Was made a borough November 23, 1857. The petition therefor bore the names of the following: Robert H. Tubbs, F. Helme, Reuben Jones, Thomas Pringle, Richard Hutchins, William N. Raymond, A. H. Reynolds, Reuben Marcy, A. C. Church, William C. Morris, M. G. Whitney, George E. Hoyt, Abram Nesbitt, William Perigo, P. M. Goodwin, Abraham Goodwin, Jr., Abraham Goodwin, Thomas Myers, Francis A. Page, Anson Atherton, Isaac Tripp, M. F. Myers, H. S. Butler, George Sealy, Thomas Somers, Charles Raymond, F. C. Woodhouse, H. C. Silkman, R. Nelson, Samuel Griffin, William Loveland, Z. B. Hoyt, Thomas Slocum, Albert Skeer, H. M. Hoyt, Samuel Hoyt, Bester Payne, R. H. Little, Conklin Robbins, Ira W. Dilley, Thomas Fender, James Grenawalt, John Keller, William C. Reynolds, E. W. Reynolds, Joshua Belding.
The first election was December 15, 1857, at the house of Thomas Wambold. Ira Carl, judge; Reuben Marcy and Abram Nesbitt, inspectors. The following officers were elected: Reuben Jones, burgess; council, Bestor Payne, Marshal G. Whitney, Reuben Marcy, Thomas Pringle, president, and Richard Hutchins; high constable, Edward A. Pringle.
The early history of Kingston and the early history of the famed Wyoming valley are much one and the same. It goes back to 1769, or one hundred and [p.593] twenty-three years ago. Therefore much of its history is in preceding chapters, giving an account of the early settlement, the trials and tribulations of the first pioneers. Wilkes-Barre and Kingston were rival points for at least two generations, and, as usual in history, it was mere straws that decided, like fate, which should be the city proper and which should be suburb.
It is not now certainly known who was the first settler at the village of Kingston, but one of the first located in the township in 1769 settled within the limits of the borough, namely, James Atherton, who with his sons, James Atherton, Jr., Ashael and Elisha Atherton, built the first log house, nearly opposite the site of the old academy, on Main street. There the father resided to the time of his death, in 1790. His son Elisha occupied the old homestead until 1817, when he died. The old log cabin then disappeared.
This portion of the township was the last to be occupied by the settlers from abroad, and up to 1803 there were but three houses between those of James Atherton and Lawrence Myers, the latter at the corner where now stands the Abram Goodwin store. Previous to 1796 there was a small one-story house directly opposite the residence of Abram Reynolds. It was painted red, and for many years was occupied by Epaphras Thompson, a silversmith and a Baptist of the Hardshell order. He left here about 1818, and the house disappeared about 1835. It was the first frame house built within the limits of the borough.
Up to 1818 the old township line road was the only avenue to Wilkes-Barre; it was reached by the extension of the main Kingston road, ninety-nine feet wide, and was then known as the Wilkes-Barre and Blind Town road, as it led from the ferry opposite the foot of Northampton street, Wilkes-Barre, to Blind Town, separating the townships of Kingston and Plymouth. Near the point of intersection of these roads was a swing gate across the Blind Town road. There were no fences at that day on these extensive bottom lands to protect the crops from trespassing cattle, and every person passing was enjoined by stringent laws, with heavy penalties, to close the gate after him. This gate was maintained from 1770 up to the time of building the Wilkes Barre bridge and the opening of the present avenue from the bridge to Kingston, in 1818, when the old road from Eleazer Loveland's to the ferry was vacated, the old gate was unhung, and owners of lands had to build fences for the protection of their crops.
The road leading from Goodwin's corner to the Blind Town road, at the old Eleazer Loveland place, was not laid out in the original survey of the township, but was opened by Myers and Hallett Gallop, through their own lands, on the completion of the bridge in 1818. William Gallop built the first house (of logs) on the site of the residence of the late Giles Slocum.
At the junction of the new road given by Myers and Gallop with the Blind Town road, on the Plymouth side, was a small log house as late as 1802. From this point to where the railroad now crosses the Blind Town road there was but a single residence, which was occupied by Darius Williams. On the Kingston side of the Blind Town road there was not a residence up to 1796 between the Myers and Gallop road and Toby's creek, where Peter Grubb had a gristmill and a sawmill and lived on the site of the Kingston Coal company's No. 1 from 1790 to 1807. The mills subsequently became the property of Thomas Borbridge, who took them down in 1826. These were the only grist and sawmills ever built within the limits of the borough of Kingston.
On the triangle, in the rear of the old stone house, at quite an early day were a small tannery, a shop, and a dwelling house. The date of their erection is unknown, but in 1815 the property came into the possession of Gen. Samuel Thomas, and he built thereon a frame dwelling, which is now standing. Here he kept his justice's office from March 20, 1816, till his removal to Illinois, when he sold the property to Ziba Hoyt. In this house Gov. Henry M. Hoyt was born. In 1817 Levi Hoyt built his house on the triangle, a short distance southwest from his brother's. This [p.594] house is also still standing. The old homestead of Lawrence Myers (of hewn logs) was probably built as early as 1787 by his predecessor. Lawrence Myers was appointed a justice of the peace July 7, 1790. In this log house he held his courts and continued to dispense justice to the litigants of Kingston up to the time of his death in 1810. He was succeeded by Stephen Hollister, who left the township in 1816. The latter was followed by Samuel Thomas, and he by Sharp D. Lewis, who retired about 1840.
Henry Buckingham, from Connecticut, opened the first store, where is the Jacob Sharps residence, and in or about 1804 he built a dwelling and store on the lot owned and occupied by Abram Reynolds, east of McPike's hotel. Here he did business till 1821, and after him Thomas Borbridge, from Philadelphia, several years. William C. Reynolds was then the merchant here until his death. In 1807 or 1808 Sidney Tracey opened a short-lived store in the Giles Slocum house. In 1811 Elias Hoyt and Thomas Bartlett opened a store on Main street, a short distance above the Exchange hotel; and in 1818 Hoyt built and for many years occupied the store, afterward occupied by Laycock & Pringle. A. O. Chahoon and one Lanning succeeded Hoyt & Bartlett. Goods were brought from Philadelphia and New York on the old-fashioned Conestoga wagons, each drawn by four, five or six horses. Derrick Bird, Joshua Pettebone and John Shafer were among the old pioneer teamsters. James Barnes had a little book store connected with his other business about 1820. He owned all the land from Toby's eddy to Larksville, which is now worth millions of dollars.
Tradition tells us that at the time of the Wyoming Massacre a man by the name of Tracey kept a tavern near the corner where stands the Pike hotel. He was both schoolmaster and poet. He was the author of the ballad entitled "The Massacre of Wyoming." In 1804 John Ebert began building the Exchange hotel. He left the country in 1807, and James Wheeler built and finished the house, and kept it until 1809 or 1810. Naphtali Hurlbut then occupied the house several years. His successors were Archippus Parrish and Oliver Helm. William Johnson, John Sax and Frank Helm have also kept the old tavern, which was a popular resort for all the old settlers. Elnathan Wilson, about 1820, opened a tavern where McPike's hotel was built; afterward occupied by Thomas Myers & Co., as a store. A distillery was built about 1808, a log structure, where was made honest corn juice, opposite the old Exchange on Main street. It should be stated that they made "corn juice" mostly from potatoes. The noted "Myers Cocked Hat" was the old stone building put up in 1818 by James Barnes for a store. It was made a residence long ago, after Thomas Bordridge and Thomas Myers had had a store in it. The first floor was once a foundry and after all these vicissitudes it was converted into a residence and then again into a store, justice office, etc.
The ancestral home of Gov. Hoyt, called the "old Hoyt house," was on "Goose island," now the extension of Main street, west from Railroad avenue. An old landmark is the "old Loveland house," after many changes, still standing—a frame that stood at the intersection of the old Myers and Gallup, or Plymouth road, and the Blind Town road. The first cemetery was on the William Gallup farm. The first interment there was the body of Nathaniel Gates, died November 7, 1793. Most of the bodies have been removed and the grounds long neglected. The next burial there was Eunice, wife of Aaron Dean, died November 8, 1795; Elizabeth Grubb, died July 28, 1796; Peter Grubb, died July 23, 1807; William Gallup, died January 1, 1815; Betsy, wife of Peter Clark, died January 25, 1807; Hallet Gallup, died October 6, 1804; Mary Gallup, died October 6, 1804; Israel Skeer, died October 14, 1804; Hannah, wife of Alph Jones, born 1772, died 1864.
The business of the place is represented as follows: 1 seminary, 4 blacksmiths, 4 boot and shoe dealers, 1 cigar factory, 9 carpenters and contractors, 1 dentist, 2 draymen, 11 dressmakers, 3 druggists, 1 electric light company, 1 flour and feed mill, 3 furniture dealers, 7 general stores, 10 grocers, 3 hardware, 2 harness, 4 [p.595] hotels, 1 house furnishing, 1 laundry, 2 livery, 2 lumber dealers, 3 meat markets, 2 merchant tailors, 1 miller, 5 physicians, 1 stove and tinware, 1 undertaker, 1 upholsterer, 1 jeweler.
Present borough officers: Burgess, Butler Dilley; council: J. C. Van Loon, president; George W. Lewis, secretary; George H. Flanagan, George Nesbitt, A. J. Root, Robert Cooper, Abraham Hoyt and James Waddell; assessor and collector, E. C. Starbird; justices: C. W. Boone, Ira M. Carl; school directors: J. E. Nugent, Alexander Nichols, Enoch R. Aston, W. G. Colley, Thomas R. Phillips, E. B. Jacobs; postmaster, David S. Clark.