Elkland, PA

Elkland is a Tioga County borough along the Cowanesque River, and the river is the key to its early story. A dry-goods store opened in 1824, while the valley's hills supplied pine for water-powered sawmills; logs were rafted downstream to markets on the Susquehanna. The borough was incorporated in 1849, after the older Elkland Township was split into smaller local governments. By the 1880s, Elkland had a tannery, furniture factory, flour mill, stores, churches, and a large school building. Elkland still reads as a river borough with a timber past: Main Street, the Cowanesque, and the old business routes all point back to the valley.