Brockway's 175th Anniversary

It is important to note, that traditionally, Brockway celebrates, not when the Brockway brothers entered the valley in 1822 where Toby Creek turns northward, but when an enterprising young man named Dr. Asaph M. Clarke in 1836 purchased the land east of the creek from the Brockway's and laid it out into lots, then promoted this young wilderness. With that we begin our narrative of a young town and those individuals who created it.

Alonzo Brockway and his brother James constructed a log cabin near the present Rocky Grill in 1822. James would soon construct his own cabin near the present Borough Building. They were the first settlers within Brockway's present borough limits. A post office was established in April of 1829, and Alonzo Brockway was the first postmaster.

The Clarke family had arrived in Kersey around 1819. The father, Philetus, would construct the first sawmill on Little Toby Creek at Brockport in 1821. James and Alonzo Brockway would construct their own sawmill near Alonzo's cabin. Chauncey Brockway, Sr., would construct a third sawmill on Toby at Keystone where Keystone Road crosses the stream. By 1830, the three sawmills had manufactured enough lumber to attempt a rafting expedition to Pittsburg(h) via Little Toby Creek, the Clarion River and then the Allegheny River. A flood in May provided the propulsion to push the rafts of the three Brockway brothers, Isaac Horton, Hiram and Z. Warner, Alanson Vial and a 22-year old to represent his father's share- Asaph Milton Clarke.

Asaph M. Clarke would marry Rebecca Nichols on March 6, 1831, daughter of the Reverend Doctor Jonathan Nichols, who settled in Brandy Camp in 1812. Dr. Nichols, a Yale graduate, would become Asaph M. Clarke's teacher in medicine. Asaph and Rebecca Clarke would move to Brockwayville in 1836. He saw potential in the little town, and to help it organize he purchased much of the land in what is now the present borough limits. He had the land surveyed and laid out in lots and streets. He also purchased the sawmill from James and Alonzo Brockway. James left for Iowa in 1842, and Alonzo would follow in 1848. Asaph M. Clarke graduated from the Eclectic Institute in Cincinnati, OH in February 1851. He would practice medicine for the remainder of his life. He died at his home in Brockwayville on May 22, 1884.