The architectural beauty of the Mead Avenue Bridge in modern times |
Saturday, May 21, 2016
Steel, Concrete, and Politics: A History of the Mead Avenue Bridge
Labels:
1870's,
1910's,
Local Industry,
Meadville,
What Might Have Been
Location:
Meadville, PA 16335, USA
Sunday, May 15, 2016
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.
Sunday, May 8, 2016
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.
Labels:
Cambridge Springs,
Conneaut Lake,
Exposition Park,
Guys Mills,
Harmonsburg,
Linesville,
Local Industry,
Meadville,
Titusville
Location:
Meadville, PA 16335, USA
Sunday, May 1, 2016
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.
Labels:
1880's,
1890's,
1900's,
1910's,
1920's,
Cambridge Springs,
Conneaut Lake
Location:
Cambridge Springs, PA 16403, USA
Sunday, April 24, 2016
Old Grey: The Tale of the Reisinger Rifle
James Monroe ("Roe") Reisinger’s family came to the French Creek area from Lancaster via Beaver County. Descended from Hessian immigrants who arrived about 1750, the family settled in the 1840s along French and Sandy Creeks. Peter, Roe’s grandfather, was both a blacksmith and a whitesmith. The boys were encouraged to pursue advanced education and Peter’s son Charles moved to Meadville so that his children could attend the Academy. Three of the boys attended Allegheny College.
At the outbreak of the War of the Rebellion, James Monroe "Roe" enlisted in the 150th Regiment, Company H, and at Gettysburg was severely wounded while serving under color-Sergeant Samuel Peiffer. Following his nearly year-long hospital stay (until a bullet could be extracted from his knee), he was assigned to Company B of the 14th Reserve Corps and later served as an officer of the 114th US Colored Troops in Texas until 1867. Resigner was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor by special act of Congress for his action at the McPherson barn at Gettysburg.
Labels:
1860's,
Civil War,
Cochranton,
Family Histories,
Little Known Facts
Location:
Meadville, PA 16335, USA
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