The North Mountain Historical Society

Meeting : June 2002

JUNE 17, 2002

The History Buffs met on Monday, June 17 at the Brass Pelican. Jim Vance chaired the meeting and asked each one to introduce themselves and tell where they were from. Pastor Howard Leh returned thanks for the day and for the group who had gathered to show interest in the history of our community. There were 72 present- the largest group that has ever attended. The minutes of the last meeting were read.

Following this Jim introduced William Mather who spoke on the history of Jamison City. Bill had maps of the early layout of the town and he pointed out the location of the early hotels, stores, schools, churches, the railroad and the tannery. Thomas Proctor was one of the early entrepreneurs of the area. He was involved with the Proctor Inn, a large hotel built on the side of the mountain. This later came to be known as the Big Onion. He was also associated with the Store Company and the tannery.

The hotel lasted only 20 years, 1888 to 1908, the unpleasant odor coming from the fast growing tannery and the rowdiness of the workers from the mill and the tannery (now numbering about 250 men) was given as the reason for its demise. The men would receive their wages on Saturday night. The largest part they would send home to their families, the rest they spent in the local bars and drunken brawls would follow. This was not an atmosphere to encourage wealthy patrons from the city to spend their vacation in the mountains. The hotel was torn down and people received 10 cents on the dollar for their investment.

There was a post office in Jamison city from 1887 until 1927 when it was closed and patrons received their mail by rural carrier out of Benton. Bill's father,
B. Frank Mather was postmaster when there was a Republican president, the custom then being to change postmasters when the administration in Washington changed. In its hey-day there were five hotels in Jamison City, 5 stores, a 2-story schoolhouse and a Methodist church. This building is still standing having been sold to a hunting club. The Catholic Church in Jamison did not have its own building but met in various meeting rooms.

The tannery closed in the Fall Of 1925 and by 1926 almost everyone had moved out of Jamison City. Some moved to Bloomsburg or Berwick where there were jobs and some moved to towns where there was a tannery. Bill opened the meeting for questions and passed around many pictures of early Jamison City.

Our thanks to Bill for a most interesting and knowledgeable presentation. The next meeting will be July 15 at the Brass Pelican. The speakers will be Dr. Robert and Mrs. Sager.