This Site is Dedicated to our site's primary historic Smethport Photographer R. C. Gleason who photographed Smethport for our project 1890-1910.  R.C. took hundreds of Smethport photos in the early 1890s and 1900s which have given us a vast look into our past!

Thanks R.C.  ...we KNOW you...you were special!
 

- R. C. Gleason's art studio is almost completed and will be one of the most attractive rooms in this section.  Mr. Gleason will have the advantage of a good north light, which all artists so much desire.  Now, young ladies, with a pleasant room and a handsome young photographer, there is no reason in the world why you should not possess a photo.

R.C. Gleason Dies after long Illness at Kane
McKean County Democrat; September 3, 1942
Had Been a Well Known Resident of Smethport all His Life

Ralph C. Gleason, well known throughout McKean county, passed away Tuesday morning at the Kane Community hospital where he had been a patient for about eight days.

Mr. Gleason, better known as “Ike”, had been in failing health for the past five years, but had continued to work in his office in the Grange Bank Building until a few weeks ago. He had been borough tax collector for the past 38 years as well as Justice of the Peace for 25 years.

Mr. Gleason was born in Smethport, July 2, 1874, the son of the late Ira S. and Emily A. Corwin Gleason, pioneer residents of this place. He attended the local schools but before the completion of his high school left and entered the Oberlin, O., from which he graduated.

Returning to Smethport he opened a studio on Main Street. The building in which the studio was located, as well as a number of other buildings, was destroyed in the disastrous fire of January, 1933. He still maintained a studio here.
In 1904 Mr. Gleason was elected as tax collector of the borough and served continuously since. He also has served as justice of the peace here for a quarter of a century.

He was well known as a sportsman, being a disciple of Isaac Walton and a game hunter of note.

Mr. Gleason was united in marriage to Mrs. Harriet Ryan of Kane, in that place, on June 28, 1905. Surviving him besides his wife is one son, Ralph Edmund Gleason, of Smethport.

Mr. Gleason was active in Masonic circles and was a member of the McKean County Lodge 388, Free and Accepted Masons, the Coudersport Consistory, and the Zem Zem Shine of Erie. He was also a member of the Smethport Odd Fellows Lodge.

Funeral Services were held Wednesday Afternoon. A prayer service was held at the home on West Willow Street followed by services at 2 o’clock in St. Luke’s Episcopal church. The Very Rev. W.E. Van Dyke, rector, officiated. Burial was in the family plot in Rose Hill Cemetery.