Town History
The Town of Carrolton, named for early settler G. Carrollton, was formed from Great Valley on March 9, 1842. Part of the Allegany Reservation was annexed in 1847. It is the central town on the south border of Cattaraugus County. Ball Hill, in the southeast part is 800 feet above the valley.
The Allegany River flows northwest through the northern part. The principal streams are Tunegawant and Windfall Creeks. The main industry is lumbering .
Tuna is a hamlet of the town, in the north. The first permanent settlers were: Charles Foster, Horace Howe, and Marcus Leonard who located on Lots 28 and 29 in 1814. Other early settlers included: John and William Moore, Elias Stone, Peter Zeluff, Isaac Farr, Aaron Kellogg, and William Smith who settled on Tuna Creek in 1828. The first child born was Merit Zeluff, in June 1829; and the first marriage was that of Mr. Brown and Emeline Fuller in 1828. The first death was Enoch Fuller, in 1826.
The first school was taught by Milton Northrop, at Limestone, in 1830-1831. In 1832, the first inn was opened, by Elias Stone near Tuna Creek; and the first store by Charles Lewis. A sawmill was built by Marcus Leonard in 1826.
Limestone is the second hamlet, in the south part. Upon the
flats near Limestone are the remains of an ancient fortification. It is
in
the shape of a figure 8, the remains of the ditch and the earthworks
are
plainly visible.
Kill Buck and Carrollton, which were prosperous lumbering towns, are
villages nearby the Horseshoe Cemetery. The Allegany River originally
formed a horseshoe-like bend at a point north of Carrollton in the Town
of Great Valley; thereby getting the name Horseshoe Bend. About 1927,
there was
a wash-out along the Pennsylvania Railroad tracks to the railroad
company asked that they make a new channel which enclosed the horseshoe
bend into an island.
The Erie Pennsylvania, and the Buffalo Rochester and Pittsburgh (now the Baltimore and Ohio) railroads went through the towns with depots in each village. Carrollton was named after Guy Carrollton Irvine in March 1842 and the town was organized in May 1842. Kill Buck was named after Chief Daniel Kill Buck, an Indian, who lived on the bank of the Allegany River. In 1860, Kill Buck had a population of 800 and in the 1890's Carrollton's population was 4500. John Green built the first lumber mill in Kill Buck in 1812. Both these villages boasted three or four taverns with some a combination tavern and boarding house.
The law of the jungle ruled in these lumber towns. A story was reported of one "Big Jim Morrisey" who challenged a stranger at the breakfast table that he could "Lick any !##!! here. There was silence the stranger leisurely emptied his coffee cup, pushed back his chair, and replied, "Come on, we'll see". The challenged stranger was "Red Hogan" and the two men fought by the banks of the Allegany River until noon, when the boarding house mistress separated them for lunch. They had stripped down to their pants and although battered and bruised, were still full of fight. They started again after lunch and fought until four O'clock, when they shook hands, and called it a draw. Hogan was missing part of an ear and had chewed off a part of Morrisey's finger.
