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Originally published in 1939
Some of this information may no longer be current and in that case is presented for historical interest only.
Edited by GET NJ, COPYRIGHT 2003
BLAIRSTOWN, 34.4 miles (350 alt., 900 pop.), covers the northern
slope of Paulins Kill valley and extends to the highway. Steeples of the
Presbyterian and Methodist Churches and the silver cylinder of a tall
water tank stand out above old trees. The town's chief industrial plant
(factories are not permitted) is BLAIR ACADEMY, a preparatory school for
boys, founded in 1848 by John I. Blair, the Lackawanna R.R millionaire.
Originally a co-educational school for the children of Presbyterian minis-
ters in the Newton Presbytery, it was so popular that clergymen with 10
or 12 children eagerly sought the low-paying appointments to village
churches in this area. The school is known today for its policy of demanding athletic competition from every student. The campus architectural style
varies from the English Tudor to what might be termed a combination of
the Richardsonian and Colonial.
The main street of Blairstown suggests an old western village, with
second-floor porches over many of the stores. A one-floor department store
displays leather boots and mackinaws on its porch, while the day's wash
hangs from a clothesline on the porch above. Most of the buildings are
frame; several are brightly trimmed in blue, green, and red, contrasting
with mild gray and tan paint on the clapboards. The OLD MILL, on the
main street has been remodeled in the Tudor style. With elaborate brick
arches supporting humble stonework, the whole resembles a cinema designer's notion of the proper setting for "city boy meets country girl."
More than a century ago the town was known as Gravel Hill. It was
aided in its growth as an educational center and as a shipping point for
farm produce by John Blair, who earned his first dollar by selling 16
muskrat skins. He vastly increased his earning power by interesting him-
self in a pioneer chain store system, flour mills, iron mills, and railroads.
As an established railroad builder, Blair found it inconsistent as well as
irksome to ride by carriage from his Blairstown home to the station at
Delaware, 12 miles distant, for a trip to New York. So, on July 4, 1876,
he had his men start to build the Blairstown Railway between the two villages. The line was finished exactly one year later to the great delight of
Blair and the townspeople, who were also permitted to ride by rail upon
payment of the established tariff. The BLAIR HOMESTEAD (private), a
large, square, white frame house with a cupola, stands on high ground behind the mill. The lawn and walks are decorated and paved with a collec-
tion of millstones from miles around.
West of Blairstown the highway runs through the bottom of the Paulins
Kill valley. Cedar-dotted grazing lands and farms are on both sides of the
road.
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