The Jefferson County Historical Society (JCHS) was just approved for a new historical marker on Dec 9th 2022 by the Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission (PHMC). PHMC approved 36 new historical markers, selected from 91 applications, to join the more than 2,000 markers that showcase PA historical people, places and events.
The markers will find their homes in 18 of Pennsylvania’s 67 counties, including Allegheny, Beaver, Berks, Cambria, Clinton, Delaware, Erie, Huntingdon,Jefferson, Lawrence, Lehigh, Lycoming, Monroe, Montgomery, Philadelphia, Schuylkill, Washington, and York counties.
Installation “usually occurs in the summer and fall and sometimes are scheduled to coincide with a local community event.
A logging railroad in Heath Township, Jefferson County, engineered by Alfred Truman of Brookville, “pioneer stream engineer,” was one of the earliest logging locomotive railroads in Pennsylvania. It was built by Wright & Pier Co. in 1864 on the west branch of Callen Run in Jefferson County. This and other major innovations in early logging railroads significantly contributed to the expansion of the timber industry across the Commonwealth.
Readers may delve deeper into this in an article in the JCHS Jeffersonian Journal, December, 2022: “Alfred Truman, Pioneer Renaissance Man” by Mike Benigni, JCHC Pathstone staff, who researched and applied for the historical marker.