First courthouse was built by Edward Derby. It was purchased by Hugh McGeehin for $135 on April 8, 1879. Mr. McGeehin moved the original courthouse to the site of the Bogert Hotel. The courthouse formed the rear portion of the Bogert House until it was destroyed by fire in 19??. Also, P.T. Brooks was the “father” of the idea to plant the courthouse square with shade trees.

Dickinson and Wilmarth erected a water-powered sawmill at Laurel Mill. It was a major lumbering center for more than half a century. William C. Healy in partnership with Sanford Yale, purchased the Laurel Mill operation of Dickinson and Wilmarth. In 1883, Henry S. Thayer purchased the Laurel Mill lumbering operation and in conjunction with the Hyde interests, lasted until 1910. The sawmill in its heyday manufactured 12 to 15 million feet of lumber annually. Traces of the mill and associated railroad grades can still be seen at the Sandy Beach Recreation Area west of Ridgway.

On March 9, 1850, the “Elk County Advocate” was published in Ridgway. Its first editor and publisher was Jerome Powell. Henry Souther assisted Mr. Powell. In 1855 it was sold to J.L. Brown of Wilcox and the name was changed to the “Elk County Reporter”

From 1862 to 1895, a yearly average of 40,000,000 board feet of sawed lumber, 3 million feet of squared timbers and 500 boat bottoms were shipped down the Clarion River. Many of the boat scaffolds and rafting platforms used to build rafts and boat bottoms existed from Ridgway to Belltown including one at the Dickinson sawmill in the West End of Ridgway.

W.H. Osterhout arrives in Ridgway. Mr. Osterhout purchased 135 acres of land from Joseph Smith Hyde and erected the Eagle Valley Tannery, his residence, a store and 45 homes for his employees that numbered 200 at the height of the operation. Mr. Osterhout’s investment in this endeavor was $200,000, a substantial amount of money in 1870. The company became world famous for its production of quality tanned sole leather. Other than the manufacturing of lumber, the Eagle Valley Tannery was Ridgway’s second industry. The only facility to exist earlier was the Grant & Horton Tannery in West Ridgway that was established in 1867. The Eagle Valley Tannery was destroyed by fire in December 1902 but was rebuilt and back in operation by June1903. Around 1950, competition from imitation leather caused the business to decline. Kovalchick Salvage Company salvaged the buildings and the homes were sold to the occupants.