Snapshots of History: Clearfield Mural
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Mural on Clearfield’s Broadway Street.
By Mike Avitt
Using mostly the Ringgold Record newspapers, I found some early history on Clearfield.
Beginning in 1907, I have access to the Clearfield Enterprise, and in 1910, the Lenox Timetable.
There is a beautiful mural on Clearfield’s main thoroughfare and I took this week’s picture of that mural last week.
The Humeston & Shenandoah branch of the Keokuk & Western Railroad was surveyed in 1881 and Clearfield was platted that year along with Goshen, Gravity, Tingley and dozens of other towns.
So everyone knew the trains were coming in 1882. Clearfield was located mostly in Taylor County with a portion of the city limits and the cemetery being situated in Grant Township, Ringgold County.
Messrs Spurrier and Hoke were reported to be starting a newspaper, the Clearfield Enterprise, in December 1881. Another newspaper, The Clearfield News, was operating as early as March 1882 with Ernest Chapin Gard as one of the owners. Mr Gard would later be publisher of the Goshen Gazette.
C. G. “Corb” Evans started the first hotel and restaurant in late 1881.
The Ringgold Record said Dr. A. White of Mount Ayr would be moving to Clearfield in December 1881. Dr. White must have gotten a better offer from Mormontown (near present-day Blockton) because that’s where he ended up. But Clearfield did lure the good doctor to town in March 1882 and in less than a year Dr. White had built a new house in Clearfield.
The first mention of church congregations tells of an Elder I. M. Seay who was pastoring a Baptist congregation without a church building, and Rev. J. W. Cleland who was pastor of the United Presbyterian Churches at Clearfield and Platte Valley in 1883.
A history article in the November 24, 1921 Clearfield Enterprise says Clearfield was “born on September 26, 1881,” which must have been when a post office was established or the first house was built, because the trains didn’t come until September or October 1882.
An October 23, 1924 article says Clearfield was named as such by B. F. Jacobs and John Green because Mr. Green was from……Clearfield, Pennsylvania.
Jacobs is described as being Clearfield’s first postmaster. I did not use the Clearfield Centennial Book for this article, just newspapers.
There is a building uptown with a datestone on it that reads,” Pythian Hall – 1891 – F C B.”
This was a meeting hall for the Knights of Pythias, a fraternal order and secret society. The initials stand for Friendship, Charity, and Benevolence.
The Knights of Pythias were founded by Justus Rathbone in 1864 after being inspired by a play, Damon and Pythias, based on the Greek mythology story. Fraternal Orders were very common in the 1880s and 1890s with Ancient, Free and Accepted Masons, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and Modern Woodmen of America being some of the most popular.
I also found that Clearfield voted whether to incorporate or not in December 1882 but I didn’t find the results. I think it passed, don’t you?
