DHS Spring Walk in Falls Creek finds history

FALLS CREEK — One hundred and seventyfive years of history were recalled when the DuBois Area Historical Society held its 14th Spring Walk in Falls Creek.

Lifelong Falls Creek resident and Society board member Brian Leech led the one-hour walk past still-existing historic structures and former places now lost to history. He related the history of the borough starting with the arrival of farmers in 1824, through Sydney Fuller, who purchased 150 plots of land in the area for $600, to Joseph Taylor (18431918), Fuller’s brotherin-law, who set up the plots and is considered the “Father of Falls Creek.”

At its conception Falls Creek was divided into two communities, Falls Creek and Evergreen. When an application was made for a post office, it was learned that another community in Pennsylvania was named Evergreen, so the name was changed to Victor. The entire community was officially named Falls Creek when J. F. Reed was named postmaster in 1889. In its early years, Falls Creek was known as a bandit’s hideout.

Leech highlighted the industries — brick manufacturing, stone quarry work, glass making and hide tanning — that led the development of Falls Creek. The entire town rests on a base of sandstone, perfect for a stone quarry, covered by several inches of clay, useful in both the making of bricks and glass. The brick plant at its height used 22 types of fine clay available locally. Jackson China, established in 1916, was another former major industry in the community.

The 14 people who attended the walk passed by the former sites of Falls Creek’s first church, established in 1824, and the site of the Willar Mansion. Still-standing sites on the tour were the former Gray Printing building and the Falls Creek School, now a private residence, and a former schoolhouse at the corner of Fuller and Fourth streets, now a duplex.