The Land Owners
Jonathan Hulton, one of the first manufacturers of coke, settled in the upper part of the borough in 1832 and at that time, there were not more than fifteen people in the vicinity. His son, James, bought property and operated the Hulton Ferry until his death in 1869.
Caleb Lee, Sr., a tailor, was an early landowner of about eleven hundred acres near the present site of Oakmont Country Club. Richard Jones, machinist and iron worker from the Allegheny Valley Railroad; Arthur Speer; Samuel Gray, foreman for the AVRR; Samuel Parker, and William Trotter, florist, all had tracts of land in what is now Verona and Oakmont.
James Verner, after his marriage to Anna Murry, daughter of General James Murray of Murrysville, settled of a 400 acre farm, patented to him in 1869, at the site of the present borough of Verona. He cleared and fenced the farm, improving the land greatly. When the Allegheny River Railroad was completed to Kittanning, January 30, 1856, Verner formed a company to lay out a village which now constitutes the first ward of Verona and secured the location of the railroad shops there. It was common practice for men like Verner to plan a village or town, entice a merchant, doctor, small industry and settlers to populate it.
Caleb Lee, Sr., a tailor, was an early landowner of about eleven hundred acres near the present site of Oakmont Country Club. Richard Jones, machinist and iron worker from the Allegheny Valley Railroad; Arthur Speer; Samuel Gray, foreman for the AVRR; Samuel Parker, and William Trotter, florist, all had tracts of land in what is now Verona and Oakmont.
James Verner, after his marriage to Anna Murry, daughter of General James Murray of Murrysville, settled of a 400 acre farm, patented to him in 1869, at the site of the present borough of Verona. He cleared and fenced the farm, improving the land greatly. When the Allegheny River Railroad was completed to Kittanning, January 30, 1856, Verner formed a company to lay out a village which now constitutes the first ward of Verona and secured the location of the railroad shops there. It was common practice for men like Verner to plan a village or town, entice a merchant, doctor, small industry and settlers to populate it.
