N. W. Birds Eye View
1900's
go to topographical map
photo credit: John G. Coleman Collection
go to topographical map
Welcome to Hazel Hurst - named after the Bradford resident B. F. Hazelton, owner of the sawmill and woodland around Hazel Hurst. This overview shows that what now is a quite little town of less than 500 souls was once a booming success in the early 1900's. Hazel Hurst helped to make McKean County one of the top producers of glass in the country during the turning of the century. It had four glass factories: Interstate Glass Company, Keystone Glass Company, the Berny-Bond Glass Company, and Healy Glass Company. Its glass factories lasted from 1899 until 1929 Hazel Hurst boasted a population of 2,000.It three hotels which included Hotel Hazel and the more famous Eckhart Hotel. There were at least a dozen boarding houses to accommodate the number of glass workers. For entertainment they had an opera house, a movie theater, and a circus of their own. Carnivals often appeared there and parades were a common thing in the good ol' days. But the nirvana only lasted for 30 years, when the last of the glass factories shut down in 1929 and the lumber industry vanquished nearly 20 yrs. earlier. People started to drift away and the glass boom was at an end.