The Progress, June 19, 1940
“Strange as it may seem the 32-piece Wallaceton Band, which has been newly-uniformed to make its appearance here on July 4 is pretty much a family affair.
“Statistics show 26 members of the 32-piece band are related in one way or another. In the band, the name Williams appears 13 times, Good appears three times and Knepp appears seven times.
“The Shaw name appears twice. The Williams, Good and Knepp and a member by the name of Hamer are also related. The band was organized in 1922.”
However, there was a Wallaceton Band in 1900 and two members, Mitchell Knepp and Harvey Knepp, were still members of the band in the 1940’s when the band was disbanded.
Wallaceton was incorporated in 1873, upon petition of Robert Wallace and others, but Henry Foulk was the first settler within the lines of present day Wallaceton in 1814-15.
Wallaceton consists of 426 acres with 224 acres from the James H. Turner farm and the 202 acres owned by James B. Graham and William A. Wallace.
Graham and Wallace laid out streets and lots in one area in 1868 and began selling lots. The expansion of the railroad would be important to Wallaceton and the timber industry.
The Tyrone and Clearfield Railroad Company completed rail connections between Philipsburg and Clearfield in 1869.
The Beech Creek, Clearfield and Southwestern Railroad line was constructed in 1884. Both railroads had stations in Wallaceton.
The railroad was a boom to the lumber industry. Wallaceton had a steam powered sawmill from 1869-1882.
“There is a large steam powered sawmill here and its trade in lumber is quite large.” (Caldwell’s 1878 Atlas)
The Wallaceton Fire Brick Company was the first manufacturing industry of the borough incorporated in 1881, with William Wallace as president.
They used clay from local mines on the Shimmel and Smeal properties. In 1902, Harbison-Walker Refractories Company purchased Wallaceton Fire Brick Company and manufactured bricks there until 1954.
Other Wallaceton businesses included the Harbison-Walker Company Store, The Vulcan Trading Company, Stevens General Store, E.K. Turner’s Gristmill, Edward Milligan’s Gas Station, Hamer’s Restaurant and Hummel’s Grocery Store among others.
