Hesston, Pennsylvania

On April 14, 1873—the Postmaster General changed the name of Pleasant Grove to Grafton, to avoid confusion in sending and receiving mail.

[3][4][5] At this time—the village had grown to twenty houses, a church, a store, a tannery, wagon-shop, a harness-shop, a blacksmith shop, a steam flouring mill, a small food tavern, and a shoe-shop.

[6] In 1885—‘Robert Hare Powel & Company built a track from their quarries out from Grafton to the line of the Huntingdon & Broad Top railroad, one-half mile south of the station for the purpose of shipping limestone to their furnace at Saxton.’[7] In the 1890s—the first telephones are installed in the village by the Raystown Branch Telephone Company.

[10][11] In 1947—the village is electrified when Valley Rural Electric Cooperative strings the first lines through Penn Township.’[12] The Huntingdon and Broad Top Railroad ceased operation on March 31, 1954.

Through eminent domain, all of the families who lived in the valley of the Raystown Branch and on surrounding mountain ridges were removed.

Village of Hesston--1873