Sam and Susy Winters
The Winters family arrived in Birmingham in about 1885. Sam’s grandfather, John W. Winters (1866-1937), was the son of James W. (1840-1867) and Elizabeth Spitzer, of New Market, in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. James was a descendent of the Pennsylvania Germans who, in 1727 or 1728, were the first Europeans to settle in the New Market area. The Spitzers arrived in Lancaster, Pennsylvania in 1764. Sam says he has confirmed records of the Spitzer family history in Germany dating back to the 1600s.
James, Sam’s great-grandfather, was a Confederate soldier in the Civil War. After the war, he and his wife, Elizabeth, migrated to Huntingdon County. James died in 1867. In 1873, Elizabeth married an Englishman, Samuel W. Winters, changing John’s surname to Winters. John, known as ‘Billy,’ married Agnes Webner. To this union Sam’s father, Samuel W. Winters Sr. (one of five children), was born in 1907. Sam Sr. married Laura Flood and in 1933, were blessed with Sam Jr.
Susy (Susanne) was born on August 18, 1939 to Sylvester ‘Ves’ L. Getz and Helen M. (Mills) Getz while the family lived on Cottage St. In 1944, the Getzes moved to Blair Ave. The Getz family in Tyrone goes back a half dozen generations.
Sam enlisted in the Navy during the Korean War and served as an Aviation Boatswains Mate aboard the aircraft carrier USS Oriskany (CVA-34), flagship of Task Force 77 in the Pacific Fleet. He recalls every day being an “air show.” He completed his four-year hitch on shore duty as a member of the crash crew at the Naval Air Station in Norfolk, Virginia. He was discharged in 1957.
Sam and Susy met in April 1959 and were married the following September. They moved into the house that Sam was building in Birmingham with money he had saved in the service. They have two daughters, Lisa, born in 1960; and Jacqueline, born in 1963.
Music in the Winters Home
Susy’s dad, Ves, had played classical and fiddle music on the violin. He played with the Tyrone Melody Boys, a group that was a popular entertainment attraction in the 1930s. At the young age of sixty, Susy started taking violin lessons. Every Wednesday afternoon, Susy takes part in a jam session with two other fiddlers, Jean Benn and Verna Detwiler. The threesome performs hymns and fiddle music for residents at Graystone Court, in Pinecroft and at Epworth Manor, in Tyrone.
Sam says, “When Susy came home with her dad’s violin and handed it to me, I found the aesthetics of the violin scroll appealing. As a builder, I knew that I wanted to work on these instruments.” Sam read books by the famous Italian violin-maker, Antonio Stradivari, and visited the International Violin Company, in Baltimore, to obtain materials. After acquiring tools and building molds for a couple of years, Sam was ready to start carving. “I have a shop in back of the house with an old caboose stove in it. I’ll get a fire going and just sit in there and carve.”
Susy has been the organist at the Birmingham Presbyterian Church for forty years.
Birmingham Borough History
Birmingham formerly had been a mill-seat that was improved by Andrew Porter as early as 1786. He operated a gristmill and a sawmill there on the Little Juniata River. The brothers, John and Charles Cadwallader, acquired the mills prior to 1800 and operated them until they were removed. Some of the flour made there was carried to Baltimore by teams of horses going by way of Burnt Cabins. The dam across the Juniata River proved hard to maintain, however, so the mills were removed in 1808.
In about 1795, the Cadwalladers purchased a 1300-acre tract of land at Birmingham — including Laurel Springs (Hundred Springs) — and erected a paper mill, which was the first in this part of the state. John was the first manager, but after his death in 1807, Charles became the proprietor. Paper produced by this mill was used to print the pioneer newspapers of the Upper Juniata Valley. The first newspaper in Huntingdon County, The Huntingdon Courier and Weekly Advertiser, was printed on this paper.
John Cadwallader’s Plan
John Cadwallader, who stemmed from a prominent family in Philadelphia, arrived in Huntingdon County in the early 1790s. He laid out an ambitious plan for a “manufacturing town at the head of navigation” on the Little Juniata River. The town was called Birmingham, after the city of the same name in England. He sold building lots located on hillsides and in ravines to people in Philadelphia by misrepresentation.
Prior to 1800, Cadwallader was very involved in business in Huntingdon. Admitted to the bar in 1789, he was the first attorney in Huntingdon and practiced law there until his death in 1807. He also was active outside his profession in that he was elected county commissioner in 1790 and served a three-year term. Cadwallader also was the first postmaster in Huntingdon.
While John Cadwallader was working his enterprises at Laurel Springs, he laid the plan for Birmingham on December 13, 1797. He was generous in donating ground for public use. Several “spring lots,” two “school lots,” one for “Library Hall,” four for “religious,” four for “burial places,” and several large lots marked “Publick.” On the river was a park and a public landing that he took care to mention as the head of navigation.
The plan included about 300 acres of land that presented an attractive appearance on paper. Cadwallader sold lots by lottery ticket at $5 each. A ticket, signed by him, contained the statement, “BIRMINGHAM, in the County of Huntingdon and State of Pennsylvania. No. _. THIS TICKET, on payment of five dollars, will entitle the Bearer to receive a Deed for such Town LOT as may be drawn to its number…” Numerous purchasers, however, who subsequently learned that their lots “were set up edgewise, or perched on some lofty pinnacle, or down in a deep ravine,” did not take possession, but forfeited what they paid.
Nonetheless, the earnest Cadwallader built himself a mansion that he occupied. The first store was opened in the George Owens house in 1811 by Dr. Burt, who also was the first physician. During the most prosperous period, there were six stores and several hotels.
Mills, Cotton, and Woolen Goods
Charles Cadwallader sold the paper mill to Michael Wallace in about 1820. Wallace built the second paper mill of stone and converted the old log mill into a clover mill. Linseed oil also was made in the same building. In addition, he operated a plaster mill, a store, and a public house — making this one of the busiest spots on the river. Around 1830, John McCahan acquired these interests. All the businesses eventually closed except for the grist mill, which was successfully operated by the McCahan family.
In about 1800, Andrew Robeson operated a sawmill and fulling mill on the river. Andrew Robeson’s fulling mill was the basis of a cotton factory. For a period of years, the factory operated quite extensively, serving Huntingdon County and adjoining counties. The charge for carding cotton was a shilling per pound. The factory was managed by John Copley until his death, after which his daughters continued the work. Woolen goods also were manufactured there. A flood in 1838 damaged the factory, and another completely destroyed the building in 1847.
Schools
In about 1818, a stone school was built to replace the log building that was built around 1790. The school was built by public contributions. James Thompson Esq., the then oldest resident said that “the stone schoolhouse cost a drink of whiskey for every stone in it.” When the stone building was taken down, the directors were careful to have the old, worn stepping stone at the door remain in its place as a memento. The stone still stands on Furnace St.
The third (and last) school was built in 1860, replacing the stone school. The last school was typical of all the one-room schoolhouses that dotted the country: one room, eight grades, and one teacher. Sam says, “I started school in 1939, with Miss Tussey (Yocum) as my first teacher. The furnace stood in one front corner and the piano in the other, with Miss Tussey’s desk in between. Like most homes in Birmingham at the time, the school had no plumbing. Boys carried water buckets to fill a crock that stood on a stand in the cloakroom.” The last teachers at the school were Miss Tussey until 1940 and Helen G. Young, who taught until the school closed in 1954.
Incorporation and Decline
Birmingham was incorporated as a borough on April 14, 1828. In 1833, a supplemental plat was made. The plat contained forty-three lots running parallel with the river, on streets named Furnace and Tyrone. The traverse streets were South (now Market) and Juniata. From this time until the advent of the Pennsylvania Railroad through Tyrone in 1850, the Borough enjoyed its greatest prosperity. The population then was about 400.
There were a half dozen stores and several hotels. The streets were crowded by teams — Birmingham being the chief market for Bald Eagle Valley, Logan Valley, Clearfield Valley, and Sinking Valley. The staple articles of trade were iron, lumber, shingles, hoop-poles, hides, and whiskey. The cotton and woolen factory produced until 1838. Some of the produce brought in from Centre and Clearfield Counties by teams was shipped down the river on arks or flat-bottomed boats while the remainder was conveyed to the canal at Water Street and found its way to the eastern markets.
Tradesmen included John M. Stonerod, who is credited with building many of the houses. Others consisted of cabinet makers, chair makers (David Cree), wagon makers, blacksmiths, gunsmiths, shoemakers, tinners, and tailors. Eight doctors are listed as serving the Borough over a period from about 1810 until Tyrone was developed in the early 1850s.
Churches
It was during Birmingham’s most prosperous years that the churches were organized. First were the Baptists in 1830, with a place of worship and a cemetery. After flourishing for a number of years, the church was taken down. About 1911, the contents of the graves were moved to the Presbyterian cemetery.
The Methodists organized about 1830, with their church building constructed in 1835. A new church was built in 1874, which still stands.
The Presbyterian Church was organized in 1835. The building was erected in 1836 and replaced with another in 1868. The second building stood until it burned in 1952. In 1953, the present church was built and accommodates the only remaining congregation in Birmingham.
The Birmingham United Brethren Church was organized March 13, 1870. A building was erected in 1871 with a seating capacity for 250 people.
Two lodges organized in Birmingham. The Independent Order of Odd Fellows (I.O.O.F.) organized and erected a hall in 1846 that stood until it was razed in 1994. A division of the Sons of Temperance was organized in 1846, after which a hall was built in 1850.
Mountain Seminary and the Railroad
Along with the Pennsylvania Railroad, the Mountain Seminary came into its being, and at a later date, a limestone quarry. There also was the use of charcoal in the local iron industry. The Mountain Seminary was incorporated in 1851 — the buildings erected by a stock company burdened with debt and inefficient management. The property was sold in 1855 at a sheriff’s sale. Prof. L.G. Grier in 1857. With the assistance of Miss N.J. Davis, a graduate of Mount Holyoke Seminary, along with a full corps of teachers in music and other branches, the seminary achieved a marked success.
The seminary furnished living quarters for the women who worked there. Many who came here to work married local men and remained.
Boyhood Memories
The school had a working farm located within the Borough, where beef cattle, hogs, and sheep were raised, along with a herd of milk cows. Sam says, “For a dollar a day, a boy had the job of driving a flock of sheep down the street through town and herding them around the school grounds. They’d move cattle from one pasture to another right through the streets, where at times, we’d have runaways. When I was a boy, there were eight stables, full-size barns with standing stalls, and hay mows. These buildings lined the two crossing alleys that bisect the town.”
When Sam was a teenager, Birmingham’s inbound and outbound postal mail was dropped and picked up on the fly from passing trains. “We would run to the railroad to hang the outgoing mail and pick up the drop-off bag. Occasionally, the train would be coming around the bend as we were hanging up the mail bag. And there were times when the kicked-off bag would miss our chute.”
Chester Woodring was the iceman. Chet delivered block ice from the Tyrone plant. The Waple Dairy and the Hagg Dairy, both of Tyrone, delivered bottles of milk door-to-door. “In order to get to the Wilson or El Patio theaters in Tyrone,” Sam says, “we’d help the driver deliver milk, and in return, the driver would give a bunch of kids sitting on milk cartons a ride to Tyrone on Saturday afternoons.”
Birmingham had a Memorial Day parade every year that terminated at the cemeteries for a commemorative service. A drill team made up of girls from the Grier School marched in uniform along with girls on saddle horses led by riding instructor James LaRosa (who had been a member of the U.S. Cavalry when it was disbanded after World War II). Members of the Veterans of Foreign Wars and the Tyrone Gardner Guards participated regularly in the parade.
From the Borough Record Book
Some pertinent notes from the Borough’s record book include:
May 1893 — Ben F. Root planted trees that eventually completely sheltered the town’s streets.
December 1896 — A.R. Grier, son of Prof. L.G. Grier, agreed to furnish seven oil lamps for the Borough. Westley Trimble was awarded the job of cleaning and filling them at a dollar and a half per month.
1903 — A zig-zag path was constructed from the top of the hill at Cunningham’s stable to what is now Rt. 453 for people going to the railroad station.
July 30, 1912 — Home Electric and Steam of Tyrone furnished electricity to the Borough.
March 1921 — Borough officials mailed a letter to the Sheridan Troop complaining about damage their horses caused to Birmingham’s streets, which were of cinders at that time. The cavalry troop traveled from Tyrone by way of the old stone quarries across the bridge at Irish Flats.
From its incorporation in 1828 to the building of the Pennsylvania Railroad across the river in 1850, Birmingham Borough had the distinction of being the most important business point of any other village of the same size in the Juniata Valley. But after 1850, Birmingham began to decline. Sam says, “Our Borough remains unique today because growth is restricted due to the fact that the Borough is surrounded by state gameland.”
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