The borough of Catawissa in Columbia County is celebrating its 250th Birthday August 7th through the 11th, 2024. Moses Roberts is said to have built the first house in that area, which at the time was part of Northumberland County.

On May 14th, 1940, the Morning Press newspaper of Bloomsburg, featured the history of Catawissa in its popular column, The Passing Throng.” That story is provided in this post of Susquehanna Footprints.

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Even before the Shawnese had a town there in 1697, the Piscatawese had settlements there. The word "Catawese" occurs in several Indian dialects and means "pure water." The first European to visit Catawissa was James LeTort, a French trader, who bore messages of amity to the Delaware chieftains and the celebrated Madame Montour in 1728. He presented each a "strowd match coat" as a token of friendship. Conrad Weiser, the noted Indian interpreter, was the next to mention the place in 1754 when he wrote from Shamokin, mentioning in the letter the Indian village of "Oskohary," which was identical to the Catawissa of the present.

The first settlers in the Catawissa Valley were English Quakers, from Maidencreek and Exeter in Berks County, who came by way of the valley of the "North Branch." They arrived between 1774 and 1778. Before their arrival, a number of persons had obtained patents from the Penns for land in Catawissa and vicinity. Among them were William Collins, William Hughes, James Watson, John Lore, John Mears, Isaiah Willits and John Lloyd.

The first house in the vicinity of Catawissa was built by Moses Roberts in 1774. In 1789 John Mears, a physician and justice of the peace, secured title to 65 lots in Catawissa after they had been disposed of by lottery conducted by William Hughes. The first industry established in Catawissa was the tannery of Isaiah Willits, in 1780, at the corner of Third and South Streets, a tannery which continued in operation until the 1880s, with C. P. Pfahler the last owner.

Catawissa's first ferrymen were Knappenberger & Willits. Catawissa's first merchant was Isaiah Hughes, who opened a store at an early date on the riverbank near the foot of South Street. Joseph Heister was the second to have a store there, on Water Street, near Main.

The most prominent farmers in the immediate vicinity of Catawissa and numbered among the "firsts" were the Watsons, Jacksons, Lounts, Lloyds, and Hayhursts. The first justices of the peace were George Hughes and William Mears. The first mill in the county was built on Catawissa Creek in 1774 by a member of the Society of Friends. In 1799 Christian Brobst rebuilt this mill. The shad fisheries ranked among the community's principal sources of income in those first days. Fish were exchanged for salt at the rate of six cents each.

In 1801 there were forty-five houses in "Catawissy," one of which was stone, and the rest mostly log. One of the first buildings in the town was a market house, built soon after the village was laid out in lots. There appears to have been but little need for this public building and it soon became home for the stray cows and hogs of the place. It was also said to be a noted resort for the elusive flea and in 1820 it was decided to demolish it. Nobody ever went to the trouble to investigate the cause of the explosion which wrecked the place one night.

 In 1831, a proposition was made to build a town hall and market-house on the site, but the proposal brought on such acrimonious discussion that the project was defeated and caused the dissolution of the only fire company in the town.

In 1840 Catawissa had a population of 800, exceeding that of Bloomsburg by 150. In that same year, the town contained three churches, several stores, and upwards of 200 dwellings. There was a foundry, tavern, a paper mill, and several tanneries in and near the town.

The story of Catawissa’s boom centered around the coming of the Reading Railroad, of which more later. The rapid increase in population led to the organization of the Catawissa Land & Building Company and the Catawissa Mutual Building Fund Association, in 1865 and 1870. The demand for homes and lots caused Shuman to purchase the Zarr farm and lay out the Shuman addition in 1882.

One of the prominent citizens of Catawissa was Clark F. Harder, who built the planing mill in 1866 and put seventeen houses, furnishing the material from his mill. David Cleaver, a pioneer merchant of the town, built the Susquehanna House in 1868. It was quite a hotel in that day.

Catawissa made three attempts to incorporate as a borough, first in 1885, then in 1887 and finally in 1892. Opposition, born of fear of increased taxes, caused the failure of the first two attempts. The first elected officials were: C. C. Willits, chief burgess; O. D. L. Kostenbauder, C. O. Brown, E. B. Guie, I. H. Seesholtz, T. E. Harder and William Hartman, councilman. The first school board: J. B. Yetter, L. B. Kline, S. Raup, C. E. Clewell, J. J. Lewis and A. S. Truckenmiller. Catawissa's first postmaster was John Shoemaker, appointed July 1, 1802. Catawissa's first industries included a nail factory, the Penn furnace, the foundry of O. D. Lieb & Company, and the paper mill, established by Benjamin Sharpless in 1811. The Catawissa Deposit & Savings Bank was incorporated on May 26, 1871. The Catawissa Fire Company was organized May 17, 1827. The Catawissa Water Works was organized and chartered in 1882. The Catawissa Silver Cornet Band Association was organized April 7, 1869.

Catawissa's first place of worship was the Friends' meeting house, with a record of services having been held there in 1787, although there is no record of when the meeting house was erected. The Quaker Meeting House cemetery is the town's oldest cemetery.

We’ll share more on the history of the Friends Meeting House in Catawissa in the next post of Susquehanna Footprints.

If you look closely at the 1817 map of Catawissa Township (then a part of Northumberland County) note Catawissa Mountain, Catawissa Village, Brobst’s Mill, and Clark’s Paper and Grist Mills