About Horton Township

Situated in southern Elk County, Horton Township is a quiet, rural community of 1,300 people. The township is bisected by Route 219, a major US corridor leading north to Ridgway, the Elk County seat, and southwest to Brockway in Jefferson County. At the center of the township, US Route 153 intersects Route 219, connecting the community to Interstate 80, 20 miles away.

The topography of the community’s 57 square miles consists of rolling hills bounded by Boone Mountain to the southeast. The valley of Little Toby Creek, a tributary of the Clarion River, crosses the township from east to southwest. A number of cool, forested freestone streams feed Little Toby Creek in the township, including Whetstone, Boggy, Mead, and Oyster Runs.

Unincorporated communities in Horton Township include Brockport, Cartwright, Shawmut, Horton City, Drummond, Helen Mills, Challenge, Elbon, Brandy Camp, and Beech Grove.

Horton Township offers affordable housing and is a favorite place to live for many hardworking families, some dating back six generations, some new to the area. Many of those who call the community home work here in family-run retail and restaurant establishments or in one of several small manufacturers. Others commute to professional and blue-collar jobs in the nearby retail and manufacturing centers of Ridgway, St. Marys, DuBois, and Brockway.

Each end of Horton Township is within 20 minutes of one of the campuses of Penn Highlands Healthcare.

Students in northern Horton Township attend the Ridgway Area School district while those in the southern end attend Brockway Area schools. Families may also choose to attend either Elk County Catholic in St. Marys or DuBois Central Catholic, with bus service connecting those schools as well. Two community colleges are with a half hour of the township.

The portion of the township occupied by the slope and hollows of Boone Mountain holds a majority of the Brockway Borough Municipal Authority’s (BBMA) 4,000-acre watershed. This carefully managed resource straddles the continental divide between the Ohio and Susquehanna River drainages. Preserving it as a pristine forested landscape, the BBMA protects its two impoundments by filtering the water that produces the hundreds of natural springs feeding them. The watershed provides pure drinking water to the residents of the borough of Brockway and three townships.