FRANK W. ACKLIN,* proprietor of the Walton Acklin Co., jeweler and one of the
largest real estate owners in Tyrone, Pa., was born in Brownsville, Fayette
County, Pa., June, 1866, a son of John and Hannah Rebecca (Jacobs) Acklin.
The parents of Mr. Acklin were both natives of Brownsville, Pa.; both are now
deceased. John Acklin, the father, was a glass manufacturer by occupation. Mr.
Acklin's ancestors on both sides were early settlers in Fayette County.
     The subject of this sketch was graduated at the age of sixteen years
from the public schools of Brownsville. He then entered the jewelry business,
at which he worked for some years in Brownsville. In the fall of 1887 he came
to Tyrone and formed a partnership with Isaac P. Walton, a prominent jeweler
of Tyrone, under the firm name of Walton and Acklin. This connection lasted
up to within a short time of the death of Mr. Walton, when Mr. Acklin
purchased his partner's interest in the business and became sole owner of the
Walton Acklin Co. His store is one of the largest between Pittsburg and
Philadelphia, drawing its patronage from over a radius of many miles, and
being well known over the entire state. Mr. Acklin's stock is valued at from
$33,000 to $40,000, including a stock of diamonds alone valued at more than
twenty thousand dollars; in addition to which he carries a valuable and
expensive line of cut glass and china ware. For fifty-two years the business
has been conducted at its present location. One room is devoted exclusively
to the jewelry and the other to cut glass and hand painted china of the
finest quality. No better proof of the reliability of the house or the
quality of the goods can be advanced than the large volume of business done.
     Mr. Acklin is also one of the largest real estate owners in Tyrone and
set the pace here for apartment houses. He purchased what is known as the
Acklin block in Tyrone, and converted it into flats with all modern
improvements, with some of the most desirable store rooms in Tyrone. He
changed the block from plain to plate glass fronts. The property is centrally
located and every room and apartment is rented. In 1910 he purchased the Hotel
Myron, on Pennsylvania Avenue, which was a new and modern hotel, after which
he made many improvements on it, converting it into a modern apartment house,
with well appointed flats and desirable store rooms, all of which are tenanted
by a most desirable class of people. These flats are provided with every
modern convenience to be found in the most desirable properties of similar
kind in the large cities, such as running water, steam heat, baths, etc. He
purchased the Jones building on the corner of Pennsylvania Avenue and Twelfth
Street and after spending a considerable amount of money on improvements made
the property exceptionally desirable. The home of Mr. Acklin is second to
none in Tyrone - a fine brick structure of modern architecture located on
Lincoln Avenue and Twelfth Street. The interior is beautifully designed and
so arranged that the lower floor can be thrown into a single room. In
addition to other valuable investments held by Mr. Acklin in real estate, he
recently purchased the Sholley property on Lincoln Avenue, one of the most
desirable properties in Tyrone. Mr. Acklin is a leader in the movement that
has resulted in the erection of so many desirable houses in Tyrone. He has a
keen insight into the value of real estate and has made a number of excellent
investments. There is not in Tyrone a man who can see what is needed to make
an idle piece of property a profitable investment quicker than Mr. Acklin.
Every piece of property owned by him is tenanted.
     Mr. Acklin is a member of Tyrone Lodge, No. 494, F.& A.M.; also Jaffa
Temple of the Mystic Shrine, at Altoona; and the Harrisburg Consistory; also
of Sinking Spring Lodge, I.O.O.F., Tyrone. In politics he was first
affiliated with the Democratic party, but owing to the division of that party
on so many important questions, he subsequently decided to cast his vote with
the Republican party and has done so for the past fifteen years. He is a
member of the Presbyterian church. A man of fine musical taste and rare vocal
ability, he has served the church as chorister in a choir of twenty voices
containing some exceptionally fine vocal talent.
     Mr. Acklin married Miss Elizabeth Kaiser, a daughter of E. Kaiser, of
Brownsville, Pa. Her father was a successful jeweler of that place. Mr.
Acklin is a man of exceptional business ability, possessing a keen sense of
honor and an affable disposition. Now in the prime of life, he has been the
architect of his own fortunes, and his record would indicate that the future
still has much in store for him. He is a member of the borough council from
the Third Ward.