The Town of Derrs

Derrs lies between Rohrsburg and Creasyville in Jackson Township, with a small part of the town south in Greenwood Township. The view is of North Mountain to the north and the Knob Mountain to the south. The earliest settlers came from New Jersey in 1794 and lumbering became the main industry. The first house, called the Lowe place, existed in Derrs in 1838 when only a path went from Derrs to Creasyville. In 1853, George Derr, Sr., bought some land around Creasyville and built and managed a saw mill. In 1854, Hiram Derr bought 585 acres of land. He had seven living children and divided the 585 acres among them. They helped each other build homes and develop farms. The area became known as Derrs. A one-room school was built near the Baptist Church. The third location for a school was in a grove of native Chestnut trees near where the Jackson Baptist Church and Jackson Cemetery are now located. It was called the Chestnut Grove school house.

The Jackson Baptist Congregation was organized in 1819 by preachers who came through and held services once a month. The church building was completed and dedicated September 11, 1853. Services were held by the Baptists from 1819 until 1856 when it was organized as Benton Baptist. During part of that time union services were held by Evangelicals, Disciples of Christ, and Baptists all sharing the use of the church. The church was reorganized in 1869 and renamed the Jackson Baptist Church. The Christian congregation was organized in 1858 and held services in the Baptist Church until 1879 when the Christian Church was erected. A belfry with bell tower and later a social hall was built on the rear and was also used for Sunday School rooms. In 1970 the church was remodeled with a basement as a social hall, Sunday School rooms and a large meeting room added. The entrance was changed with a large foyer.

In 1885 a country store and a "Derrs" Post Office was managed by Elias Steven and Jack Derr. The building was located below the Baptist parsonage. Later Jack Derr built a building for a store and Post Office where the Brobst family lived in 1975, In 1889, the Post Office was moved back to the Steven Store.

For Saturday night entertaining the Steven's family presented a show of songs they'd created and plays and it became the meeting place for all the community on Saturdays.

Again politics changed and in 1893 Charles Robbins managed the Post Office in the Jack Derr building. There were then three rural routes from the Post Office, rural routes to Benton, Rohrsburg and Millville, When the Post Office was moved away from Derrs, Charles Robbins owned and managed a country store in the same building until it closed in 1919. Their 'stone ground' buckwheat flour was quite famous.

A Grist Mill for grinding feed and flour and a Shingle Mill was built and managed by Jacob, John and Judd Christian located on Marion Cole's farm. The remains of the buildings are still standing as reminders of the past, A Birch Still was once located between the homes of Marion Cole and Russel Reece.

Old fashioned camp meetings were held during the summer months in the woods by the road leading from Ford's Broiler Farm to where it meets the Austin Trail. The wooden benches and podium erected are now gone. A Cider Press was managed by the Keeler's at the culvert below where Fred and Shirley Kressler lived.

A railroad was built along Fishing Creek and came to Derrs to bring supplies and to take out finished products from the mills. The area has two covered bridges. The Judd Christi Bridge is near the Marion Cole farm and the Creasyville Bridge spans Fishing Creek father north. These are designed over the Theodore Burr-Truss construction. They both have been kept in fine condition, and are used by public traffic. The covered bridges of which Pennsylvania is noted were originally built to facilitate local travel but today they are becoming landmarks of interest and curiosity and are representatives of past history. You can visit the Creasyville Bridge at http://www.coveredbridgesite.com/pa/creasyville.html .

The narrow road leading from Rohrsburg to Derrs was named the Austin Trail. It was paved in the 1940's, a great improvement over the previous muddy conditions. The narrowness of the road was likened to the little Austin car that was a popular model at that time, thus the name, "Austin Trail." The road has been widened and improved since that time.

The Village of Derrs in 1975 had about 25 homes, 2 churches, a cemetery, a trucking & Fertilizer Center and a large Broiler Farm. The owner of the Trucking & Fertilizer business served a large territory across the eastern states. The Broiler Farm housed, fed and marketed several thousands broilers a year.
--The writing of the History of Derrs was prompted by Don and Betty Miller, Grove, OK. The article is based on material and pictures supplied by them, and by a pamphlet prepared by Irene Keeler Karschner and Nancy Heath Myers, advisers to the Derrs 4-H Community Club, 1975.

		The map on the left is from 1876 and is of Jackson Township as it existed at that time.