Page "Roaring Spring, Pennsylvania" Paragraph 48

Roaring Spring can be compared in this regard with the only other paper-mill towns in the region: Tyrone and Williamsburg, both in Blair County.

Tyrone, which is located on the Juniata River above Altoona, was fairly well established by 1878 when D. M. Bare co-founded a paper mill there.

The new worker housing built from that year forward took on the same architectural character as Roaring Spring's after 1878.

Williamsburg had originated as an 1830s canal town on another branch of the Juniata northeast of Hollidaysburg.

In 1905, its community leaders persuaded former native and steel tycoon Charles Schwab to build a large paper mill.

Williamsburg's post-1905 development thereafter came to resemble Roaring Spring's in style and type.

The construction of comfortable single-family houses became quite common, especially Foursquares and large Gable Front types.

These two examples suggest that the region's paper industry offered skilled workers ' wages sufficient to support home ownership, and that local builders ' housing styles in central Pennsylvania were already homogeneous by the 1870s.