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McKean County, PA
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Created on March 26, 1804 from part of Lycoming County
and named for Governor Thomas McKean. It was attached to
Centre County until 1814, when it was combined with
Potter County to elect commissioners jointly, and was
also attached to Lycoming County for judicial and
election purposes. It was formally organized in 1826.
Smethport, the county seat, was laid out in 1807, and
named in honor of Raymond and Theodore de Smeth,
Amsterdam bankers. It was incorporated as a borough on
February 11, 1853.
 Although
Indian leaders yielded the land at the second Treaty of
Fort Stanwix, the “Last Purchase” (1784), distance and
dense forest delayed settlement. After 1798 settlers
from New York arrived, many originally from New England.
Except for Sergeant Township, all early settlements were
on the Allegheny River and its tributaries. Lumbering
controlled the economy and settlement spread with each
new cutting operation. Bradford grew from a lumber camp.
Deep drilling brought an oil boom in 1871, lasting two
decades, and the water injection method revived
production for another boom, 1930 to 1950. Railroads
arrived in the late 1860s to revive the lumber industry,
and tanning and wood chemical industries (turpentine,
creosote, etc.) flourished while the forests lasted. But
by 1925 little timber remained. The Civil War leader
Thomas Leiper Kane did much to develop the area. The
county led the nation in natural gas production from
1895 to 1905. A lumber industry revived after World War
II using managed forest systems, and there is a little
crude oil production. Other products today include motor
oil, Zippo Lighters, electronics, corrugated boxes,
furniture, glass containers and construction blocks, and
oil and gas pipes and equipment. The county’s success is
attested to by the value added to the economy from its
manufactures, which increased 66 percent between 1987
and 1992. Commercial forest lands and the National
Forest cover much of the county; only 7 percent of the
area is farmed. |
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