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It’s never the ones I think.
People never really react to the columns I think are going to get a reaction. I write one that I think is controversial and will get me hate mail, and everyone pretty much takes it in stride. But when I write a column that I think is pretty innocent and inoffensive, wow, does that ever get a big reaction.
I mention this because not too long ago, I wrote a column about Glen Union, a small community in Grugan Township. Though I did feature some history, I made fun of it a bit, for being so small and hard to find, with no paved roads I’m aware of. The entire township, in the 2000 census, was listed as having 52 inhabitants, and I have to wonder if that includes the cats and dogs.
I heard a LOT about that one. Not in the way I expected – Nobody from Glen Union wrote to defend their area; the three or four citizens of Glen Union apparently took it well. (Or the paper is only delivered there every three months or so; maybe I have hate mail coming that I just haven’t seen yet.) But a lot of other people contacted me to ask about Glen Union – Some people said they’d never heard of it, some asked me for directions. (Seriously – Drive halfway to Renovo and swim across the river; that’s literally the easiest way.) One person wrote in anonymously to say that he’d gone to school with a boy from Glen Union named Billy, who would row across the river every morning to catch the train. He was excused when the river froze enough to make rowing problematic, until it froze completely over, at which point he would walk.
But nobody complained about my column. Everyone seemed to enjoy my comments on Glen Union.
And since I’ve never been accused of knowing when to quit, this week I’m writing about Ritchie and Whetham.
Ritchie and Whetham are both upriver from Glen Union, also in Grugan Township. I believe I may have mentioned that Glen Union is small and remote; Ritchie and Whetham make Orviston look like midtown Manhattan. If you’re looking to not be disturbed by tons and tons of people, Grugan Township is the place, is what I’m saying.
Both were big lumbering and farming communities. Whetham began life as DeFranceville, named after John DeFrance. It was also known as Rattlesnake, a name that cools any enthusiasm I had for wanting to visit there. DeFrance owned a sawmill and worked for the Whetham and Price Lumber Company, which later lent its name to the area and Whetham was born.
Supposedly, the town once had a hotel, post office, railroad station, and telegraph office, though today you’d be hard-pressed to find more than a couple of old cabins up there. There is still an old cemetery, though, with maybe nine or 10 graves in it.
Ritchie was named after Edward Hood Ritchie, one of the earliest settlers in the township. John Blair Linn’s History of Centre and Clinton Counties lists it as being “On the Philadelphia and Erie Railroad about five miles north of Glen Union,” and “a pleasant and flourishing community.” It’s interesting that Linn gives his directions in relation to Glen Union, the town nobody can get to. Makes me think that Ritchie must be about as remote as Jupiter.
E.H. Ritchie was said to have been very prosperous – An old county assessment lists him as having farm animals, furniture, a piano, a buggy, and a gold watch, which must have been about half the wealth in Ritchie during the 1800s. In addition to being a lumberman and a farmer, Ritchie also was in charge of the post office and the train station, which meant that he did most of the jobs in town, apparently. Not a whole lot remains of Ritchie, either – I couldn’t even find a cemetery there.
Maybe I need to take back some of the stuff I’ve said about Glen Union. Granted, Glen Union is not exactly Los Angeles, but by comparison to Ritchie and Whetham, it’s beginning to look like a pretty busy little place.
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Lou Bernard is a Lock Haven resident with a keen interest in the history of this area. He is adult services coordinator at Ross Library and may be reached at ross13@rosslibrary.org or
570-748-3321.