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The
village [of Milledgeville]
lies upon donation lot 1,063, and was laid out in 1851, the land
belonging, at that time, to William
Etaburn, Andrew Williams, and William
R. Cooper. John Farver was the surveyor, and the lots
were sold at auction, the highest price, forty-four dollars, being paid
for one purchased by O. P. Shirk, and
now occupied by G. E. Hamilton’s
store.
The
First Log Dwelling-house was built by Arthur Scott, in the same year,
but previous to this, an old school-house had stood near by, and after
being abandoned for the purpose for which it was designed, was occupied
as a dwelling by C. Long.
The
little log house is still standing west of the village, near a fine
sugar camp, formerly worked by the Indians, who tapped the trees by
cutting a large gash in them with a tomahawk, and driving a gouge below
the notches for the sap to run into the wooden troughs placed below.
Not many years have elapsed since some of these gashes were plainly
visible in the bark, and many of the trees died from them.
The
First Frame Building was put up by William
McCabe. Many of the principal buildings in the village
were built in the first and second year of its existence. Among those may be
mentioned the frame store, built by J.
I. Lind, say in 1851, about six rods from the one now
owned by Hamilton; the frame dwelling built by Dr.
Lewis, the
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first
physician in the place; and frame dwellings built by I.M. Rice, and others. A steam mill was started
in the winter of 1868, by W. H. and
J. W. Cooper, the present [1877] proprietors, and has been
worked regularly since its establishment, cutting lumber, shingles and
staves.
In
the winter of 1874, John Fulk built
the cheese factory now in operation in the village; the fixtures were
put in by Nodine, Pumey
& Co., who manufactured the cheese during the following summer. J. W. M’Connell [McConnell] was
treasurer of the establishment.
The
first (and only) Brick Dwelling in [French Creek] township [in 1877]
was built in the summer of 1852, by William
R. Cooper, and is still standing near Milledgeville. The
bricks were manufactured on the place, and
Thomas White was the mason.
In
1870, John Fulk opened
a drift of coal upon his place, and a considerable quantity was mined
during the following winters, until 1876, when it was abandoned, being
of inferior quality.
History
of Mercer County,
1877, pages 40-41
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