This triumvirate of stately buildings—the National Bank, Water Works and Old Mill—lends a certain gravitas to the village of Blairstown in keeping with the prominence of its namesake. The Flat Iron building, seen on the right of the photo, was enlarged from a smaller rear section owned by John Blair to serve as the Post Office in 1889. A large, chiseled-out boulder that ran along the street side was filled with water to refresh stage coach horse teams. rudimentary education, attending classes in Hope when farm demands allowed, the boy trapped muskrats and rabbits that he sold on the family's supply trips to Easton. Many years later he shared in a rare interview that never in his life did he ever feel so wealthy as he did when he made his first money selling sixteen pelts for a dollar. About 1813, at the age of eleven, young Blair declared his education complete as he began his first career in the mercantile business, working as a clerk in the store of his cousin, Judge Blair, in Hope. The stone building, still in use today, stands at the northwest corner of High and Walnut Streets. He worked there for about seven years, except for a short time when he went back to the farm to help out upon the death of his father. The building in which he probably attended school remains on the east side of CR 519, south of the blinking light. The Beaver Brook farmhouse, boyhood home of John I. Blair, on the road from Hope to Bridgeville. Photo, 1896. 4
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