Lou’s View

By Lou Bernard

I have a friend who’s taken an interest in Lock Haven. She is learning about our local history and exploring the city, looking at the architecture. And she’s become fascinated with one of the local houses.

It’s not one that anyone would expect. I get asked a lot about the buildings in the Historic District, which obviously are elaborate and worth seeing. But this isn’t in that neighborhood. My friend has been enjoying 219 South Fairview Street.

The house sits on the west corner of South Fairview and Walnut Streets. It’s a pretty house, with a lot of nice trees and plants there. If I lived there, I’d sit outside all the time. Of course, if I lived there, it wouldn’t look like that. It would be an overgrown mess, because I’m really bad at plant care.

One call to the assessment office verified that the house was built in 1905. This makes it about middle-range on South Fairview Street; homes there were being constructed from 1869 until World War II, mostly. So, age-wise, it’s average for the neighborhood.

The house was built for Alex Grugan, who was born in Hyner on July 29, 1849. He married Laura Kintzing, and they had three kids. Grugan spent a lot of his time living in Chapman Township. For a time, however, he moved down to Lock Haven, which is probably why the house was built. Grugan got involved in county politics, running for Register and Recorder and winning in November of 1909. He was sworn in in 1910, and wound up serving two terms.

Grugan was a member of the Masons, meeting in the Lafayette Lodge downtown (Another building this friend has asked me about; that one was built in 1925.) After his second term as Register and Recorder, he stepped down due to his declining health. Philip Kift took over the position; Kift is one of those guys who served almost every political office in Clinton County at one time or another. Interestingly, Kift lived across the street and down a bit, at 204 South Fairview.

Grugan died on July 13, 1918, at age 68, and was buried in Highland Cemetery. He wasn’t in the house when it happened; he’d gone to stay with his daughter in Renovo. After a few years, his wife sold the house—You may remember, this article is actually about the house, though you could be forgiven for forgetting about that, what with my digressions into Philip Kift and the Masons and all. She moved to Williamsport, and sold the house to Thomas Bridgens.

Bridgens was another local politician. He’d served as county treasurer from 1906 to 1909. He lived in the house until his death on August 21, 1938, at the age of 68. Which is an interesting coincidence; both of the earliest men to live in this house were local politicians, both died at age sixty-eight, both during the summer in years that end in eight. Both were also buried in Highland, which is less of a coincidence, as most Lock Haven citizens got buried in Highland.

After Bridgens died, the house was purchased by Wilbur McClellan, founder of Wilbur H. McClellan Insurance and Real Estate. The office for the business was downtown at 121 East Main Street, but he and his wife Faye lived at 219 South Fairview, up on the hill.

My friend is obsessed with the house, and hey, I needed an idea for a column anyway. So I wrote this article for her. It taught me a little more about Lock Haven’s history, and for my friend, it’s the least I could do.