A Brief History of Politics in Crawford County

Crawford County has rarely stifled its opinions regarding national politics. The tone was set by residents in 1807 who burned an effigy of Federalist, Aaron Burr outside the courthouse. And this was hardly the county’s last political riot. While training to fight the British in 1812, the theft of an onion split local militiamen along party lines leading to a clash between Federalists troopers and their Democratic comrades who were hellbent on torching downtown Meadville.

Origins of The Pymatuning Resevoir

Gate House at the Pymatuning Reservior - 1930's

While in recent times the imposition of man’s power over nature has come under much needed scrutiny, there are situations where the total destruction of one area can lead to much better life for the residents of many others. An example of this is the creation of the Pymatuning Reservoir, which was necessary both for the economic development of the region and to prevent future seasonal floods and droughts.

The World War 1 Artwork of Clarence Underwood

Clarence F. Underwood - 1905

Clarence Frederick Underwood [1871-1929] was one of the leading illustrators and commercial artists of his generation, providing work to a range of books as well as highly circulated publications such as Harpers, McClure's, The Saturday Evening Post, LIFE, and The Ladies’ World. Although born in Jamestown, NY, he resided in Meadville after his parents opened a drug store on the corner of Chestnut and East Avenue. Here Clarence, along with his younger siblings, Alice, Ida, Belva, and Frederick (all born in Meadville) would grow up.

Training

Clarence attended both the public schools as well as Allegheny College, but art was his ticket to the larger world. Leaving Meadville he received formal training at the Art Students League in New York, then London, and later at the Julian Academy in Paris as a pupil of Jean-Paul Laurens, Benjamin Constant and William Bouguereau, in 1896. Soon after leaving the Academy, Clarence would choose for himself a career as an illustrator.

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.

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.

Crawford County Native Won the First Indy 500

Ray Harroun 1879-1968

The winner of the first Indianapolis 500, Ray Harroun was born on January 12, 1879 in Spartansburg, Pennsylvania in northern Crawford County. Harroun was the youngest of Russell and Lucy Harroun’s four children, and as he grew up, it was clear Harroun had no use for school work. Eventually he dropped out early, but despite the lack of a formal education, Ray demonstrated a natural understanding of cars and engineering, later earning the nickname, “Little Professor” for his work in designing race cars and his almost scientific approach to racing strategy.

Racing Career

Harroun’s interest in automobiles lead to his early career in racing, and by 1905, he had built his first racing car. Among his initial races, Harroun participated in the original distance race from Chicago to New York in 1903, during which Ray and four others drove in shifts non-stop to establish the record of 76 hours at the end of September, 1903. That time was bested by another team nearly a year later, but Harroun and his team would re-take the title again with a time of 58 hrs, 35 min—a record that would stand for nearly two years.

Steel, Concrete, and Politics: A History of the Mead Avenue Bridge

The architectural beauty of the Mead Avenue Bridge in modern times

The Mead Avenue Bridge, as many can recall, has through the years, been a stalwart fixture within the Meadville Community. The bridge not only spanned French Creek but also generations, linking Meadville with Fredricksburg since its original construction in 1871. With the reinforcements made in 1912 the bridge carried the unique distinction of being essentially two bridges in one in the eyes of architecture historians.

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.

How the Trolley Arrived at Conneaut Lake Park

Allegheny students wait at the Exposition Park trolley station - 1913

On May 30, 1906, the Meadville and Conneaut Lake Traction (M&CLT) Company formed with a goal of bringing trolley service to Exposition Park (Conneaut Lake Park today).  A suitable route was agreed upon that would continue from where the tracks left off in Fredricksburg and then follow the general course of the Cussewago Road to Harmonsburg (vicinity of Routes 102 and 3016) before turning south, crossing the lake’s inlet, and entering the park along Comstock Street. 100 immigrant laborers, primarily Italians, along with two freight cars full of work horses were assembled and brought in later that summer to begin the arduous task of grading an earthen avenue, laying the 85 pound rails, and stringing the overhead electric wire.

How Crawford County Forever Changed Women's Undergarments

Lady Mary Crawley's corset in an early episode

Change stands prominent as the obvious theme depicted in TV’s historical drama, Downton Abbey. The show begins famously with news of the Titanic’s sinking in 1912 and spans to 1925 where it will close out its sixth and final season. Most familiar with this period recognize the breadth of change that took place between those years and the lasting impact yet to come in the decades that followed. While there are almost innumerable aspects of this that could be analyzed through the story of the Crawley family and their house staff, the increasing freedom for women is consistently at the forefront of a larger majority of plot lines.

The topic of women’s growing independence could alone be scrutinized through varied contexts, and in fact, has already been visited in an earlier Crawford Messenger post dealing with women’s right to vote and to hold public office. Another representation of change for women can be seen, quite literally, in the evolving fashions highlighted throughout each season. Fashion offers one of the clearest expressions of women's growing freedom, and no item of apparel better represents this than the corset.

Crawford County Estates in the Downton Abbey Era

Baldwin Reynolds Home & Estate

The "Downton" Era (1910s and 1920s) was a time or expansion of ideas, but for a tightening of funds in large manors, or, in the case in America, smaller landed estates. "The Terrace," as it was called in Meadville, was the undisputed millionaire's row of the city which, along with upper Chestnut Street and a few smaller neighborhoods interspersed throughout town, boasted the Huidekoper, Reynolds, Magaw, Boileau, and Shryock families.

Many of these homes were estates in their own right, the Reynolds family (of the Baldwin-Reynolds House) owned land adjoining Bentley Hall at Allegheny College down to French Creek and the Huidekoper family once claimed ownership of much of the upper Chestnut area, Grove Street being named after a large orchard and forest in that location connected to their properties.