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Email history@sugargrovepa.com to submit a history item for the website. We will contact you if we decide to use your history item on the website. Sugar Grove Area Tidbit - A different story each month!
MAYOR STUART “BOB” ANDERSEN John F. Kennedy was president, a candy bar cost a nickel, and Dr. Alfred A. Grant declined to serve as mayor of Sugar Grove borough, even though he had won the election. As a result, Stuart “Bob” Andersen, a council member, was appointed to fill the office of mayor. The year was 1962, and Andersen then ran for, and was elected to, eight consecutive terms. He chose not to run for office in the November 1997 election. After leaving office, Bob Andersen commented that during his 36-year tenure as mayor, some things in the borough had changed and some had remained the same. For example, the annual borough budget grew from $6,000 to more than $90,000, and not one penny of the budget has ever gone for compensation to the mayor or the council members. These municipal officials serve without pay! Over the years, Sugar Grove borough gained a certain notoriety for the pranks at Halloween, and it even made national news during Mayor Andersen’s time as the “town that cancelled Halloween.” (Some of the mayor’s comments had been taken out of context, and Halloween is still celebrated in Sugar Grove today!) The problems discussed at the monthly borough council meetings didn’t change much. Council still hears concerns about barking dogs, arguing neighbors, horse manure on the streets, snowmobiles and bikes on the sidewalks, speeding vehicles, trimming trees, sidewalk and street repairs, and so on. What changes have occurred in the borough? Well, among other things, the population of the town has declined. Businesses have been created, sold, expanded, and closed. Some landmark buildings have been razed and some have been restored. Even the original borough building has changed hands. A new bank building, a new elementary school, and a new library have been constructed. A medical center has been opened, bridges have been built, and streets have been widened and paved. But Sugar Grove’s residents still consider it “The Sweetest Little Town on the Map.” Incidentally, the office of borough mayor still remains “in the family,” since Bob Andersen’s son-in-law, Carl “Dutch” Strand, won the election in 1997 and assumed the office of Sugar Grove mayor at the beginning of January 1998. “Dutch” continues to serve as mayor of the borough, and he was unopposed in the November 2009 election. (Thank you to Luann Lassinger for sharing this bit of “news” with our readers.) MORE ABOUT BANKING IN SUGAR GROVE One incident in the history of the Sugar Grove bank was the big bank robbery that was foiled. The bank was still in the original old wooden building on Main Street (which was destroyed by fire in 1932). Albert Scott, the night watchman, slept in the back of the vault. One night, something aroused him about 2 A.M. He caught a glimpse of a man walking down the sidewalk in front of the bank. This seemed odd at that time in the morning, and Scott got on the telephone and alerted F.A. Schoonover, a director of the bank, and Charles Shortt, its president. Mr. Schoonover got Constable Elmer Matthieson on the double, and they came up a back street, hoping to surprise and apprehend the robbers. But alas, the robbers had fled! Apparently the lookout had seen Scott on the phone and gave the alarm. The would-be robbers had already cut a hole in the rear door to enable them to remove the iron bar that locked it. They left behind burlap bags filled with sawdust from a nearby lumber mill and a pile of stolen horse blankets. “We figured they were going to dynamite the big metal safe and muffle the explosion with the bags of sawdust and the horse blankets,” Mr. Schoonover observed. Mr. F.A. Schoonover was a director of the bank for nearly half a century. He remembered Charles McKendrie Shortt as a man of character and integrity. “Charley Shortt did a lot of good people never knew about,” Mr. Schoonover said. “For example, before Christmas he’d come into the stores and say: ‘Do you know of any poor families who don’t have much to eat?’ Then on Christmas morning or the day before, these people would be delivered a bushel basket of groceries. They never knew who sent them.” When he retired, Charles Shortt held 60% interest in the bank, and he sold a large part of it to the Warren Savings Bank. The other stock was held by area residents. In 1952, all of the assets of the Sugar Grove Bank were acquired by the Warren Bank & Trust Company, and it was thereafter operated as a branch bank. The bank moved to its current location in June 1971, when a ribbon cutting ceremony was held at the new brick building on the south side of Main Street. At that time, it was the Sugar Grove Branch of the Pennsylvania Bank & Trust Company. The branch later became a part of National City Bank, and in November 2009, it will join the PNC Bank network. (Parts of this story were originally published on June 12, 1971, in the Warren Times Observer.)
BANKING IN SUGAR GROVE In April 1877 William Hamilton Shortt organized the Sugar Grove Savings Bank as a private bank with a capital of $25,000. Officers of the bank included William H. Shortt, president; J.H. Nichols, vice president; J.B. Hamilton, cashier; and J.H. Spencer, assistant cashier. When Hamilton resigned the following year, Charles M. Shortt, the founder’s son, became cashier and subsequently the bank’s second president. (In 1880 Charles Shortt built the large home on West Main Street where Dorothy and Tom Knapp have lived for a number of years.) When the bank began, Sugar Grove had already become a business and cultural center. Only seven years after the bank was established, the new Sugar Grove Seminary opened, and William Shortt was one of those who contributed to its formation under the Erie Conference of the United Brethren in Christ. At one time, five different stage coach lines converged in Sugar Grove, and the historic railroad from Youngsville to Sugar Grove was built during Charles Shortt’s term as bank president.t In 1928, as its business continued to grow, the bank moved from an old wooden building on the north side of Main Street to the brick building next door at the corner of Main Street and the Big Tree Road, then known as Sherman’s Bay Road. (This brick building is now the site of the Town & Country Store.) Four years later, in 1932, the old wooden bank building (which was then a meat market) and an adjoining building burned to the ground, and other nearby structures were completely gutted or suffered severe fire and smoke damage. The Sugar Grove Savings Bank, however, was protected by brick walls and a fire wall, but still suffered $2,000 in damage from water and smoke and extreme heat (This story was originally published on June 12, 1971, in the Warren Times Observer.)
1917 SUMMER STORM On July 6, 1917, according to a story in the Warren Morning Chronicle, a heavy rain storm developed into a cloudburst that turned Sugar Grove into a lake and caused “considerable damage by water rushing into stores” on Main Street. The Stillwater Creek overflowed with 2 to 4 feet of water running into the center of town. Lightning from the storm killed two cows owned by M.R. Hinsdale and Frank Milspaw and a horse owned by John Sweeney. The McDonald Brothers general store (where Wilcox Hardware is now located) had 16 inches of water and mud inside. To make matters worse, a log jam on the creek caused even higher water which washed out an outbuilding and damaged the underpinning of the blacksmith shop near the corner of Main Street and the Warren Road. At the school house, which stood where the Sugar Grove Park is now, the water was four feet deep and covered the hitching posts. The Warren Chronicle story concluded by stating: “The storm was accompanied by a magnificent electrical storm, and for several minutes the lightning played fantastic chords over the hills, darting a fiery tongue now and then close enough to the earth to kill a cow or horse. However, there was no loss of life or serious injury.” (Thank you to Luann Lassinger for sharing this bit of “news” with our readers.)
THE CROQUET COURT During the 1930s, croquet was a very popular sport in Sugar Grove. A public croquet court was located in part of the area now designated as the borough park (on the north side of Main Street near the bridge). According to the late Wally Barlow, the court was regulation size, with 2 x 4s securely staked all around the outside. The floor of the court was fine sand packed down hard and perfectly level, and the 2 x 4s served as bank boards. Expert shooters knew just how to use the bank boards for the right shot advantage. The court even had a lighting system that enabled night play. The power line crossed Main Street to Earl Abbott’s Red and White Store (now part of Wilcox Hardware), and Earl generously supplied the electricity for the lights. It is said that on summer evenings while sitting on their farmhouse porches on Catlin Hill, some residents could hear the click of the croquet balls making contact nearly a mile away in downtown Sugar Grove. The Sugar Grove croquet court was so popular with the local men during the summer months that the kids seldom had a chance to play. The general consensus pointed to Doc Grant and Bill Norbeck as the two outstanding players.
SUGAR GROVE REPORTS SNOW IN JULY (or, it could be worse!) Believe it or not, according to a report in the Warren Times Observer on Friday, July 10, 1964, between 4:00 and 4:30 p.m. on the previous day, there was snow, accompanied by hail, rain, and an electrical storm in the Sugar Grove area and just over the New York-Pennsylvania state line. Residents of the area said the snow was enough to coat the ground and windshields and roadways. Even though the snow melted quickly, it was enough to give a “most unwelcome and early preview of things to come,” according to the newspaper story. There were also reports of wind damage and power disruptions in the vicinity, and crews of Niagara-Mohawk Power Corp. were busy for several hours restoring service. Elsewhere in Warren County, scattered rainfall and heavy fog reduced visibility to a great extent. (Thank you to Beverly Carlberg for sharing this bit of “news” with our readers.) Sugar Grove Founding Dates1797 - Robert Miles began his three mile settlement to the east of the village. 1820 - The village is officially named Sugar Grove by Robert Falconer. 1821 - The township is organized. 1892 - The borough is incorporated. Brief History of Sugar GroveWhen, in 1792, territory
west and north of the Allegheny River was opened for settlement by the Holland
Land Company, the good, cheap earth of present day northern Warren County
attracted settlers most of whom took up farming.
The first permanent settler is thought to have been Robert Miles, a young
Scotch Irishman. Many of the first settlers were natives of Scotland and
Ireland. In fact, the person who
probably did more to build up early Sugar Grove than any other settler was David
Brown, who was born in Belfast, Ireland. For
a time, Sugar Grove was called “Brownsville”. Because of the origin of many of the first settlers, the
Presbyterian Church was the first house of worship officially begun in the
village. Later a Congregationalist
Church was established, these churches later to be joined by the Methodist and
Swedish Evangelical Lutheran Church congregations. Sugar Grove grew to be an example of early rural American life. Schools were begun, the first undoubtedly being started in a small log cabin in 1814. It was dubbed the “little school”. A second small school built in 1828 was called the “White School”. Both schools operated until 1854 when a school was built near the village center on land donated by another early settler, John Barr. In 1869 a fourth school, “Miles Hall” was built and became both school and community center for many years. In 1883, the United Brethren Church established the Sugar
Grove Seminary offering normal, college preparatory, and scientific courses.
It operated until 1917 when it was taken over by the local public school
district. In 1821, the name of the town was changed from Brownsville
to Sugar Grove, (Sugargrove). The
present name is derived from the vast original stands of maple forests found in
the area. In the 1800’s the roads
were rough, and unfinished in condition. They
were, in fact, not much more than mere bridal-paths.
The village itself was very small. Still,
a few business and industries flourished. Among them
were the Willson Inn owned and operated by John I. Willson and the
Exchange, and important tavern owned and operated by Samuel Hall.
There were also mills, both gristmills and sawmills run by water from
local streams until the volume of those streams dropped due to the clearing of
the local forests. Steam power then
was used to run the one tannery and a stave and shingle mill. In addition there were blacksmiths, general stores, a drug
store a tin-shop and a grocery. A
bank, post office, and newspaper were also established. Sugar Grove was a small, closely knit community.
Early ideas championed were those of temperance and of anti-slavery.
Sugar Grove has had an active WCTU organization for many years and prior
to the Civil War, it was a stopping
place on the Underground Railroad aiding slaves in their journey to Lake Erie
and then on to Canada. The
political preference of most of the citizens was that of the Republican Party. The early residents of this area were avid writers and many of their letters and diaries exist today. The material for this sketch of early Sugar Grove is derived from two sources both of which have drawn upon those early writings. The sources are History of Warren County Pennsylvania, by J. S. Schenck (1887) and Stepping Stones ( VOL. 11, No. 2), a publication of the Warren County Historical Society.
Brief History of Chandler's ValleyChandler’s Valley is a small village in the southeastern
part of Sugar Grove township. Originally
it contained two general stores, one operated by H. Wilson and the other
operated by F. A. Sagerdahl. In
addition, there was a drug store operated by F. N. Chapin.
Chandler’s Valley also had a successful planing, matching, and
shingle-mill. N.W. Dupree
manufactured lumber, lath, and shingles; C.P.
Quillam ran a cheese factory. C.J.
Sagerdahl and Charles Sundell were engaged in the selling and manufacturing of
wagons and carriages. There was one
hotel, the Ellis House, operated by Benjamin Ellis.
There was also a post office, H. Wilson being its postmaster. There was one
physician, F. W. Whitcomb. Dr.
Whitcomb was born in Sugar Grove and remained in his native township until July
1, 1886 when he moved to Warren. He
graduated from the medical department of the University of Buffalo on the 21st
of February, 1882, and immediately set up a practice in Chandler’s Valley.
He was the first resident physician of this village. Chandler’s Valley received its name before 1820 from John
Chandler, who came there from Connecticut about the year 1815, and settled on
the flats in the valley, his house standing on a little rise of ground
immediately west of the flats. The
country was then noted for its maple sugar, great numbers of maple trees
covering the surface of this part of the town.
Josiah Chandler, the father of John, came with him, an old man, but died
in a few years. John Chandler had
twelve children, four of whom were sons.
John Chandler was a hard working man, was conscientious in the
performance of his duty, and just toward others. He died in the early part of July, 1867. About 1859 this portion of the township received a
considerable influx of Swedish immigrants who formed an important and
law-abiding element of its society. Taken from History of Warren County Pennsylvania edited by J. S. Schenck and published by D. Mason and Co., Syracuse, NY 1887 (p. 437-438)
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