Bradford

Bradford, a city of McKean county, Pennsylvania, U.S.A., near the N. border of the state, about 80 m. E. by S. of Erie. Pop. (1890) 10,514; (1900) 15,029, of whom 2211 were foreign-born; (1910 census) 14,544. It is served by the Pennsylvania, the Erie, and the Buffalo, Rochester & Pittsburg railways, and is connected with Olean, New York, by an electric line. Bradford is situated 1427 ft. above sea-level in the valley of the Tuna, and is shut in by hills on either side. Since 1876 it has been one of the most important oil centres of the state, and it has been connected by pipe lines with cities along the Atlantic coast; petroleum refining is an important industry. Among the city’s manufactures are boilers, machines, glass, chemicals, terra cotta, brick, iron pipes and couplings, gas engines, cutlery and silk. The place was first settled about 1827; in 1838 it was laid out as a town and named Littleton; in 1858 the present name, in honour of William Bradford (1755-1795), was substituted; and Bradford was incorporated as a borough in 1873, and was chartered as a city in 1879. Kendall borough was annexed to Bradford in 1893.