EARLY DAYS: We left you yesterday with the Hart family who
settled in about 1827 on the site of what is now Bradford.

“They saw a thriving village built up north of them at Tarport,
and south of them the DeGolier settlement was winning recruits; but
their chosen spot was merely a mark in the forest,” according to
J.H. Beers’ 1890 history of McKean County.

“In 1837 Col. Little purchased 250,000 acres in and around
Bradford, and built a log house. In 1838 the village was surveyed,
and named Littleton.

“In 1851 a large tract was sold to Daniel Kingsbury by the
United States Land Company, and to that year we must look back for
the first faint beginnings of the city, though not until 1858 did
the new proprietor make a determined effort to build up the
place.

“Thirty-two years ago the name Littleton was cast aside, and the
present name chosen.

“Messrs. Kingsbury and Haffey established a newspaper to aid in
building up a village; Old’s tannery, the mills, stores, schools
and religious societies referred to in Judge Ward’s reminiscences
were all here sharing in the hopes of Kingsbury; but all their
efforts were rewarded with very limited results, the mercantile and
manufacturing interests named in the history of the township being
the only material response.

“During the Civil War the oil fever penetrated the valley, and
new hopes were built up, only to be cast down; after the war, a
series of disappointments waited on the attempts to find oil;

“But amid all such reverses men came and remained, a few of whom
in after years, took a foremost place among those to whom the honor
of developing the resources of this section is credited.

“They decided to carve out for themselves a home in this valley
and fashion out a city in the forest, which would one day be
regarded as the goal of enterprise, where scholars would find a
home and religion 10,000 adherents.

“They built well! Only a few years of hope deferred, and a city
sprung out of the ancient forest, extending from hill to hill, and
stretching down the valley.

“In 1873 the people asked for borough government … Within three
years, the oily ocean was yielding up its wealth of petroleum; the
forest fell, and in its place hundreds of houses and a thousand
derricks grew up.”