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Page 55
POST OFFICES
CHAPTER XI
THE first Post Office in this section was established on the 10th
day of July, 1830, at Luthersburg, and George Hoover was appointed
Postmaster. It is said that Caleb Bailey was the first mail carrier
who traveled between Lewistown by way of Bellefonte, Philipsburg,
Curwensville, west to Erie. The mail was carried on horseback. It
required two weeks to go from Lewistown to Erie, and two weeks to
return. In the summer time, the mail carrier often slept in the
woods.
Later a stage line, which carried the mail, was established by
Joseph Evans. His son, Richard Evans, drove the stage. Mrs. Clara
Evans, wife of Mr. Evans, has given a very vivid recollection of
this stage line in a letter, inserted in the appendix.
After the Erie Pike was opened, emigration started from the eastern
part of the State. Most of these emigrants settled along this Pike.
Some located at Luthersburg, some at Taylortown, and some at New
Salem, West Liberty and other villages, but prior to 1850 none
seemed to have come as far north as the George Shaffer plantation.
Clearfield County was organized by Act of Legislature, March 20,
1804. At that time Fox Township and part of Horton Township, Elk
County, as well as a considerable part of Cameron County, were in
the limits of Clearfield County.
The first census of the County, taken in 1810, showed a population
of 875; in 1820 the population was 2,342 ; and in 1830 it was 4,803,
Brady Township, in this census, having a little more than one
seventh of the population of the entire county. In the census of
1840 Clearfield County had a population of 9,834, and Brady Townshp
had a little over one-eighteenth of the population of the County.
From 1840 the County settled rapidly and the census shows that in
1850 the population had almost doubled, being 12,586, in 1860 it was
18,759, in 1870 it was 25,741, in 1880 it was 43,408, in 1890 it was
69,565. In 1900 the population was 80,614, in 1910 it was 93,236, in
1920 it was 103,236, being the high water mark in population of the
County, and the population of DuBois had increased in accordance
with the population of the County.
Brady Township was organized in 1826, and the population of Brady
Township in 1830 was 692, in 1840 the population had fallen to 431.
It again increased in 1850 to 1083, in 1860 it was 1687, and in 1870
it was 2009. This was ten years before Sandy Township was struck
off. The census of 1880 shows that DuBois, Sandy Township,
Clearfield County had 2,718 people. It is listed with the
unincorporated places in Pennsylvania, and evidently the city at
that time had within its limits that number of people.
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