Picture Rocks Borough Hall, P.O. Box 410, Picture Rocks PA 17762.
Phone: 570‑584‑3349.
Beginnings [1]
Picture Rocks on Muncy Creek about two and a half miles north of Hughesville, was incorporated as a borough September 27, 1875. Its population in 1930 was 548. The name of the borough is derived from the crude Indian pictures painted on a ledge of rocks which rises perpendicularly two hundred feet above Muncy Creek. These pictures were objects of great curiosity to the first white men. It is said that Wolfs Pathway, a Seneca chief, ordered Fisher Fox, a famous Indian artist, to remove the original pictures and in their place to depict his great victory in the Battle of Canoes. The battle occurred near Nippenose Park on the Susquehanna. The discovery of arrowheads and other implements adds credence to the story.
The land was first owned by Henry Rody, whose warrant bears the date of June 3, 1773. He sold it to Abraham Singer, who later conveyed it to John Tice. In 1848, A. R. Sprout and Amos Burrows of Susquehanna County purchased the land from Mr. Tice. Previous owners had erected a cabin and a sawmill but had made little progress in the seemingly impossible task of clearing the land, which was covered with logs, rocks and brush. Sprout and Burrows established the first sash, door and blind factory in the county. As the settlement grew, other industries were founded. Some of these have been discontinued or absorbed. The present industries include furniture manufacturing; manufacturing of excelsior and tool handles; and the making of extension and step ladders.