"Ricketts was a market place for many farmers from Mossville and Bethel Hill and no doubt other localities far from Ricketts. They drove teams and wagons up the mountain where they sold apples, meat, vegtables, milk, butter and eggs. Brooks Moss, Irvin Moss, Frank Porch, Fred Saxe, and Paul Friedley were among them. Some picked up youngsters to go along back into the different camps, because the children could serve as interpreters." "There were two schools; one was a one room school and the other was a two room school. One of the teachers who served there was Miss marie Bailey." "Ricketts had two churches. One was Lutheran and the other Irish Catholic." "The company store, owned by Trexler and Turrell, sold about everything. Keith Downing clerked there for a long time." "It is hard to imagine all the noise and activity a prosperous town as you drive past the remains of Ricketts now. All that can be found are a few crumbling foundations all but obscured by brush and high grass. The big concrete oven-shaped affair that still stands is what's left of the fireproof pump house. When the timber was cut off and the lumber camps moved out, there wasn't much left. Practically everyone there had depended on the big business of timber either directly or indirectly, so it wasn't long until Ricketts was well on its way to becoming a ghost town. Contrary to some opinions, the P.O.S. of A. hall may have been the last building which was torn down. In 1936 L.T. Cragle of R.D. 1, Sweet Valley, tore down a large two-story plank boarding house. He bought the building from Col. Rickett's son with the understanding that it had to be torn down right away. So he took men with him and went up to Ricketts. When they go there they found a family living in the building and a woman came out and wanted to know what tey were doing. Mr. Cragle informed her they had come for the building, and she said," Ok, Ok, we'll move" They moved and he got enough good lumber to build the building that houses Altland's Tavern. In the attic of the old boarding house was a large vat in which rain water had been caught to provide gravity flow bath water for the boarders. Asked the capacity of the vat, Mr. Cragle said he did not know the gallons; but he had used it for a coal bin and it held two tons. "Ricketts, Pa., is a town of the past, and the few there are now who were well aquainted with it in its hey-day." -by Doris Harvey. Suburban News August 22, 2001 - Vol. 36, No. 38 Page: Back to History