Markleton is an
unincorporated community
An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...
in
Somerset County, Pennsylvania
Somerset County (Pennsylvania Dutch language, Pennsylvania German: ''Somerset Kaundi'') is a County (United States), county in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the po ...
, United States.
The community is located along the
Casselman River, east-northeast of
Confluence
In geography, a confluence (also: ''conflux'') occurs where two or more flowing bodies of water join to form a single channel. A confluence can occur in several configurations: at the point where a tributary joins a larger river (main stem); o ...
.
History
Philson's Forge
The area was initially known as Philson's Forge; Robert Philson built a
Catalan forge, or bloomery, along the Casselman River about 1810.
However, the forge was not successful, and it closed about 1823.
Markle Paper Works
Markleton derived its present name from the paper company of Cyrus P. Markle & Sons of
West Newton in nearby
Westmoreland County. C.P. Markle & Sons purchased 5,000 acres along the Casselman River in 1881 and constructed a
paper mill
A paper mill is a factory devoted to making paper from vegetable fibres such as wood pulp, old rags, and other ingredients. Prior to the invention and adoption of the Fourdrinier machine and other types of paper machine that use an endless belt, ...
in order to harvest the abundant trees of the mountainside and manufacture paper products; at least 1,000 acres of this land was purchased from the Pinkerton Lumber Company.
In addition to the pulp mill and its equipment, the operation consisted of 13 two-story houses for workers plus a home for the superintendent and a boarding house.
Unfortunately, the paper mill was not very profitable,
and the endeavor was short-lived.
Markleton Sanatorium
![Markleton Pennsylvania Sanitarium from Book of the Royal Blue April 1909 Vol 12 No 07 Page 13](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/28/Markleton_Pennsylvania_Sanitarium_from_Book_of_the_Royal_Blue_April_1909_Vol_12_No_07_Page_13.jpg)
The Markle buildings and land were purchased by William J. Hitchman of
Mount Pleasant, Pennsylvania
Mount Pleasant is a Borough (Pennsylvania), borough in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, United States. It stands 45 miles (72 km) southeast of Pittsburgh. As of the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census, the borough's population was 4,454 ...
, in late 1886 for the purpose of establishing a combination vacation resort / health sanatorium.
Mr. Hitchman was joined in this initiative by Dr. Matthew B. Gault of
Clifton Springs, New York
Clifton Springs is a village located in Ontario County, New York, United States. The population was 2,127 at the 2010 census. The village takes its name from local mineral springs.
The Village of Clifton Springs is located primarily in the To ...
, and Rev. John Morrison Barnett of
Washington, Pennsylvania
Washington is a city in and the county seat of Washington County, Pennsylvania. A part of the Greater Pittsburgh area in the southwestern part of the state, the city is home to Washington & Jefferson College and Pony League baseball. The populat ...
, who formed the Markleton Hotel Company,
officially known as the "Markleton Sanitarium and Hotel Company." Dr. Gault had been appointed the first medical director of the
Clifton Springs Sanitarium
Clifton Springs Sanitarium is a historic sanitarium building located at the village of Clifton Springs in Ontario County, New York. Construction of the sanitarium building began in 1892 as a five-story ell-shaped brick structure in the Richard ...
in 1875. Rev. Barnett was a
Presbyterian
Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...
minister and a financial administrator at
Washington & Jefferson College
Washington & Jefferson College (W&J College or W&J) is a private liberal arts college in Washington, Pennsylvania. The college traces its origin to three log cabin colleges in Washington County established by three Presbyterian missionaries to ...
. Some of the other figures who were important to the sanatorium's establishment were William Borland Neel, Emer Judson McElwee, Oliver Perry Shupe, James J. Neel, Dr. James A. Loar, and Johnston Borndallar Jordan, all of Mount Pleasant; Dr. J.C. McClanathan of
Connellsville
Connellsville is a city in Fayette County, Pennsylvania, United States, southeast of Pittsburgh and away via the Youghiogheny River, a tributary of the Monongahela River. It is part of the Pittsburgh Metro Area. The population was 7,637 at th ...
; and Dr. Shoemaker of
Dawson.
Dr. M. Annie Howe-Anthony, a graduate of the Woman's Medical College of Baltimore, spent a year at the Markleton Sanatorium, during which she was the only female physician present; "The year at Markleton was an interesting and happy one, for there a woman physician was always honored and treated with the greatest respect." Dr. Hugh S. Maxwell, a 1904 graduate of
Rush Medical College
Rush Medical College is the medical school of Rush University, located in the Illinois Medical District, about 3 km (2 miles) west of the Loop in Chicago. Offering a full-time Doctor of Medicine program, the school was chartered in 1837, and ...
in
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
, image_map =
, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
, coordinates =
, coordinates_footnotes =
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name ...
, was an assistant physician for part of 1905. William Page McIntosh, a 1910 graduate of the
University of Pennsylvania's medical school, served as a medical director of the Markleton Sanitarium, and Isaac Slaymaker Diller, a 1912 graduate of the same school, worked at the sanitarium as an assistant physician.
The two main papermill buildings were combined into a grand hotel, and the workers' houses were remodeled as private cottages.
According to the
Baltimore & Ohio Railroad's Resorts and Springs guide for Summer 1905, the sanitarium had a capacity for 150 guests and charged rates from $2.50 per day to $60.00 per month. The Markleton Sanatorium was the site of several meetings of various medical associations, such as the Somerset County Medical Society and the Tri-State (PA, MD, WV) Medical Association.
U.S. Army General Hospital No. 17
After the United States entered
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, the federal government operated the former sanatorium building as
U.S. Army
The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cl ...
General Hospital No. 17. The facilities were leased on Feb. 25, 1918, personnel arrived in March, and the hospital was opened in April.
The hospital was designated by
Army Surgeon General Merritte W. Ireland
Merritte Weber Ireland (May 31, 1867 – July 5, 1952) was the 23rd U.S. Army Surgeon General, serving in that capacity from October 4, 1918 to May 31, 1931.
Early life and education
Ireland was born on May 31, 1867 in Columbia City, Indiana, a ...
as specializing in the treatment of soldiers suffering from
tuberculosis
Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in ...
. The need to find treatment facilities that could serve as tuberculosis hospitals likely influenced the selection of the Markleton Sanatorium as an Army general hospital; it was comparably smaller than other Army general hospitals and it did not have space for easy expansion, but very few owners wanted to lease their buildings for the treatment of tuberculosis patients and the military's need was great.
On July 31, 1918, the Markleton hospital was designated as one of the Army's hospitals focused on "physical reconstruction" in order to help soldiers make as complete a recovery, both mental and physical, as possible.
However, the results of the comprehensive physical reconstruction emphasis were not as successful at Markleton as at other locations, due to its smaller size.
General Hospital No. 17 had a capacity for 200 patients, which it reached in August 1918 and consistently maintained until it was closed on March 27, 1919.
The patients and staff of the hospital published a semi-monthly newspaper entitled ''Star Shell''.
A fire occurred at the hospital in early 1918. Some of the U.S. Army medical personnel who were assigned at various times to the Markleton hospital included Lieutenant Urban Henry Reidt, Lieutenant Joseph Daniel Rosenthal, Lieutenant J.B. Stenbuck, Lieutenant Charles B. Sylvester, Lieutenant James C. Thompson, Captain Henry Kennon Dunham, Captain Samuel M. Marcus, Major Henry Williamson Hoagland, Major John O. Kinter, and Major Benjamin Franklin Van Meter.
U.S. Public Health Service Hospital No. 47
After serving as U.S. Army General Hospital No. 17, the building then became U.S. Public Health Service Hospital No. 47, beginning on November 22, 1919. However, this role did not last for long; Public Health Service Hospital No. 47 was closed about a year later. Some believed that it was not best suited for the purpose of treating tuberculosis patients, and federal officials agreed. While the Markleton U.S.P.H.S. hospital did operate, though, it again served as the site of another meeting of the Somerset County Medical Society. Eventually, without the flow of people brought in by the sanatorium / hospital, the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad closed its ticket agency at Markleton on Jan. 9, 1924.
Shoo Fly Tunnel
A view of the nearby Shoo Fly Tunnel appeared in a collection of photographs from along the
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad
The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad was the first common carrier railroad and the oldest railroad in the United States, with its first section opening in 1830. Merchants from Baltimore, which had benefited to some extent from the construction of ...
's rail lines that was published in book form in 1872 and digitized by the DeGolyer Library,
Southern Methodist University
, mottoeng = "The truth will make you free"
, established =
, type = Private research university
, accreditation = SACS
, academic_affiliations =
, religious_affiliation = United Methodist Church
, president = R. Gerald Turner
, prov ...
. The Shoo Fly Tunnel was
daylighted in 2012 as part of the
National Gateway
National Gateway is a multi-stage railroad construction project in the United States promoted by CSX Transportation, a unit of CSX Corporation. It is designed to improve rail connections between ports in the U.S. mid-Atlantic seaboard and the Midw ...
project.
Geography
Markleton is located along the southeastern edge of
Upper Turkeyfoot Township. It lies along Markleton School Road, to the east of
Pennsylvania Route 281
Pennsylvania Route 281 (PA 281) is a state highway located in Fayette and Somerset counties in Pennsylvania. The southern terminus is the West Virginia state line near Markleysburg, where the road becomes West Virginia Route 26 (WV 26). The ...
, south of the village of Kingwood and north of
Fort Hill. Mount Zion Cemetery is located on top of the hill above Markleton.
Markleton has a
post office
A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letters and parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post offices may offer additional serv ...
with
ZIP code 15551. The post office is on the western bank of the Casselman River, nestled between the river and
CSX Transportation
CSX Transportation , known colloquially as simply CSX, is a Class I freight railroad operating in the Eastern United States and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. The railroad operates approximately 21,000 route miles () of track. ...
's
Keystone Subdivision The Keystone Subdivision is a railroad line owned and operated by CSX Transportation in the U.S. states of Maryland and Pennsylvania. The line runs from Cumberland, Maryland, west to McKeesport, Pennsylvania, (near Pittsburgh) along a former Baltimo ...
rail line. Across the river from the post office is a trail access area for the
Great Allegheny Passage
The Great Allegheny Passage (GAP) is a rail trail between Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and Cumberland, Maryland. Together with the C&O Canal towpath, the GAP is part of a route between Pittsburgh and Washington, D.C., that is popular with through ...
rail trail
A rail trail is a shared-use path on railway right of way. Rail trails are typically constructed after a railway has been abandoned and the track has been removed, but may also share the right of way with active railways, light rail, or streetcar ...
. This is the only trail access area with parking between Fort Hill to the southwest and
Rockwood to the northeast.
References
{{authority control
Unincorporated communities in Somerset County, Pennsylvania
Unincorporated communities in Pennsylvania