One other comparative, if exceptional, community exists in the immediate region: The borough of Kistler, was built as a model workers' town in Mifflin County by a Mount Union refractories company. Located just over the Juniata River from Mount Union, Kistler was designed in 1916-17 by John Nolen, a noted town planner from Cambridge, Massachusetts. The president of the Mount Union Refractories hired Nolen to create a model town, apparently inspired by the Progressive Era notion that superior housing and other community amenities designed under a master plan would improve the moral character of its inhabitants.