nbsp;years and represent every major prehistoric period from the [[Archaic period in the Americas|Middle Archaic]] to the [[Late Woodland period]].{{sfn|Schuldenrein|Vento|1994|p=1|loc=chapter 1}} Prehistoric cultural periods over that span included the Middle Archaic starting at 6500 BCE; the Late Archaic starting at 3000 BCE; the Early Woodland starting at 1000 BCE; the Middle Woodland starting at 0 CE; and the Late Woodland starting at 900 CE.{{sfn|Richter|2002|p=4}} First contact with Europeans occurred in Pennsylvania between 1500 and 1600 CE.{{sfn|Richter|2002|p=4}}<ref>At the time of first contact, several tribes lived in what later became Pennsylvania. It is not known which tribe made first contact with Europeans.</ref>

===18th century===
[[File:Big Runaway Map.PNG|thumb|alt=Eleven forts were built along or near the West Branch Susquehanna River between Fort Augusta, near the confluence with the North Branch Susquehanna, and Fort Reid at Lock Haven, near the confluence with Bald Eagle Creek.|Map of fortifications and streams in north-central Pennsylvania during the [[Big Runaway]] during the [[American Revolutionary War]] in June and July 1778]] 
In the early 18th&nbsp;century, a tribal confederacy known as the [[Iroquois|Six Nations of the Iroquois]], headquartered in [[New York (state)|New York]], ruled the Indian (Native American) tribes of Pennsylvania, including those who lived near what would become Lock Haven. Indian settlements in the area included three [[Lenape|Munsee]] villages on the {{convert|325|acre|km2|adj=on}} Great Island in the West Branch Susquehanna River at the mouth of Bald Eagle Creek. Four Indian trails, the [[Great Island Path]], the [[Great Shamokin Path]], the [[Bald Eagle Creek Path]], and the [[Sinnemahoning Path]], crossed the island, and a fifth, [[Logan's Path]], met Bald Eagle Creek Path a few miles upstream near the mouth of [[Fishing Creek (Bald Eagle Creek)|Fishing Creek]].{{sfn|Wallace|1987|p=frontispiece (map)}} During the [[French and Indian War]] (1754–63), colonial militiamen on the [[Kittanning Expedition]] destroyed Munsee property on the Great Island and along the West Branch. By 1763, the Munsee had abandoned their island villages and other villages in the area.{{sfn|Miller|1966|p=4}}<ref>The earliest recorded inhabitants of the West Branch Susquehanna River valley were the [[Susquehannock]]s, but they were wiped out by disease and warfare with the Iroquois, and the few members left moved west or were assimilated into other tribes by 1675. After that the Iroquois, who were the nominal rulers of the land but mostly lived in [[New York (state)|New York]] to the north, invited tribes displaced by European settlers to move into the region. These included the Lenape (Delaware), [[Shawnee]], and others. Generally, they moved west into the [[Ohio River]] Valley. For more information see Wallace, Paul A.W. (2005). ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=4ryqOZkO1LUC Indians in Pennsylvania]'' (Second ed., revised by William A. Hunter). Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission.{{OCLC|1744740}} (Note: OCLC refers to the 1961 First Edition). Retrieved on December 21, 2009.</ref>

With the signing of the first [[Treaty of Fort Stanwix]] in 1768, the British gained control from the Iroquois of lands south of the West Branch. However, European settlers continued to appropriate land, including tracts in and near the future site of Lock Haven, not covered by the treaty. 

In 1769, Cleary Campbell, the first European settler in the area, built a log cabin near the present site of [[Lock Haven University of Pennsylvania]], and by 1773 William Reed, another settler, had built a cabin surrounded by a stockade and called it Reed's Fort.{{sfn|Miller|1966|pp=18, 23}} It was the westernmost of 11 mostly primitive forts along the West Branch; [[Fort Augusta]], located by the confluence of the [[North Branch Susquehanna River|East (or North)]] and [[West Branch Susquehanna River|West]] branches of the Susquehanna at what is now [[Sunbury, Pennsylvania|Sunbury]], was the easternmost and most defensible. In response to settler incursions, and encouraged by the British during the [[American Revolution]] (1775–83), Indians attacked colonists and their settlements along the West Branch. Fort Reed and the other European settlements in the area were temporarily abandoned in 1778 during a general evacuation known as the [[Big Runaway]]. Hundreds of people fled along the river to Fort Augusta, about {{convert|50|mi|km|sigfig=1}} from Fort Reed; some did not return for five years.{{sfn|Miller|1966|p=28}} In 1784, the second [[Treaty of Fort Stanwix (1784)|Treaty of Fort Stanwix]], between the Iroquois and the United States, transferred most of the remaining Indian territory in Pennsylvania, including what would become Lock Haven, to the state.<ref name = "2nd Stanwix"/> The U.S. acquired the last remaining tract, the [[Erie Triangle]], through a separate treaty and sold it to Pennsylvania in 1792.<ref name = "2nd Stanwix">{{cite book|last = Day | first = Sherman | title = Historical collections of the State of Pennsylvania  |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=ePzzh7IIPjAC&q=treaty%20of%20fort%20stanwix%201784&pg=PA449 | publisher = George W. Gorton | place = Philadelphia | year = 1843 | format = Google Books online reprint | pages = 315–16| access-date = October 11, 2009}}</ref>

===19th century===
[[File:Canal Monument in Lock Haven Pennsylvania.JPG|thumb|A canal monument incorporating an old canal lock in downtown Lock Haven|alt=A stone and metal monument and stone retaining walls commemorate a former canal lock. A sidewalk runs by the memorial and between the retaining walls on a lush bed of grass.]] 
Lock Haven was laid out as a town in 1833,<ref name="PHMC early"/> and it became the county seat in 1839, when Clinton County was created out of parts of [[Lycoming County, Pennsylvania|Lycoming]] and [[Centre County, Pennsylvania|Centre]] counties.{{sfn|Linn|1883|p=489}} Incorporated as a [[Borough (Pennsylvania)|borough]] in 1840 and as a city in 1870,<ref name="PHMC early">{{cite web | title = Clinton County – 7th class |publisher = Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission |url =http://www.phmc.state.pa.us/BAH/DAM/counties/pdfs/Clinton.pdf |access-date = November 27, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150514223232/http://www.phmc.state.pa.us/BAH/DAM/counties/pdfs/Clinton.pdf|archive-date=May 14, 2015|url-status=live}}</ref> Lock Haven prospered in the 19th&nbsp;century largely because of timber and transportation. The forests of Clinton County and counties upriver held a huge supply of white pine and hemlock as well as oak, ash, maple, poplar, cherry, beech, and magnolia. The wood was used locally for such things as frame houses, shingles, canal boats, and wooden bridges, and whole logs were floated to [[Chesapeake Bay]] and on to [[Baltimore]], to make [[spar (sailing)|spars]] for ships. [[Log driving]] and [[Timber rafting|log rafting]], competing forms of transporting logs to [[sawmill]]s, began along the West Branch around 1800. By 1830, slightly before the founding of the town, the lumber industry was well established.{{sfn|Miller|1966|pp=109–111}}

The [[Pennsylvania Canal (West Branch Division)|West Branch Canal]], which opened in 1834, ran {{convert|73|mi|km|0}} from [[Northumberland, Pennsylvania|Northumberland]] to Farrandsville, about {{convert|5|mi|km|0}} upstream from Lock Haven. A state-funded extension called the Bald Eagle Cut ran from the West Branch through Lock Haven and [[Flemington, Pennsylvania|Flemington]] to Bald Eagle Creek. A privately funded extension, the [[Bald Eagle and Spring Creek Navigation]], eventually reached [[Bellefonte, Pennsylvania|Bellefonte]], {{convert|24|mi|km|0}} upstream. Lock Haven's founder, Jeremiah Church, and his brother, Willard, chose the town site in 1833 partly because of the river, the creek, and the canal. Church named the town ''Lock Haven'' because it had a canal [[Lock (water transport)|lock]] and because it was a haven for loggers, boatmen, and other travelers. Over the next quarter century, canal boats {{convert|12|ft|m|0}} wide and {{convert|80|ft|m|0}} long carried passengers and mail as well as cargo such as coal, ashes for lye and soap, firewood, food, furniture, dry goods, and clothing. A rapid increase in Lock Haven's population (to 830 by 1850){{sfn|Wagner|1979|p=42}} followed the opening of the canal.{{sfn|Miller|1966|pp=44–46}}

A Lock Haven [[log boom]], smaller than but otherwise similar to the [[Susquehanna Boom]] at Williamsport, was constructed in 1849. Large cribs of timbers weighted with tons of stone were arranged in the pool behind the [[Dunnstown, Pennsylvania|Dunnstown]] Dam, named for a settlement on the shore opposite Lock Haven. The piers, about {{convert|150|ft|m|0}} from one another, stretched in a line from the dam to a point {{convert|3|mi|km|0}} upriver. Connected by timbers shackled together with iron yokes and rings, the piers anchored an enclosure into which the river current forced floating logs. Workers called ''boom rats'' sorted the captured logs, branded like cattle, for delivery to sawmills and other owners. Lock Haven became the lumber center of Clinton County and the site of many businesses related to forest products.{{sfn|Miller|1966|pp=111–119}}

The [[Philadelphia and Erie Railroad|Sunbury and Erie Railroad]], renamed the Philadelphia and Erie Railroad in 1861, reached Lock Haven in 1859, and with it came a building boom. Hoping that the area's coal, iron ore, white pine, and high-quality clay would produce significant future wealth, railroad investors led by Christopher and John Fallon financed a line to Lock Haven. On the strength of the railroad's potential value to the city, local residents had invested heavily in housing, building large homes between 1854 and 1856. Although the Fallons' coal and iron ventures failed, [[Gothic Revival architecture|Gothic Revival]], [[Greek Revival architecture|Greek Revival]], and [[Italianate architecture|Italianate]] mansions and commercial buildings such as the Fallon House, a large hotel, remained, and the railroad provided a new mode of transport for the ongoing timber era. A second rail line, the [[Bald Eagle Valley Railroad]], originally organized as the Tyrone and Lock Haven Railroad and completed in the 1860s, linked Lock Haven to [[Tyrone, Pennsylvania|Tyrone]], {{convert|56|mi|km|0}} to the southwest. The two rail lines soon became part of the network controlled by the [[Pennsylvania Railroad]].{{sfn|Wagner|1979|pp=9–60}}

During the era of [[Log driving|log floating]], logjams sometimes occurred when logs struck an obstacle. Log rafts floating down the West Branch had to pass through chutes in canal dams. The rafts were commonly {{convert|28|ft|m|0}} wide—narrow enough to pass through the chutes—and {{convert|150|ft|m|0}} to {{convert|200|ft|m|0}} long.<ref name=theiss>{{cite journal | last = Theiss | first = Lewis Edwin | title = Lumbering in Penn's Woods | journal = Pennsylvania History: A Journal of Mid-Atlantic Studies | volume = 19 | issue = 4 | pages = 397–412 | publisher = Pennsylvania Historical Association | location = University Park, Pa. |date=October 1952 | url = http://journals.psu.edu/phj/article/view/22227/21996| format = [[PDF]] | id = psu.ph/1133209642 | access-date = February 3, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150616050600/https://journals.psu.edu/phj/article/view/22227/21996|archive-date=June 16, 2015|url-status=live}}</ref> In 1874, a large raft got wedged in the chute of the Dunnstown Dam and caused a jam that blocked the channel from bank to bank with a pile of logs {{convert|16|ft|m|0}} high. The jam eventually trapped another 200&nbsp;log rafts, and 2&nbsp;canal boats, ''The Mammoth of Newport'' and ''The Sarah Dunbar''.{{sfn|Miller|1966|pp=119–120}}

In terms of volume, the peak of the lumber era in Pennsylvania arrived in about 1885, when {{nowrap|1.9 million logs}} went through the boom at Williamsport. These logs produced a total of {{convert|226|e6board feet|e3m3|abbr=off|lk=on}} of sawed lumber. After that, production steadily declined throughout the state.<ref name=theiss/> Lock Haven's timber business was also affected by flooding, which badly damaged the canals and destroyed the log boom in 1889.{{sfn|Miller|1966|p=59}}

The Central State Normal School, established to train teachers for central Pennsylvania, held its first classes in 1877 at a site overlooking the West Branch Susquehanna River. The small school, with enrollments below 150 until the 1940s, eventually became Lock Haven University of Pennsylvania.<ref name = lhuphistory>{{cite web | title = Lock Haven University: A Brief History | publisher = Lock Haven University | url = http://www.lhup.edu/library2/archive/briefhistory.htm | access-date = October 13, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120217095059/http://www.lhup.edu/library2/archive/briefhistory.htm|archive-date=February 17, 2012}}</ref> In the early 1880s, the New York and Pennsylvania Paper Mill in [[Castanea Township, Clinton County, Pennsylvania|Castanea Township]] near Flemington began paper production on the site of a former sawmill; the [[paper mill]] remained a large employer until the end of the 20th&nbsp;century.

===20th century ===
[[File:PostcardBirdsEyeViewLockHavenPa1911.jpg|thumb|alt=A tinted postcard depicts a town as seen from a hillside. It is laid out on a triangle of flat land between two converging streams. The larger and more distant of the two streams is flowing from mountains, while the smaller stream flows through farmland.|An aerial postcard illustration of Lock Haven with Bald Eagle Creek (in foreground) and the West Branch Susquehanna River (in background) in 1911]]
[[File:Piper Aviation Museum 2.jpg|thumb|Piper Aviation Museum|alt=A white van is parked in front of a rectangular three-story building with many windows. A sign on the building says, "Piper Aviation Museum".]]
[[File:Pennsylvania - Lewisburg through Marcus Hook - NARA - 68148320 (cropped).jpg|thumb|right|Lock Haven in 1930]]
As older forms of transportation such as the canal boat disappeared, new forms arose. One of these, the [[tram|electric trolley]], began operation in Lock Haven in 1894. The Lock Haven Electric Railway, managed by the Lock Haven Traction Company and after 1900 by the Susquehanna Traction Company, ran passenger trolleys between Lock Haven and [[Mill Hall, Pennsylvania|Mill Hall]], about {{convert|3|mi|km|0}} to the west. The trolley line extended from the [[Philadelphia and Erie Railroad]] station in Lock Haven to a station of the [[Central Railroad of Pennsylvania (1891–1918)|Central Railroad of Pennsylvania]], which served Mill Hall. The route went through Lock Haven's downtown, close to the Normal School, across town to the trolley car barn on the southwest edge of the city, through Flemington, over the Bald Eagle Canal and Bald Eagle Creek, and on to Mill Hall via what was then known as the Lock Haven, Bellefonte, and [[Nittany Valley]] Turnpike. Plans to extend the line from Mill Hall to Salona, {{convert|3|mi|km|0}} south of Mill Hall, and to [[Avis, Pennsylvania|Avis]] {{convert|10|mi|km|0}} northeast of Lock Haven, were never carried out, and the line remained unconnected to other trolley lines. The system, always financially marginal, declined after [[World War I]]. Losing business to automobiles and buses, it ceased operations around 1930.{{sfn|Shieck|Cox|1978|pp=81–92}}

[[William T. Piper Sr.]] built the [[Piper Aircraft]] Corporation factory in Lock Haven in 1937 after the company's Taylor Aircraft manufacturing plant in [[Bradford, Pennsylvania]], was destroyed by fire. The factory began operations in a building that once housed a silk mill.<ref name=plan>{{cite web |author=City of Lock Haven Planning Office |author2=Clinton County Comprehensive Planning Advisory Committee |author3=Gannett Fleming, Inc. |author4=Larson Design Group | title = Comprehensive Plan Update (2005) | publisher = City of Lock Haven | url =http://lockhavenpa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/2005_comp_plan.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150420184323/http://lockhavenpa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/2005_comp_plan.pdf|url-status=live|archive-date=April 20, 2015| access-date = September 21, 2007}}</ref> As the company grew, the original factory expanded to include engineering and office buildings. Piper remained in the city until 1984, when its new owner, [[EG&G#Lear Siegler Services, Inc.|Lear-Siegler]], moved production to [[Vero Beach, Florida]]. The Clinton County Historical Society opened the Piper Aviation Museum at the site of the former factory in 1985, and 10&nbsp;years later the museum became an independent organization.<ref name="plan"/>

The state of Pennsylvania acquired Central State Normal School in 1915 and renamed it Lock Haven State Teachers College in 1927. Between 1942 and 1970, the student population grew from 146 to more than 2,300; the number of teaching faculty rose from 25 to 170, and the college carried out a large building program. The school's name was changed to Lock Haven State College in 1960, and its emphasis shifted to include the humanities, fine arts, mathematics, and social sciences, as well as teacher education. Becoming Lock Haven University of Pennsylvania in 1983, it opened a branch campus in [[Clearfield, Pennsylvania|Clearfield]], {{convert|48|mi|km|0}} west of Lock Haven, in 1989.<ref name=lhuphistory/>

An {{convert|8|acre|ha|adj=on}} industrial area in Castanea Township adjacent to Lock Haven was placed on the National Priorities List of uncontrolled hazardous waste sites, commonly referred to as [[Superfund]] sites, in 1982. Drake Chemical, which went bankrupt in 1981, made ingredients for pesticides and other compounds at the site from the 1960s to 1981. Starting in 1982, the [[United States Environmental Protection Agency]] began a clean-up of contaminated containers, buildings, and soils at the site and by the late 1990s had replaced the soils. Equipment to treat contaminated groundwater at the site was installed in 2000 and continues to operate.<ref>{{cite web | title = Mid-Atlantic Superfund: Drake Chemical: Current Site Information | publisher = U.S. Environmental Protection Agency | url = http://www.epa.gov/reg3hwmd/npl/PAD003058047.htm | access-date = October 18, 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150514224655/http://www.epa.gov/reg3hwmd/npl/PAD003058047.htm|archive-date=May 14, 2015|url-status=live}}</ref>

=== Floods ===<!--section linked directly from [[Piper PA-24 Comanche]], please update there if section title is changed-->
[[File:Lock Haven Bridge panorama.jpg|thumb|Since 1995, a levee protects Lock Haven from the West Branch of the [[Susquehanna River]].|alt=A large, smooth river crossed by a modern bridge. The left bank is tree lined, the right is a levee, a long mountain ridge is in the background.]]
Pennsylvania's streams have frequently flooded. According to William H. Shank, the Native Americans of Pennsylvania warned white settlers that great floods occurred on the Delaware and Susquehanna rivers every 14&nbsp;years. Shank tested this idea by tabulating the highest floods on record at key points throughout the state over a 200-year period and found that a major flood had occurred, on average, once every 25&nbsp;years between 1784 and 1972. Big floods recorded at [[Harrisburg, Pennsylvania|Harrisburg]], on the [[main stem]] of the Susquehanna about {{convert|120|mi|km|sigfig=2}} downstream from Lock Haven, occurred in 1784, 1865, 1889, 1894, 1902, 1936, and 1972. Readings from the Williamsport [[stream gauge]], {{convert|24|mi|km|0}} below Lock Haven on the West Branch of the Susquehanna, showed major flooding between 1889 and 1972 in the same years as the Harrisburg station; in addition, a large flood occurred on the West Branch at Williamsport in 1946.{{sfn|Shank|1972|pp=10–13}} Estimated flood-crest readings between 1847 and 1979—based on data from the [[National Weather Service]] flood gauge at Lock Haven—show that flooding likely occurred in the city 19&nbsp;times in 132&nbsp;years.{{sfn|Schuldenrein|Vento|1994|pp=4–5|loc=chapter 2, table 1}} The biggest flood occurred on March 18, 1936, when the river crested at {{convert|32.3|ft|m}}, which was about {{convert|11|ft|m}} above the flood stage of {{convert|21|ft|m}}.{{sfn|Schuldenrein|Vento|1994|pp=4–5|loc=chapter 2, table 1}}

The third biggest flood, cresting at {{convert|29.8|ft|m}} in Lock Haven, occurred on June 1, 1889,{{sfn|Schuldenrein|Vento|1994|pp=4–5|loc=chapter 2, table 1}} and coincided with the [[Johnstown Flood]]. The flood demolished Lock Haven's log boom, and millions of feet of stored timber were swept away.{{sfn|Shank|1972|pp=22–23}} The flood damaged the canals, which were subsequently abandoned, and destroyed the last of the canal boats based in the city.{{sfn|Miller|1966|p=59}}

The most damaging Lock Haven flood was caused by the remnants of [[Hurricane Agnes]] in 1972. The storm, just below hurricane strength when it reached the region, made landfall on June 22 near New York City. Agnes merged with a non-tropical low on June 23, and the combined system affected the northeastern United States until June 25. The combination produced widespread rains of {{convert|6|to|12|in|mm|0}} with local amounts up to {{convert|19|in|mm|0}} in western [[Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania|Schuylkill County]], about {{convert|75|mi|km|0}} southeast of Lock Haven.<ref>{{cite web| url =http://www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/tropical/rain/agnes1972.html|title =Hurricane Agnes – June 14–25, 1972 | publisher=National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)| access-date=September 16, 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150209162410/http://www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/tropical/rain/agnes1972.html|archive-date=February 9, 2015|url-status=live}}</ref> At Lock Haven, the river crested on June 23 at {{convert|31.3|ft|m}}, second only to the 1936 crest.{{sfn|Schuldenrein|Vento|1994|pp=4–5|loc=chapter 2, table 1}} The flood greatly damaged the paper mill and Piper Aircraft.<ref name="Yowell"/>

In 1992, federal, state, and local governments began construction of barriers to protect the city. The project included a levee of {{convert|36000|ft|m|sigfig=2}} and a [[flood wall]] of {{convert|1000|ft|m|sigfig=1}} along the [[Susquehanna River]] and Bald Eagle Creek, closure structures, [[retention basin]]s, a [[pumping station]], and some relocation of roads and buildings. Completed in 1995, the levee protected the city from high water in the year of the [[Blizzard of 1996]],<ref>{{cite web|title = Statewide Floods in Pennsylvania, January 1996 | publisher = United States Geological Survey | url = http://water.usgs.gov/wid/FS_103-96/FS_103-96.html | date = April 10, 1996 | access-date = November 30, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150514224339/http://water.usgs.gov/wid/FS_103-96/FS_103-96.html|archive-date=May 14, 2015|url-status=live}}</ref> and again 2004, when rainfall from the remnants of [[Hurricane Ivan]] threatened the city.<ref name="Yowell">{{cite journal | last = Yowell | first = Robert | title = Intergovernmental Success in Multi-Component Flood Mitigation: The Lock Haven Flood Protection Project Experience | journal = [[Journal of Contemporary Water Research and Education]] | issue = 129 | pages = 46–48 |date=March 2005 | url = http://www.ucowr.siu.edu/updates/130/11%20yowell.pdf | access-date = September 16, 2007|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070713141700/http://www.ucowr.siu.edu/updates/130/11%20yowell.pdf |archive-date = July 13, 2007}}</ref>