On May 20, 1892, the Harrisburg Daily Independent congratulated the town of Elizabethville, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania for planning to move forward with their desire to incorporate as a borough.
Elizabethville As a Borough
Elizabethville, in the upper end of Dauphin County, aspires to borough organization, the people of which are now moving to secure such conditions. Whenever the population of a village is large enough to warrant organization as a borough it is the interest of the people to do it, as in such conditions they are invested with an importance which always advances them in public appreciation. We congratulate the people of Elizabethville on their go-ahead spirit, and hope soon to greet that always thriving village as a still more prosperous borough.
Several months later in 1892 the citizens of Elizabethville petitioned the Dauphin County Court to approve their desire to become a borough.
The following is taken from the Souvenir Book for the Elizabethville Sesquicentennial, 1817-1867:
Seventy-six years after the founding of the town, the inhabitants decided that inconveniences and disadvantages existed that could be eliminated if the town were incorporated into a borough. James Hoffman was asked to survey land in Washington Township, which was being proposed as a borough. This he did on August 20, 1892, and made a map of distances and directions of lines encompassing the land, which became part of a petition, signed by eighty-six residents to be presented to the September 1892 session of the Court of Quarter Sessions. The petition gave the population of the town as 700 souls, and the area of the proposed borough as 285 acres and 64 perches.
The petition was presented as planned, and on Tuesday, March 28 A. D. 1893, the Court decreed Elizabethville a Borough. Among other things, the decree set the place of the first borough election as the hotel of S. P. Shadle on the northeast corner of the Square, and the date of the first election as Tuesday, April 25 A. D. 1893.
THE PETITION
To the Honorable the Judges of the Court of the Quarter Sessions of the Peace, in and for the County of Dauphin.
The petition of the subscribers, inhabitants and freeholders, residing within the limits of the town of Elizabethville, in the Township of Washington, in said County, respectfully showeth:-
That your petitioners have now a population of seven hundred (700) souls residing within the limits of the said town; that they labor under great inconvenience and disadvantages for want of a Borough, for the following reasons among others, viz: That the town proposed to be incorporated, is known by such names as “Lykens Valley Cross Roads,” “Elizabethville,” “Cross Roads,” and “Washington Square,” all tending to confuse shippers, railroad officials, mail agents, postmasters, &c, that the burden of taxation upon them is out of proportion to the benefits derived therefrom; and that their connection with the township prevents them from having such control over schools, roads, sidewalks and property, as they desire, and should have, to promote the welfare, and advance the interests and business prosperity of the town, that this application is signed by the petitioners whose names are attached hereto, within three months immediately preceding its presentation to the Court, which presentation is intended to be made at the September Sessions (1892) of said Court.
Your petitioners therefore pray your Honorable Court, to incorporate under the name, style and title of “The Borough of Elizabethville,” all that, the messages, lands, tenements, ways, walks, waters, water-courses, rights, liberties, privileges and appurtenances lying, situated and being within the limits of the proposed borough, and bounded, limited as described as follows, namely, &c, &c. [Here the detailed description of the land was given].
The petition gives the names of landowners whose properties adjoined the borough as follows: On the south: John G. Swab, Jacob Hartman, C. Romberger, J. A. Romberger, N. W. Stroup, Isaiah Speck; on the north, D. Smith, A. Miller, A. Bechtel; on the east, Dr. John B. Stroup, Weaver & Son, Harry Hartman; on the southeast, Daniel Collier, Estate of Michael Sausser, Elizabethville Water Company and others.
THE GRAND JURY APPROVES
And now, October 1, 1892, upon due consideration of the within petition, the Grand Jury finds that a majority of the free-holders of the town of Elizabethville have signed the within petition, and they believe that it is expedient to grant the prayers of the petitioners — (Signed) by W. J. Bergstresser, Foreman.
THE DECREE OF THE COURT
In the matter to incorporate the Town of Elizabethville.
And now, March 28, 1893, the Court confirms the judgment of the Grand Jury and decrees that the said town of Elizabethville be incorporated into a Borough in conformity with the prayer of the petitioners, that the corporate style and title thereof shall be “The Borough of Elizabethville.”
That the boundaries thereof shall be as described in the prayer of the petitioners and may therein annexed. That the annual borough election shall be held at the public house of hotel of S. F. Shadle, at the Northeast Corner of the Square on the Third Tuesday in February in accordance with and subject to all provisions of the law regulating Township and Borough elections, and declare the said Borough a separate election and school district. The court further directs and decrees the first election in said Borough for the officers provided for by law be held at the said Shadle’s Hotel on Tuesday the 25th day of April A. D. 1893 between the hours of seven o’clock A. M. and seven o’clock P. M. and designate S. P. Shadle to give due notice of said election and the manner thereof. And the Court further decrees that Dr. J. C. Stroup to be Judge and I S. Daniel and Nathan Miller to be inspectors of said election.
The officers of said Borough elected at the first election for one year are to hold until their successors are elected and qualified in 1894. Those elected for two years are to hold until their successors are elected and qualified in 1895, and those elected for three years to hold until their successors are elected and qualified in 1896.
By the Court,
J. W. Simmiton
No. 243 September Term 1892
Rendered March 30, 1893
Recorded in the Office for Recording of Deeds, &c., in and for the County of Dauphin in Charter Book “E”, Vol. 1, Page 166 &c.
Witness my hand and seal of office this 30th day of March Anno Domini 1893.
H. L. Hershey, Recorder
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News article from Newspapers.com.
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