1880 History of Blair County - Johnstown, PA

IIISTOIIY OF ALTOONA AND BLAIR COUNTY. :59Bedford ('(Minty ;Allc^i'hcny, Antis, Blair, Huston, Tvroiu' aiid Woodberrvtowiisliips, in Iliintinii'don county; also, that part of Morristowushii), in Iluiitin.ii'don county, west of a line run by William Reed,surveyor, to !)< called Catharine township. IIollidaysl)urars ago, became entirely insufficientfor the wants of the county. A new jail was erected at an expense ofover $100,000 in 1868 and 1869, and the old court house lasted but a fewyears longer. And although twenty-five or thirty years is not an oldage for public Iniildings, yet a glance at the growth of the county inpopulation and wealth in that period reveals, at once, the causes whichdemanded their destruction and the erection of new and better. Thenu'n who designed these buildings did not foresee the rapid growth ofthe new county in those jiarticnlars which are jji-olific of litigation."In 1846 only 2,187 votes were polled, indicating (at five to th(^voter) a i)opulation of about 10,000. In 1856 th(M-e were polled 3,520votes, showing a population of 18,000. In 1866 there were polled6,288 votes, pointing to a i)opulation of 32,000. In 1876 there werepolled 8,720 votes, indicating a population of 44,000, four times greaterthan wheii the county was organized. In the meantime the a.ssessedvaluation of property far more than doubled; its cash value has doubtlessti-ebled.