Black Township

When Milford Township was divided in 1886, that part east of Coxes Creek and east of the Casselman River, below Rockwood, was given the name of Black, in honor of Judge Jeremiah S. Black. Judge Black was later Attorney General in Pennsylvania's only President's cabinet. (James Buchanon) When our ancestors came here to have a new life, timber and lumber products, coal mining and the railroad, plus agressive agriculture built this area.

The first settler was James Wilson, who built a cabin here in 1775. Wilson later built the first sawmill in Black Township. In 1800 one of the early houses was used as a church and school house. The first store was operated prior to 1795.

Black Township was once famous for the split building stone produced by the Somerset Stone Co. near Milford. Milford Station on the Northern edge of the township, served as a railroad shipping point for lumber, railroad ties, and building stone. Coal mining was also an important industry in the township's early days. Wilson Creek, Shamrock, Bando and Blackfield were small mining towns. Somerset Coal Co. operated a mine at Wilson's Creek as early as 1902. All of the major industires of Black Township were tied to the railroad.

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