Q-Why was the archaeological investigation conducted?
The Philipsburg Tannery was identified during background research for the U. S. Route 322 Bypass Project around Philipsburg, Centre County, Pennsylvania. This project was executed in conjunction with the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PENNDOT), District 2-0, and Herbert, Rowland and Grubic, Inc (HRG, Inc.) acting as the primary engineering consultant. The current route of S.R. 0322 travels through the center of downtown Philipsburg and is having a negative effect on the historic district. The purpose of the bypass is to alleviate congestion in the downtown area, which is unable to accommodate heavy truck traffic. The proposed route will be placed north of the town, directly over the tannery site. This investigation was conducted to preserve significant historical information.

Q-What information did the excavations yield?
A.D. Marble & Company has not completed excavations at the tannery site, however the current extent of excavation has revealed many artifacts, structural remains, and associated features. The features located include several possible vats used in the tanning process, many wooden box drains that provided water to the tannery and were used to transfer the tanning liquor, and a stone foundation wall. These remains may shed light on the details of the tannery’s layout and construction, whether the layout changed, and the processes the tannery used to arrive at the end product.

Q-What sorts of artifacts were found?
Artifacts recovered include the following: one large wooden and several ceramic vat plugs, ceramic dishes, window glass, toolsused by the tannery workers, and many nails. Leather fragments, preserved by moisture in the ground, were also recovered.

Q-What will happen to the artifacts?
After the excavation, all artifacts were taken to the A.D. Marble & Company laboratory where they were washed, mended, labeled, and cataloged. The artifacts are examined to see what they are able to tell us about life at the tannery, its day-to-day operations, and the people who worked there. When the project is completed, the artifacts will be stored at the State Museum. The site notes and recovered material will be made available for other researchers to examine in the future.

Q- When was the Philipsburg Tannery in operation?
The first tannery was in operation from 1870 until 1876, when it burned in a fire. A competitor then purchased the site, and a second tannery was built. The second tannery property was sold and changed hands many times. This tannery was in operation from 1877 until it closed in 1903. During the period of the tannery’s operation it was one of the largest employers in Philipsburg. After the tannery was closed the property was sold and became farmland. The property is currently a residential area that contains five dwellings.

Q-Who worked at the tannery?
We know that the tannery sometimes employed up to 60 people at a time. We have some accounts from local resources and old newspapers which tell us who worked at the tannery and their particular tasks, but the records of who worked at the tannery are incomplete because of a fire that destroyed the census records.

We know that at one point that a man named John Scott was boss of operations and Charles Carter was the stable boss. Ike Harr and George Cole worked at the bark mill. Mr. L. Chase was in charge of making the tanning liquor. People who worked at the beam house included: Ellis Allen, John Jones, William Gill, Jacob Shirk, George Files, William Hess, and B. Burk. Those who worked at the drying shed and finishing the hides included: John Holick, John Fish, and George Lucas.

Many people worked pitching hides from the railroad cars when they arrived. These people included: Frank Hess, Milt Downs, William Jackson, William and John Bagley, Willard Kyler, Harry Young, Jacob and Charles Simler, Clancy Ammerman, James Howe, Alec Morrison, and Mike Gill. Two people were assigned to each railroad car when it arrived every morning.

Q-What type of leather did the tannery produce?
It is unknown what type of leather the first tannery produced; although, historic research shows that the first and second tanneries tanned cow hides. The second tannery produced union crop leather that was produced to create shoe sole leather. This type of leather utilized a combination of oak and hemlock bark in the tanning processing. It was said to be some of the finest leather produced in Pennsylvania. At peak performance the second tannery was able to produce 60,000 tanned hides a year, more than twice as much as the previous tannery on the site. There is no current evidence that horse, sheep, or deer hides were being tanned at the site.

Q-Why was the tannery built there?
The location was ideal for a tannery. It was in an area where the natural resources were plentiful. It was necessary to have large quantities of bark, and at that time that area of Pennsylvania was heavily forested. A tannery also needed large amounts of water, which Cold Stream provided. Coal is also plentiful in the region, which was used to power the equipment. The tannery was placed on the north side of town, since a tannery does not always smell very good; there was a lesser chance for the odor to travel into town. It was in a valley, which allowed access to the railroad that brought the hides and bark in from the surrounding region.