Hughesville Borough Hall, P.O. Box E, Hughesville PA 17737.
Phone: 570‑584‑2041.
Beginnings [1]
Hughesville was laid out in 1816 by Jeptha Hughes, for whom the town was named. It was incorporated as a borough April 23, 1852. The population in 1930 was 1,868. The first white settler on the site of the present borough was David Aspen.
The town grew very slowly during the early days. About 1820 a grist mill was erected by Jacob Clayton. In the same year a blacksmith shop was opened by Fingley and Carson. In 1829, William Kitchen started a chair factory. The following year, Wells and Johnson began to make the famous Dearborn wagons. Robert Pursel opened a tannery in 1832. A furniture factory erected in the 1870's is now the property of J. K. Rishel Company, manufacturers of desks.
In 1818 a log school house was erected. To this crude structure, heated by a ten-plate stove, came pupils from five to eight miles distant. When the town was incorporated as a borough, this building was torn down and a two-room brick structure erected in its place. From time to time this building has been remodeled and additions made. Near the Newman school house, on the edge of the borough, is one of the oldest graveyards in the valley. It contains the graves of the Newmans, Rynearsons, Lows and many other early settlers of the section. Though abandoned as a burial ground it is still kept enclosed and preserved.