Meadville's Other Major College

The Unitarian College, 1908

From the mid 1800’s up through the early 1900’s Meadville had not just one college in the city, but two--Allegheny College and the Meadville Theological School. This was unique as most other cities in Pennsylvania at the time were lucky to boast one school of higher learning if any. While Allegheny College still exists and is flourishing within the community the same cannot be said about the Meadville Theological School it was closed here in 1926, but it lives on as part of the Meadville-Lombard Theological School of the University of Chicago.

John Heisman - Football Legend from Titusville

Coach John Heisman (center) with his 1909 Georgia Tech team.

The name Heisman has become synonymous with the best in college football, however it is often forgotten that the man behind the trophy found his start right here in Crawford County. John Heisman grew up during the 1870s and 80s in Titusville, PA during the height of the oil boom. The family had originally settled in Cleveland, Ohio, but soon after John was born moved to Titusville to allow Heisman’s father, a cooper, to seek work thanks to the high demand for barrels the oil boom provided. Heisman attended Titusville High School, and graduated a member of the class of 1887 at the age of 17, before attending Brown University and the University of Pennsylvania to study law.

Healing and Luxury: A History of the Saegertown Inn

Front view of the Saegertown Inn with French Creek along left side.

With the overwhelming interest in photographs of the Saegertown Inn recently posted on the Crawford County Historical Society's social media pages, what better time to "get away from it all" for a while and discuss the history of this grand hotel and vacation venue.

Origins of the Crawford County Fair

Ohio race horses helped bring about the county fair

With the excitement of the Crawford County Fair upon us, it’s worth taking a belated look at the origins of the what arguably is the county’s largest and most popular annual event. The fair of as we know it today is nearing 75 years of continuous operation, but in actuality, the county fair—or fairs as it turns out—traces back much farther than this, and not without a little drama along the way either.

Fire Rode the Flood: Disaster in the Oil Region

A boy sits among the debris in Titusville

For most of May and the early part of June in 1892, Northwestern Pennsylvania was soaked in a seemingly endless period of rain which culminated in four days of torrential downpours that devastated the entire region. This unprecedented act of nature wreaked havoc for area residents making roads and bridges impassable. In the early morning hours of June 5th, however, the situation turned catastrophic for those in Titusville and Oil City, and the aftermath would produce scenes reminiscent of the great tragedy in Johnstown just a few years earlier. The following dispatch filed on the 6th of June captures the highlights of this horrific event.

7 Peculiar Tales from Conneaut Lake

From a 1907 postcard, Conneaut Lake's main thoroughfare (Water Street) facing west. 

With summer now if full swing, many area residents and vacationers have already made their way to Conneaut Lake to enjoy the many activities the lake has to offer or to revisit the nostalgia and fun found at the park. The lake has been a drawing force for centuries, going back to its earliest inhabitants.

Over such a span of time, it should be of no surprise, then, that the lake would be the setting for an infinite number of stories across cultures, eras, and generations, the vast majority of which are never recorded. Those that have, however, then serve as the mechanism that provides context to our past. And while that context can be captured in many ways, there’s more than a handful that speaker to the quirky and peculiar moments of an era.

Here are seven from the early days of Conneaut Lake.

Revisiting Oakwood Park

Oakwood Park, Meadville PA

In the late 1890’s, after acquiring a parcel of approximately 35 acres, the Meadville Traction Company established Oakwood Park as a destination resort. Located in what is now West Mead Township, the park was located on lands between Oakgrove Avenue and Springs Road and could be reached by riding the trolley lines out Alden Street past the Pierson School. On a big holiday, as many as 20,000 people paid their trolley fair of 5 cents, each way, to enjoy the resort facility and all its attractions at no additional cost.

Samuel and Alic Thurston: Ballooning Daredevils

As colorful balloons fill the skies over Crawford County for the annual Thurston Classic, it’s always a worthwhile venture to dig into the histories of father and son, Samuel and Alic (sometimes Alex) Thurston, the area’s early balloonists for which the event pays homage to. Many are familiar with a handful of harrowing stories about their aerial exploits, but a fuller history of the two demonstrates a level of fearlessness reserved only for true daredevils.

The Story of James Densmore and the First Typewriter

James Densmore

As you string out words into strings of sentences across the screen of your computer, tablet, or mobile phone, know that the keyboard layout we have all become so familiar was conceived in Crawford County. The story behind this claim begins with a man named James Densmore and the invention of the first typewriter.  

James was one of seven children who arrived in Meadville when their father, Joel, moved the family from Rochester, New York in 1836 to open a water-powered plant for making wooden bowls. Despite having less than a year of formal schooling, Joel had educated himself so well that he engineered the machinery needed for his plant and could even accurately predict the various eclipses that occurred in the area. It was this grasp of mathematics and mechanics that Joel  would pass along to James and his brothers.

Mapping History: How Chasing Sanborn's Show What Once Existed

The Sanborn Map Company 

Those interested in the past often obsess over the "when" of things. The first person settled in 1822. The first brick home was built in 1845. The first train arrived in 1888. Columbus sailed the ocean blue in…

But the "where" is important, too, because things exist in both time, and space. There's a reason your home, your town, or the road you travel is where it is. Hardly anything, in fact maybe nothing, ends up where it is purely by chance.

Ida Tarbell's Influence on National Geographic Magazine

On January 27, 1888, the National GeographicSociety was founded in Washington, D.C., for “the increase and diffusion of geographical knowledge.” What many may not realize is that the publication of the society’s famous periodical, National Geographic Magazine, might not have gained notoriety without the help of Ida Tarbell, the forerunner of modern investigative journalism from Titusville, Pennsylvania.

Tarbell’s fame is often associated with her 1902 McClure’s serial expose of J.D. Rockefeller, which heavily influenced the demise of Standard Oil as a monopoly. Prior to this, however, Tarbell’s career began following her graduation fromAllegheny College in 1880 where she studied biology and was the only woman in her graduating class. After a brief stint as a teacher in Ohio, Tarbell returned to Crawford County where she met Theodore L. Flood, editor of The Chautauquan, which was published in Meadville. In time, Tarbell’s talents and work ethic would, in time, lead to a position as the managing editor of the publication.

Don't Fence Me In: A.C. Huidekoper's Government Tangle Over Public Lands

A.C. early ranching days

Friction between ranchers and the federal government over the use of public lands recently witnessed in the news is nothing new in our history. Prominent Meadville businessman and Civil War veteran, Arthur Clarke (A. C.) Huidekoper had a running feud with the government over the fencing of public lands near his cattle and horse ranches in the badlands of North Dakota.  A. C., who built in Holland Hall along Terrace Street, first visited North Dakota during a trip to Bismarck in the fall of 1879. 

The untamed beauty and wildness of the territory captivated A. C. who returned in 1881 to hunt buffalo near the small outpost town of Medora. Recognizing the area’s potential, A. C. purchased land in southern Billings County from the Northern Pacific Railway Company the following year to establish the Custer Trail Ranch. Among his ranching neighbors was an adventurous French nobleman and cavalry officer by the name of Marquisde Mores, and a young, energetic, politician from New York City who was part owner of the Maltese Cross Ranch, Theodore Roosevelt.