Clarion Hospital

Description

Welcome to Clarion Hospital
Clarion Hospital provides Clarion County and the surrounding communities with a health system that includes

An emergency department that is open aroundtheclock every day of the year

Clarion Hospital has Primary Care Physician offices located in the following areas Brookville Foxburg Fryburg Leeper New Bethlehem Rimersburg and Shippenville

Outpatient services include sameday surgery Radiology Laboratory genetic counseling and drug and alcohol testing Outpatient physical therapy and rehabilitation services are located adjacent to the hospital in the West Penn Orthopaedics building

History

Clarion County erected on March 11 1839 from parts of Venango and Armstrong counties is named for the Clarion River as is the county seat town of Clarion

The Clarion River was the dividing line between Armstrong and Venango counties In early times this river was known as Stump Creek and Tobys Creek These names were retained until an act of assembly was passed declaring it a public highway under the name of the Clarion River When surveying for a road the surveyors camped by the river They heard ripples of the water made mellow by the wall of timber on both sides of the river One man said it sounded like a distant clarion Thense the river was known as the Clarion River

Clarion County was the 54th county in the state to be formed The following townships were made from Armstrong County Clarion Madison Monroe Perry Redbank and Toby The following townships were made from Venango county Beaver Elk Farmington Paint and Richland

Application was made to the legislature and the governor by act of March 14 1839 to authorize the appointment of three citizens namely James Thompson John Gilmore and Samuel L Carpenter who were empowered to take deeds of trust from persons donating land to lay out the town in lots to see the same and to make contracts for the public buildings Shortly afterwards Mr Thompson resigned and by the act of June 25th John P Davis of Crawford County was appointed to fill the vacancy

When the site for the seat of justice was selected the lands belonged to General Levi G Clover James P Hoover Peter Clover Jr heirs of Phillip Clover and Hon C Myers who donated the towns site to the county on condition of receiving half the proceeds from the sale of lots

Sometime in the fall of 1839 the town plot containing 200 acres was surveyed by John Sloan Jr There were 275 inlots and 50 outlots The public sale of the lots began October 30 1839 and continued for three days The highest price for a lot was 75750 and the next in value was sold for 56000

On April 6 1841 the village of Clarion was incorporated into a borough

Grounds for the county buildings and public square were reserved from sale At this time a dispute arose about a strip of land lying between these tracts and which would be the central part of the future town This ground being needed for lots before the question of ownership could be settled by law the parties agreed in writing to release their claim to the title of lands reserving the privilege of testing the right to the purchase money Application was made to the legislature and the governor by act of June 25th 1839 was authorized to appoint three citizens of the county who were empowered to take deeds of trust from persons donating lands to lay out the town in lots to sell the same and to make contracts for the public buildings Accordingly the governor appointed George B Hamilton Lindsey C Pritner and Robert Potter commissioners who proceeded to the discharge of the duties of their appointment It was a short time before 1839 that any part of the chosen site had been cleared out and even then only a small portion There was only one house in all that is now included in the borough limits The greater part of the site was still covered with large pine and dense underbrush It was previously esteemed good hunting grunds where wild game had been frequently caught As the commissioners entered upon their work they laid out the town in lots employing Mr John Sloan as surveyor who for a series of years before and afterwards was identified with the interest of the county The first sale of lots was in October 1839 and a second sale was made in the following spring

The first settlement was made in 1801 Pioneer settlers were predominately ScotchIrish and German from the older counties of the state

Growth of the county in population and enterprise was due mainly to the rise of iron lumber and oil industries The iron business declined after the civil war with the emergence of the new steel industry

The large stand of virgin timber in the county attracted the lumbermen The earliest means of livelihood other than farming were the sawmills which produced lumber which could be floated to market at Pittsburgh The sawmill operations of pioneer days were replaced with larger scale operations and the Clarion River again helped provide a way to market

Clarion County was within the oil producing region of the state and shared in the development of this natural resource after the drilling of quotColonelquot Edwin L Drakes well at Titusville in 1859 The county was at one time a leading oil producer In addition to an oil belt the county has extensive gas fields sand for glass making good fire clay and bituminous coal reserves

Cook Rorest Park a tract of 6000 acres with a frontage of eight miles on the Clarion River lies mostly in Clarion County and contains the largest stand of virgin white pine east of the Mississippi rRiver The Clarion River provides an attractive scenic and recreational area


THE COURTHOUSE

The first courthouse was bid to the firm of Derby amp Clover of Ridgewood Pa and Levi G Clover of Clarion PA Mr Derby was the superintending partner of the firm The total contract price of this project was 8500 which as it appears exceeded the lowest bid by 2700 The extras brought the cost up to 1063616 The building was started in the spring of 1842 but was not entirely finished until the spring of 1843

The courthouse was brick twostoried and divided by a slight offset from which there were two narrow recesses into two longitudinal wings The rear annex was slightly lower than the front part of the building A wooden cupola in the center of the roof surmounted the main section of the building No clock appeared on this building The main entrance was through a portico in the Grecian style and was reached by four low steps The roof of the porch was supported by two wooden fluted pillars with plain capitals and tow polasters one at either end and were painted white

The county offices were on each side of the corridor the main body of the building The second story contained four jury rooms The courtroom was occupied on the ground floor in the rear of the building Two doors one in each of the recesses opened into the entry leading to it The hallway above the courtroom was used as a conference room for public meetings

The circumstances attending the destruction of the first courthouse were very similar to those of the second burning of the second courthouse

About 900 am on the morning of March 10 1859 smoke and flames broke through the roof near the cupola This fire was thought to be the result of a faulty flue The citizens of the town had no means of getting water up to the second floor area and within two hours the building was in ruin However all the records were preserved The loss was estimated to 10000 Insurance throughout the Lyciming and York companies resulted in a claim for 7000

The Presbyterian Church was used as a courtroom until the completion of the second courthouse All other county offices were occupied in the Arnold block of Clarion

The second courthouse was built by Daniel and Edmond English of Brockville PA and was completed in 1863 It was necessary that a special act of the legislature be passed empowering the county commissioners to erect a new structure

The total contract was 15700 plus extras of 1500 total cost of the courthouse was 17200 Architect on this project was Mr John R Turner of Carlisle PA County commissioners Daniel Mercer C Seigworth and Benjamin Miller entered into this contract with Mr Turner This undertaking was a losing one for the contractors

The second courthouse was a substantial brick building with a wooden roof It measured 60 feet wide by 98 feet long The height of the first story was 13 feet and that of the second story was 21 feet in height The overall height of the building excluding the belfry was 65 feet The building was constructed cheaply considering the cost as to the size and solidity of the building

About 100 am on the morning of September 12 1882 fire which had been smoldering in the loft burst through the roof The water pressure was not enough to force the water to the top of the courthouse and the flames gained resistless headway The building was gutted in a few hours leaving the walls standing comparatively intact Total insurance received from the result of this fire amounted to 25000

Between the destruction of the old and the completion of the new courthouse the Methodist Church was used for holding court and the residence part of the jail was used for the other county offices

The present courthouse built in 1883 was awarded after 16 bidders placed contracts for the new building

John Coopers bid was the highest at 135000 and the lowest bid was that of P H Melvin at 88370 This bid allowed 5000 for materials from the former courthouse and jail Mr Melvin was awarded the contract and work was to be completed by November 16 1894 The work commenced on July 16 1883 but the building was not handed over to the county commissioners until October 14 1885

EM Butz of Allegheny was the architect and D English of Brockville was the supervising architect The county commissioners at this time were John Featly Aaron Kino and Johnson Wilson However board of commissioners Samuel Bell David Heffron and Emmanuel Over were the ones to assume office in the new building

Henry Warner of Allegheny executed the fresco work The painting was under the supervision of Brockville PA The star encaustic tile company of Pittsburgh laid the tile floors Howard Clock Company of New York furnished the clock dial which is 9 feet in diameter and the bell which weighs 1313 pounds

PH Melvin the contractor failed to complete the project on January 27 1885 and at that time the bondsmen Augustan Dietz Edward Denneny and Edward Lyman thereupon became the acting contractors Melvin however was retained as superintendent of construction

The present courthouse is a variation of the Queen Anne style of architecture Its general dimensions are 78 feet 8 inches wide 134 feet long and the elevation from the ground to the top of the tower figure is 213 feet The tower rests on foundation walls 4 feet thick which in turn are supported by three graded courses of stone Stone columns in the corner of the vestibules and iron crossgirders carry the tower up in the three internal sides It is surmounted by a galvanized iron figure of justice 9 feet 11 inches in height The interior of the clock loft is fitted with gas pipes for illumination The tower is 25 feet square and its elevation above the roof is 139 feet that of the tapering part is 56 feet The height of the highest part of the body of the structure is 90 feet 9 inches The walls of the main part of the structure are constructed of stone and brick and are 22 inches in thickness The roof is of tin and slate

The basement part of the building extends the whole length and width of the building and is 10 feet in height It contains the engine and boiler room

The building is ventilated on the vacuum principle A large fan exhausts the vitiated air from all parts of the building The fan is 62 inches in diameter and 27 inches wide it escapes up the foul air flue All the heating and ventilating is done by one engine The basement is also furnished with a gas regulator and water meter

In the first story are county offices on each side of the corridor which is 16 feet wide This story is 14 feet 9 inches high and has a vaulted brick ceiling and is fireproof The second story is 21 feet in height and the third floor or mezzanine story is 12 feet in height Each has a lobby that is 21 feet square The corridor and the lobbies are paved with ornamental tile On the second floor are the courtroom and in front of which on either side of the lobby are two waiting rooms for ladies and in the rear the judges and attorneys room and two rooms for petit juries The third story contains the apartments of the county superintendent and surveyor opening from the front vestibule From the rear the grand jury room and two witness waiting rooms

The courtroom is 74 feet long 55 feet wide and 45 feet high It is lighted by 12 double windows and four chandeliers of 18 lights each

The heating and ventilating apparatus were included in the contract The following shows the cost of the furnishings etc Exclusive of this

architect 4418
furniture 4248
bell and clock 2800
gasplumbing 1500
carpet 510

13466

An allowance of 66150 was made for a drain The commissioners deducted 94977 for the neglected and defective work The total cost to the county was 9712427 18000 was to the contractor and the subcontractor 3500 for the bondsmen thus bringing the total cost of the building to 126936

P H Melvin on February 12 1886 brought a lawsuit against the county commissioners totaling 40000 stating that the commissioners failed to comply on their part with several of the contract stipulations that the estimates were not advanced at the time agreed that the work was delayed by failure to furnish him with the plans properly that the commissioners compelled him to purchase new brick at a great loss and that he was harassed and hindered in the work by the objections of the supervising architect

Although the undertaking has been an unfortunate one to the contractor and the subcontractors the citizens of Clarion County may congratulate themselves on possessing a creditable solidly constructed courthouse at a comparatively small expendure

Changes to the present courthouse

1889 clock was illuminated at night
1907 exterior wood and lady of justice was painted
1910 newly graded and terraced landscaping
1918 erection of flagpole clarion womans club 70 feet high
1920 county memorial in front lawn
1922 installation of 2 drinking fountains
1923 wired for electric lights
1941 lights in tower darkened during WWII period
1944 lights back on in tower
1977 complete rewiring of the electrical system
1981 a complete exterior renovation

Courthouse renovation project of 1981

On May 18 1981 the Clarion County commissioners namely Fred C McIhattan Thomas M Armagost and Elmer A Barkay opened bids for the exterior renovation project of the courthouse Four bids were received with the firm of general masonry contractors of Columbus Ohio receiving the low bid of 370278

Actual work began on June 22 1981 with the erection of the scaffolding at which time work then began on the repairs to the roof on June 29 1981

Landmark design of Pittsburgh Mr Ellis Schmidlapp president of the firm serving as the project architect

Such needed repairs are as follows

lady justice removed and repaired restoration and reanchored
new roof slate shingles
chemical cleaning exterior brickwork
brickwork reset and repoint all brickwork
painting paint and replace all ornamental metal work woodwork and iron
caulking all windows
windows replace all windows
clock replace clock face glass
Doors refinish front doors removal of back door and replace with glass door
Steps removal and reinstallation of front and rear steps
Lightning protection added

The quotLady of Justicequot came down from her pedestal on July 23 1981 This was quite an attraction to the area residents KDKATV crews from Pittsburgh were on the scene filming the descent of the lady At approximately 330pm she was raised from her position by pulley Scaffolding was erected around her previous to her removal Three workmen carefully guided her down to the main roof then lowered her Prior to this the crew did not know how much she actually weighed and removal of the statue was a main concern on their part

Upon examination she was quite deteriorated Her left arm the arm that held the quotscales of justicequot was missing Rumor has it that a small airplane hit her arm and scales a few years ago causing the statue considerable damage There were approximately 25 bullet holes in the statue and she was quite weathered As stated previously she was made of galvanized iron However the material that she is comprised of is zinc When measured she stands 9 feet 11 inches in height and her approximate weight was estimated to be 125 pounds

The female figure of quotjusticequot comes to us from Greek mythology Themes Mother of the Fates and the Seasons were the goddess of divine justice The rites of hospitality were under her protection and she also presided over public assemblies She is represented in art as a commanding austere woman holding a sword and scales the symbol of order and justice Her daughter Astraea who wears a crown of stars also represents justice in classical mythology

It has not been determined who designed this statue which is hollow By what method it was originally placed atop the Clarion County courthouse is also not known It is likely the identical figure produced from the same mold was used at other courthouses as Themis is a fitting guardian for a hall or justice and a government seat

The quotLady was then placed in a small van and taken to the firm of Ranochak amp Company located in Shelbyville Indiana There she was restored with a fiberglass coating shaded in the pewter color She now weighs approximately 250 pounds upon restoration

Plans were made to have the quotLady of Justicequot on display in the courthouse A ceremony was planned for her return trip to her pedestal for 300pm august 24 1981 at which time a time capsule was inserted in the base of the statue

Commissioner Elmer A Barkay was the person in charge of the overall project