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.

We'll Leave the Lights On: Hotels of Crawford County

Hotel Conneaut with new south and north wings added - 1920's

What do the coming of the railroad, the discovery of oil, a major lakeside resort, the healthful promise of mineral springs and travel have in common? The answer lies in the role they played in the development of the hotel business in Crawford County. To list every hotel from the early days of Crawford County would be an exhaustive exercise; and thus we are limited to highlighting a short list of notables.

The Meadville Mutuals: Baseball Champions of 1875

Meadville Mutuals Team Photo

Opening day of the 2016 Baseball season is upon us yet again which among other things, presents the opportunity to highlight the area's curious place as part of America's pastime.  Like many towns of the day, organized baseball first started to be played in the area sometime during the 1860's. The sport's growing popularity led to the organization of semi-pro clubs in rural and urban communities across the Eastern and Midwest parts of the country. Crawford County followed the trend with the formation of the Meadville Mutuals in 1871. Other area teams would follow in the decades to come--the "Meadvilles" of the 1880's who eventually entered the Oil, and NYPANO Leagues of the 1890's followed by competition in the Erie Railroad of the 1900's. Allegheny College fielded its first team in 1881, competing against the Mutuals in addition to the Keystones, Meadville Stars, and Meadville Grays. Moving into the new century, teams were built from the employees local companies, such as the Spirella-Pullmans who dominated regional play throughout the tri-state area from 1909 to 1913, and the Meadville Machinery Company Nine who were the main draw of the 1920's.

Alice Bentley: Crawford County's Champion for Women's Rights in the Downton Abbey Era

Among the many themes centered around the changing times in the popular PBS television series, Downton Abbey, women's growing independence has remained a constant, if not a central focus. Such independence was not a circumstance experienced within a vacuum behind the walls of Downton, but rather, life at Downton provides context to the growing freedoms gained by women of all classes on both sides of the Atlantic.

Among these many freedoms was the suffrage movement, a cause championed the Suffragettes. Suffragettes were members of women's organizations in the late 19th and early 20th century which advocated the extension of the "franchise", or the right to vote in public elections, to women. British suffragettes were mostly women from upper- and middle-class backgrounds, frustrated by their social and economic situation much like the Crawley women at Downton. 

Frenchtown's Crystal Chandelier

This chandelier hanging from the starry ceiling of the Saint Hippolytes church in Frenchtown, near Guys Mills, Pennsylvania‬ was donated around 1888 by Otthille and Lydie Bousson, two sisters from France who operated a shirt factory in New York City. The Bousson sisters amassed a fortune from producing high-quality shirts worn by the Astors, Vanderbilts, and even U.S. Grant. Eventually the two moved to the area, building a brick mansion between Frenchtown and Pettis, now aptly known as Bousson.