Stevens Point, PA

The man who makes up his opinion of the village and the people who inhabit the place, from the first glimpse, will be forced to the conclusion later on that the old maxim, “first impressions are safest”, will not apply to Brandt’s. At least that was the conclusion which a party of Carbondale gentlemen arrived at after spending a few hours in the village on Saturday. The residence portion of the village completely hidden by the factory and the store buildings, and is not until on has crossed the stream and ascended the further bank that a view of the homes can be obtained.

The man who visits Brandt’s for the first time is treated to a grand surprise. Instead of a factory village, with its one story tenements that one naturally expects to see, he finds beautiful homes in the most charming homelike place in the world. The residence portion of Brandt’s is simply a beautiful park. The roadways are drives and the walks are free from the objections found by pedestrians in more pretentious places. Many of the dwellings are handsome modern structures and the entire park is filled with attractive homes. Near the entrance stands the church, a brick structure, handsomely finished and furnished, with a seating capacity for two hundred.

A little farther down the principal driveway stands the town hall which does service at all public gatherings. The building is new, of pretty design, and erected at a cost of nearly two thousand dollars. It contains a reading room, dining room and kitchen and on the second floor a commodious hall. This building is leased to the Young Men’s club at a nominal rental and every effort has been made to provide such elegant quarters for their use. Brandt’s industries are numerous and apparently profitable. The manufacture of chairs employs at present seventy-five men and boys. The chairs made at this establishment are among the finest made in this country. People who look with distrust upon factory made furniture, should visit these shops and see for themselves how substantially Brandt’s chairs are put together. The upholstering department is presided over by a gentleman who is master of the profession, and in the wood-making room several skilled carvers are employed who deftly transform the “oak wood” into life-like figures. Less than half a mile from the chair factory, down the stream, is located the brick yards where 25, 000 brick are made daily during the brick-making season. About the same distance up the stream from the village is located the tile and brick works which is the newest industry of the village. Here bricks are made that vie with the best grades f the Philadelphia article for smoothness. Paving brick which has withstood the severest of tests, and all manner of sewer pipe are also made at these works.