My Name is JOHN CHALMERS BLAIR. I was Born November 26, 1847 and died June 23, 1897.
I was a businessman known throughout the world.
After receiving a common school education, I took courses at Eastman Business College in Poughkeepsie, New York. I returned to Huntingdon and got a job as a bank teller.
I bought a bookstore and then began printing stationery. In 1848, I invented the paper and pencil tablet. The business expanded rapidly, so in 1885 I began construction of what is today known as the Blair Building in Huntingdon. My company was called the J.C. Blair Manufacturing Company, the forerunner of today’s vast tablet and notebook industry.
I was elected Chief Burgess of Huntingdon, served as a trustee at his church and was a director of the First National Bank in Huntingdon. To honor me at my death, one of the local papers suggest that all business and activity cease during my funeral as a symbol of the respect for what I had done for the community.