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The township of Hamilton was formed in the year 1871, from the townships of Ward and Bloss. The inhabitants of the township, with the exception of two or three families are located in the village of Morris Run. This village is located in a direct line about two miles east of Blossburg and situated upon Morris Run, a tributary of the Tioga River. The inhabitants are chiefly engaged in the mining of semi-bituminous coal upon the Bloss veins, and in lumbering. They are employed by the Morris Run Coal Mining Company. Morris run contains one store, tinshop, drug store, hotel, meat market and grocery combined, a graded school, Odd Fellows Hall, a public hall, several churches and about 2,500 inhabitants. Its mean elevation is about 1,500 feet above tide.
C. T. A. organized November 22, 1874.
Morris Run contains about 360 dwellings.
In 1852 first dwelling erected of logs at Morris Run.
John James, Jr., first postmaster at Morris Run, 1865.
Stephen Bowen of Morris Run, elected sheriff in 1873.
Delos H. Walker of Morris Run, elected sheriff in 1876.
Catholic Church erected in Morris Run in the year 1883.
Iron coal diggers first used in Morris Run, December, 1879.
P. F. O’Donnell has been paymaster at Morris Run since 1866.
Welsh Baptist Church organized in 1864. Church erected in 1873.
Morris Run I. O. O. F., No 678, instituted January 22, 1870.
First hotel erected at Morris Run, 1864, F. Caldwell, proprietor.
Louisa Lodge, No. 105, Daughters of Rebeckah, organized May 14, 1875.
Tioga Lodge, No. 304, Knights of Pythias, organized June 22, 1871.
Explorations made for coal at Morris Run in 1852, with good results.
Grand excursion of Knights of Pythias to Watkins, N.Y., Aug. 1879.
Primitive Methodist Church organized 1869. Church edifice cost about $2,200.
In 1862, the Salt Company of Syracuse leased the mines and enlarged the works.
J. Norman Anderson has been employed in the paymasters office for the past ten years.
Thomas V. Keefe has been employed in the office of the company for the past ten years.
In 1853 John Young opened an office and a supply store in a hewed log building at Morris Run.
The first weigh-masters at Morris Run were James Brown, Peter Cameron, Jr., and H. J. Landrus.
The Tioga Improvement Company mined and marketed, from 1853 to 1862 about 323, 174 tons of coal.
W. L. Richards, appointed State Inspector of bituminous mines by Gov. John F. Hartranft, May, 1877.
Caradog Ap Bran, No 11, Adran F., Ivorites, a Welsh social and benevolent association, organized May 14th, 1872.
U. S. Z., a social organization, established November, 1869. Mart G. Lewis, Pres: J. L. Lewis, Sec.; W. W. Halsey, Treas.
In 1864, the Morris Run Coal Company assumed control by lease of the mines. W. S. Nearing chief engineer and superintendent.
The inhabitants of Morris Run are native born Americans, English, Irish, Scotch, Welsh, Swede, Polanders, Germans and French.
1853 railroad surveyed by Col. Phaon Jarrett, H. Brewer and J. Livingston, from Blossburg to Morris Run. Railroad completed that year.
Alfred Jones, of Philadelphia, was the first sole agent of coal and paymaster for the Tioga Improvement Co. His office was in Corning, N.Y.
In 1863, Major T. B. Anderson was employed as store agent, which position he has continued to hold under the various changes which have since taken place.
In 1877, Morris Run Coal Company ceased to exist and the Morris Run Coal and Mining Company organized in its stead. The Fall Brook Coal company becoming a large stockholder.
The appliances for successful mining at Morris Run are not excelled in the United States. This was accomplished under the personal direction of W. S. Nearing, chief engineer and manager.
Morris Run mines were then owned (1853) by the Tioga Improvement Company, in which Joseph W. Ryers, Coffin Calket and the heirs of the late Judge Samuel W. Morris, were chief stock-holders.
At the completion of the railroad in 1853 there were at the mines sixteen log houses, occupied by Joseph Mitchell, Henry Mitchell, James R. Cameron, Joseph Hughes, Frank Smith, Samuel Vickers, John Nailon, William Kelley, Andrew Baird, William R. Gilmour, William Bland, Dennis Mooney, John Kelley, James Brown with John Young superintendent.
