Tri-Counties Genealogy & History by Joyce M. Tice Tri-County Communities Bradford County PA Chemung County NY Tioga County PA Grover, Canton Township, Bradford County PA

HERE’S GROVER, Pa., photographed same 50 years ago. Railroad station is in foreground, old post office at left foreground. Right center is Denmark planning mill, with old Innes tannery in distant background to right. Far down road may be seen spires of (left) Evangelical Church and (right) Christ Disciples Church. Near latter is old schoolhouse.

Article - Grover PA Year: undated  - maybe 1937?? Article from Elmira Sunday Telegram Submitted by Paul Newell Tri-County Genealogy & History Sites Home Page How to Use This Site Warning & Disclaimer Canton Page No Unauthorized Commercial Use Say Hello to Joyce

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How It Got Its Name: -- Grover, Pa., Once ‘Beaver Dam,’ Took Name from early Settler

Early industries at Grover, Pa., and how this community in Bradford County received its name, is told in this article, one of a series on villages in the territory served by The Elmira Sunday Telegram.

LIKE many other communities in the old lumbering and tannery sections of Bradford County, Grover boasts of a past life perhaps more colorful than that today. Geographically, Grover is unusually placed. One can walk a few miles to the southwest and, facing south can stand with his left foot in Bradford County, his right in Tioga and, reaching forward, imbed his finger in the soil of Lycoming County. South of Grover is a bit of swamp land and some of the water there flows south to become Lycoming Creek. Other water moves northeast in Towanda Creek. Both streams, to be sure, eventually join the Susquehanna River.

Earliest white man’s history of this region does not speak of Grover, but does mention a Beaver Dam. Correctly may it be surmised that near present Grover was a colony of beavers and early settlers, finding no name more apt, called their then wilderness settlement Beaver Dam.

ONE OF Grover’s oldest residents is Harlan H. Griswold, 78, and a cousin of Herman H. Griswold, well known Elmira Banker.

Grover took its name, Mr. Griswold says, from Charles Grover, an early settler. Of Mr. Grover, Bradsby’s "History of Bradford County" has nothing to say. Nor does Mr. Griswold remember him. It may be assumed that Mr. Grover settled at then "Beaver Dam" in the early 1800’s, perhaps even earlier.

When in 1853 the then Northern Central Railroad pushed its way north from Williamsport, with Elmira as its goal, Grover was an entering point in Bradford County. This railroad is, of course, the present Pennsylvania.

Only a few miles west is the famous Barclay settlement, important in Pennsylvania’s coal mining history. There was once a thriving mining and lumbering business but today only a few stacks remain.

Grover, however, stuck to lumbering. Mills abounded and here also was an A. Innes Sons Tannery. Forests of hemlock surrounded Grover. These were felled, the logs, divested of their bark, hauled by horses and oxen to lumber mills and the tannery got the bark.

THE ORIGINAL Grover lumber mill, as Mr. Griswold remembers it, was that of Brown and Miller. Later, John Brown was partner of Wisner Roy. Another mill was that of Merritt Crandall, who also operated a sawmill on the Ellenton Road. Corcoran and Richards also had a sawmill at Wheelerville to the west, the lumber being shipped to Grover. John Crandall, brother of Merritt, was another millman. There were several old time blacksmiths, one of them being that of G.W. Weatherbee and Son. The "Son" part of the firm was George Weatherbee, today a Grover resident.

One of the old industries was a peg factory of which Will Straight was foremen. This factory, employing a considerable number of young women, flourished in days when cobblers used wooden pegs in soling shoes. When metal pegs came, the day of the Grover wooden peg factory was done. At location of this building, built some 70 years ago, William J. Markle now operates a thriving plant for handling fluid milk.

GROVER IS just off Route 14, between Canton and Roaring Branch. As one passes, on of the first buildings to be seen is a big three-storied frame structure. Here J. R. Wright, maternal grandfather of Mr. Griswold once lived, and ran a store. He was also an early railroad station master at Grover. Later, Sherman S. Vermilya operated a general store here.

Hi Joyce,

I found a newspaper article about Grover, Pennsylvania published in The Elmira Sunday Telegram. The newspaper article is not dated but it contains information about a Grover resident, Harlan Griswold, who is aged 78 years. Harlan is buried in the nearby Turner Cemetery and his birth date is given as 1859, so I assume the newspaper article was written about 1937. However, the photo that accompanies the newspaper article is indicated as being taken "...some 50 years ago." I have seen this exact same photo published as a postcard with the note "Grover, Pa.1900" written on the photo side. At least one of the statements is incorrect but I cannot say which one(s).

Attached to this message is a photo image of Grover, PA from the Elmira Sunday Telegram publication. Also, attached to this message is an MS Word document containing a transcript of the newspaper article.

Sincerely,
Paul E. Newell
Ellicott City, MD

Bradford County PA Chemung County NY Tioga County PA

Published On Tri-Counties Site On 30 AUG 2004 By Joyce M. Tice Email Joyce M. Tice You are the  visitor since the counter was installed on 30 AUG 2004