The following is quoted from Thomas Murphy's 1928 History of Lackawanna County . 1 (Remember that references to now or today refer to 1928 and do not necessarily reflect life in 2003.)
The twin boroughs of Clarks Green and Clarks Summit were carved out of South Abington Township. The towns owe their names to Deacon William Clark, an early settler who cleared a triangular plot of several acres called the "green" and to the point being the "summit" of the grade on the northern division of the Lacakwanna out of Scranton. Deacon Clark settled in the township in 1799. He and his three sons -- William, Jeremiah and John -- soon became men of prominence in the countryside. The first store in all of Abington, it is said, was opened by Samuel Griffin at Clarks Green, and the wife of Deacon Clark was th first white woman settler in the region.
Clarks Green had a post office in 1850. S A Northrup was postmaster. Drs Hiram Nichols and B F Evans were pioneer physicians. Dr Bedford of Waverly was also frequently called upon in early days whenever Clarks Green and Clarks Summit people required a physician.
The Clarks Green Baptist Church, sprung directly from the old Six Principle Baptist Church of Abington, was founded in 1817. These early Baptists living near Clarks Green in 1853 formed a separate organization known as the Second General Baptist Church of Abington. IN 1864 the name was changed to the regular Baptist Church of Clarks Green. Rev C A Fox was the first pastor. A church was built in 1853. A second church was built in 1869. Clarks Green Methodists organized a class in 1848 and in 1867 built a church. Rev Parley H Scovell was the first pastor. He also had charge at Leach's Flats (Chinchilla), Schultzville and Ackerly. Today Clarks Summit has five churches and Clarks Green two. Those in the Summit are Baptist, Roman Catholic, Methodist Episcopal, Presbyterian and Evangelical Mission.
What was known as "The Irish War" was fought near Clarks Summit in May, 1850. Irish and German laborers were used in building the Legatt's Gap railroad, now the northern division of the Lackawanna. There was hostility not only between the German and the Irish but between factions of the latter, the "Corkonians" and "Fardowns." This enmity seems to have extended the whole length of the operation and there were some merry melees. Rival camps of Irish workers located near Clarks Summit clashed on May 28. One was killed and a number wounded. Two days later a crowd of Fardowns numbering 200 made another attack on the Corkonians. All sorts of primitive weapons were used, but the battle was indecisive. IN addition to the man killed in the first clash, two bodies believed to be those of participants in the affray were found in the woods nearby a month or so later. Col G W Scranton avoided further serious conflicts between the groups by separating the factions.
Up until the building of the Northern Electric Street Railway, now the Scranton and Binghamton Railway Company, in 1906 or thereabouts, Clarks Summit and Clarks Green were quiet little country towns, content to be part of South Abington Township. Within a few years after the railway was built and in operation, home seekers from Scranton began to locate in the Green and the Summit. Land companies opened up sections for development. Improved highways brought in their quota and Clarks Summit, which had become the real business center of the Abingtons, sought a more improved form of government. A borough charter was applied for and granted August 30, 1911. At the first borough election, held November 7, the following officers were elected: Burgess, Nelson N Nichols; Councilmen, George Alger, Harry Hall, Harry Smith, George R Barber, Walter D Fish, Lester Van Campen and Dr H E Simrell; high constable, Walter Chambers; constable, William M Murphy; tax collector, Thomas E Schilling. George Alger was chosen first president of the council, J M Bunnell borough treasurer, Walter D Fish secretary. The first board of health was made up of Dr S E Lynch, Harley Enslin, Ray Snyder, H A Hill and Frank Stanton. Arthur Stover was secretary of the board and Thomas E Schilling health officer. Additional original borough officers were street commissioners, Walter Chambers, and borough attorney, George Morrow.
The Abington National Bank opened for business in Clarks Summit July 1, 1913, with E D Morse, cashier.
Clarks Green became a borough by sanction of couirt May 12, 1914. At the special election Tuesday, May 26, J R Schlager, former treasurer and later sheriff of the county, was elected burgess. Messrs J N Douglas, R H Lieb, Harry Loder, William Swallow, B E Wheeler, Silas White and W L Matthews were elected councilmen. Council organized June 2, 1914, by electing Mr Matthews president, and I E Jones, secretary.
Clarks Summit and Clarks Green have consolidated schools. The Lackawanna Trail runs through Clarks Summit, while an improved county road, included in Route 365 of the state highway system, traverses Clarks Green. In 1880 Clarks Green's population was 207 and in 1920 it was 350. Clarks Summit in 1880 had only 91 population while in 1920 the census showed 1,404.
In the early days before the boroughs were incorporated and when the Abingtons still had comparitively few settlers, children from Clarks Summit and Clarks Green went to school at first in a building on what was long known as the Elder John Miller farm near Waverly. The term was short and the pupils few in number, not because of lack of ambition to secure an education but because of the difficulty in getting to and from school. Elder Miller and Johnathan Hall gave the school the site. Later a school building was built on William Knapp's land at Mud Pond and another near the present Abington Poor Farm on the road to Gravel Pond. Among the early teachers were Nancy Bailey, Eliza Philo and Sophia Hall. About 1855 a school was opened in what was known as the McCormick home. Mis thurston was the first teacher. About the same time a school was erected near Frace's Hotel on the road from Chinchilla, or as then known, Leach's Flat, to Clarks Green. A two story school building, the first in the Abingtons, was built in 1866, according to a historical sketch in the Clarks Summit-Clarks Green High School News of 1926, "on a lot purchased from James Wagoner. The school was erected west of the Wagoner house om the Waterford and Great Bend Turnpike." This building had two school rooms on the lower floor and one on the upper floor. Edwin Brownell was an early teacher in this school. Others who taught at it were Prof J C Taylor, later for thirty years superintendent of schools of Lackawanna County, and Attorney F C Hanyen of Scranton. The first graded school to take care of the children of the rapidly growing Clarks Green-Clarks Summit section was built in 1893. Both towns wanted the school. As a compromise it was built about halfway between the centers of each. It was a two story frame structure with two schoolrooms and a director's room on the first floor and two school rooms on the second floor. Prof F H Green was the principal. His assistants were Miss May Armstrong and Miss Florence Tinkham. The directors were A A Nichols, M E Clifford, Will Litts, W S Face, Silas Griffin and Giles Stanton. One evening in September, 1895, lightning struck the school and it was destroyed by fire. By August, 1896, a new building was ready for occupancy. Early in the morning of March 29, 1907, fire of unknown origin broke out in the school and the building was reduced to ashes. Halls and churches were used to house the nearly 200 children until a new school could be erected. Work was immediately started on a modern six-room building of brick, two stories and basement. In 1916 a full four year high school was adopted and the first class taking the full course was graduated in 1917. With Clarks Summit and Clarks Green growing in leaps and bounds, it was necessary in 1922 to hold two sessions for those attending the high school. In February, 1924, a high school building, erected adjoining the grade school, was opened, the crowding was relieved and regular sessions resumed.