Clarion, PA

Evergrey · #1 Posted: **Oct 21, 2011, 4:24 PM**

Clarion (pop. 5,276) is the seat of Clarion County (pop. 39,988) and has an urban cluster population of 9,001. Tucked between the wild Clarion River and I-80, Clarion is about 75 miles northeast of Pittsburgh and only a few miles south of the vast wilderness of Allegheny National Forest and the popular Cook Forest State Park. Clarion County is known for its agriculture, lumber, coal, oil and natural gas.

Settled in 1839, Clarion grew as a seat of government, resource extraction hub and early center of iron manufacturing.

Today, Clarion thrives as a small college town... home to Clarion University of Pennsylvania (6000 students), part of Pennsylvania's public university system. Its downtown is remarkably healthy, featuring the type of retail you don't typically find in small towns anymore... two quality hometown clothing retailers, furniture store, upscale independent grocer, sporting goods, etc. The university campus is adjacent to downtown and successfully meshes with the urban fabric of the town. Clarion U. is known for its nationally competitive wrestling program.

Clarion's most famous native is Chris Kirkpatrick, founder of *N Sync.

source: TeenBeat

Clarion's public library

Faller's Furniture

Wein's clothing... featuring one of those distinctive mid-20th century facade treatments we all love...

beautiful upscale grocery... the type of thing I'd expect to see in Pittsburgh's trendy Shadyside or a posh suburb like Mt. Lebanon... you go, Clarion!

Crook's Clothing and a subterranean bike shop

Dan Smith's Candies is headquartered in nearby Brookville... and has locations throughout the region for Pennsylvania's chocolate connoisseurs.

The County Seat is a comfortable place to eat.

Small towns always have the cutest names for their retail establishments.

Clarion County's Queen Anne courthouse was built in 1884 and towers over the little town at 213 ft.

Clarion County's Civil War monument is located in the public square across from the courthouse

The lovely Clarion County Jail was built in 1875... back then we built our jails more beautifully than we build our schools, city halls, shops, and churches today.

requisite PA historical marker shot

The next few shots are from Clarion University's campus

Heading north of town... you descend a hill down to the Clarion River... this bridge carries US 322 northwest to Franklin.

This bridge carries a country road north to Cook Forest.

Private Dick · #2 Posted: **Oct 21, 2011, 4:50 PM**

Chris Kirkpatrick is just so damn cool!

Clarion's a nice little college town. That market looks great. We could actually use something like that in Pittsburgh.

Hayward · #3 Posted: **Oct 21, 2011, 5:00 PM**

Wow, very lively looking place. And seeing the fall colors was great.

arkitekte · #4 Posted: **Oct 21, 2011, 5:30 PM**

Nice!

Chris Kirkpatrick looks like the white version of Coolio in that pic.

ColDayMan · #5 Posted: **Oct 21, 2011, 5:42 PM**

I can only imagine the drama between Chris Kirkpatrick's Clarion and J.C. Chasez's Bowie, Maryland.

POLA · #6 Posted: **Oct 21, 2011, 6:23 PM**

My God, how many of these amazing towns does PA have?!? They're all cute, historical, filled with locally-owned stores and have no sprawl surrounding them! Where's the MacDonald’s at in town? Out by the Freeway?

xzmattzx · #7 Posted: **Oct 21, 2011, 6:29 PM**

Nice pictures. You captured Clarion well with the fall colors and everything.

Robert Pence · #8 Posted: **Oct 21, 2011, 6:38 PM**

Delightful town, and just down the road from where I was last weekend! It's a shame the weather was so unpleasant, because I would have loved to have explored more of the vicinity.

That's another of those outstanding Pennsylvania courtouses, and that's some massive tower for the size of the building. Many of Pennsylvania's county prisons are impressive; I forgot to look and see if Jefferson County had one when I was in Brookville.

Expat · #9 Posted: **Oct 21, 2011, 8:43 PM**

It is really nice to see small towns that are intact & healthy. Beautiful fall color, too.

Thundertubs · #10 Posted: **Oct 22, 2011, 1:41 PM**

College towns in the fall are tough to beat.

stepper77 · #11 Posted: **Oct 25, 2011, 9:00 PM**

I too love the fall colors. They look great against the colorful town. Thanks!

Evergrey · #12 Posted: **Oct 29, 2011, 3:57 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Private Dick

Chris Kirkpatrick is just so damn cool!

Clarion's a nice little college town. That market looks great. We could actually use something like that in Pittsburgh.

There's that market on Walnut St...