A New Century

A New Century. Perry County Bicentennial.

1901: PA Department of Forestry founded. , 1903: Ford Motor Company founded. , 1903: Wright brothers' first flight at Kitty Hawk.

, Automobile Age Arrived , In 1903, Dr. E.E. Moore of New Bloomfield purchased the first automobile, an Oldsmobile, to speed his patient visits. Other county residents soon followed suit. With motorized vehicles, came accidents, liability claims, government regulations, auto insurance, garages and hard roads., The Sproule Road Bill in 1911 stimulated highway improvements. In 1916, the William Penn Highway Association promoted construction of a paved road along the east bank of the Juniata River. Between 1924 and 1927 workers blasted mountainsides to elevate the new road above the flood plain. In 1917, the Susquehanna Trail Association advocated improvement to the road from Amity Hall to the Juniata County line. construction of the Trail was completed in 1927. Gasoline stations, hotels, motels, restaurants, buses and trucks proliferated., By 1925, a macadam road, now Route 17, ran from Liverpool to Millerstown. Route 34 was concrete from Newport to Meck's Corner and macadam from Meck's Corner to Carlisle. The road from Duncannon to Meck's Corner and New Bloomfield to New Germantown also became macadam., The Conservation Ethic , Excessive lumbering laid bare the western mountains and ridges. In 1906, the State purchased about 18,000 acres in Tobyone Township, creating a forest reserve. By 1922, the Tuscarora State Forest covered 29,467 acres in the county. The forest grew to include parts of Jackson and Madison townships. Reestablishment of woodlands prevented erosion and protected the watershed., In 1912, the Adams Express Company transported 30 deer (25 doe and 5 buck) from Michigan to Newport, and the N&SVRR shipped them further to New Germantown. They replaced the nearly extinct native deer. The forest contributes to the county's economy by enticing people to the area for hunting, fishing, picnicking and recreating in the beauty of the outdoors., [Captions:] , Fords for sale in Newport., A ca. 1930 postcard of Amity Hall shows the William Penn Highway on left and Susquehanna Trail on right, both entering Perry County across the 1925 concrete Clarks Ferry Bridge. At that time, both highways travelled along the east side of the river from Harrisburg to Clarks Ferry, splitting at Amity Hall., In 1925, Florence Kitner Fleisher was stuck in the mud in Fishing Creek Valley.