Part 21

The college maintains departments of study in industrial and fine arts, architecture, art history, and engineering; architectural exhibitions show many specimens of students’ work, some of them prize winners in the Beaux Arts contests; the ornamental gateway, a gift of the class of 1916, was designed by the students. College Museum contains, among the portraits, those of the seven Presidents of the college, and Governor Beaver, also other paintings, marbles and metal work. Art is being emphasized in the summer school. Auditorium presented by Charles Schwab, Esq., has in the lobby, heroic statue, “The Hewer,” by George Gray Barnard. Opposite on the campus is the Carnegie Library; architects, Seymour Davis and Paul A. Davis.

Near State College is a picturesque village, BOALSBURG, laid out with a small formal center square, from which streets radiate toward the distant mountains. Colonel Theodore Boal, architect, who raised and equipped a machine gun company for the World War, has created a museum for his warfare collections, curious old armor, dating back to the Crusaders, and a large amount of World War relics, German airplanes, helmets, gas masks, etc.; there is also a Napoleon Room; and he has erected a chapel, old Spanish model, which houses rare wall hangings, vestments, church furnishings, and manuscripts in Spanish, dating from the time of Columbus; they were inherited by Mrs. Boal, a direct descendant from Columbus. Colonel Boal also keeps up, on his property, a reservation or captain’s camp, for the Twenty-eighth Division, the Iron Division.

BELLEFONTE, county seat, population 3996, was founded, 1795, by James Harris and Colonel James Dunlop, who gave the ground for the courthouse and academy; and certain lots, to be sold, to provide for the erection of said buildings. Name said to have been suggested by Talleyrand, who visited James Harris at his home “Marlbrook,” now the Bellefonte Poor House;

[Illustration: COURT HOUSE AND GOVERNOR CURTIN MEMORIAL, BELLEFONTE]

being asked by Mrs. Harris to suggest a name for the town he said, “Bellefonte, for this beautiful spring”; the spring is computed to flow 14,600 gallons per minute, and scarcely varies, entire supply being conveyed to the borough. It is a conservative and aristocratic old town, with residences of Governors Curtin, Beaver, and Hastings, whose homes may still be seen; and fine old colonial doorways; the library of Judge Ellis L. Orvis is noted for its rare first editions, one of the best in Pennsylvania.

Courthouse is in the Public Square, built, 1805, Greco-colonial, with Ionic columns, architect, probably Ezra Ale, has been twice enlarged without changing the front; entrance to the east addition harmonizes with the main west front; architects, Newman & Harris, Philadelphia, for enlargement in 1911. Contains portraits of past judges of the county. In the diamond, in front of courthouse, is state memorial to Pennsylvania’s War Governor and United States Ambassador to Russia, Andrew G. Curtin; bronze, heroic, portrait statue on granite pedestal, sculptor, W. Clark Noble; on either side are bronze panels giving names of Center County’s soldiers in wars of the Republic. The Bellefonte Academy, founded in 1805, burned 1905, was rebuilt, classic, architect, Robert Cole of Bellefonte.

[Illustration: BEAVER COUNTY]

XXVIII

BEAVER COUNTY

Formed March 12, 1800; named for one of our most industrious little animals; was in the track of earliest of French and English explorers of the Mississippi Valley, to which the Ohio River Valley forms an integral part. It was the scene of heroic labors of Moravian and Jesuit missionaries, who built their stations on the borders of the Beaver River. The Indian villages were the homes of some of the most noted warriors of the aboriginal tribes, and sites of important treaty conferences between them and the colonial governments of Pennsylvania and Virginia. Chief industries are coal and steel. Yards of the Pennsylvania Railroad at Conway, said to be the largest in the world; the famous glass factories of Rochester and Monaca, are at junction of the Ohio and Beaver rivers. Four bridges are here, including that of the Pittsburgh and Lake Erie Railroad, a massive structure of fine engineering skill, 90 feet above the river.

BEAVER, county seat (Indian, Shingoes Town), population 4135, was laid out in 1791, on a high level plateau overlooking the Ohio River, by the Surveyor General of the state. Five streets, 100 feet wide, following direction of river, were planned, with five of same width crossing at right angles, and each square divided again by streets 25 feet in width; eight squares were reserved for use of the town, one at each corner, north, east, south and west, and four in the center, which, with a wide strip fronting the river, constitute the parks; all beautifully laid out, they have large trees, and are planted with ornamental shrubbery. The present added territory, east and west, makes the town twice the original size. Courthouse, brick with stone trimmings, is on one of the center squares; the jail, a quaint old stone building, faces on opposite square; in center stands the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Monument. At foot of Market Street is a tall flagstaff marking site of Fort McIntosh, built, 1778, by General McIntosh, on earlier site of a French town built in 1754.

BEAVER FALLS, population 12,802, oldest and largest manufacturing town, consequent on the great water power of Beaver River and Falls, has Geneva College and a fine Carnegie Library. The residence section is on a bluff 200 feet high, with fine view. NEW BRIGHTON, population 9361, connected with Beaver Falls by bridges, has the Merrick Art Galleries, acquired by gift to the city, with collection of paintings of merit and value, and liberal endowment for purpose of adding to the collection, library, museum, and to employ teachers in the future. Armory is headquarters of the famous Tenth Regiment. Near the town is a ravine, through which flows Brady’s Run, scene of many thrilling events in life of the famous Indian fighter, Captain Samuel Brady. Morado has a beautiful park on the Beaver River. At Rock Point, on the Connoquenessing Creek, is wild and tumultuous scenery.

LEGIONVILLE, General Anthony Wayne wintered his soldiers here in 1792; the trenches and position of some of the redoubts are still discernible; marked by flagstaff, erected by the Fort McIntosh Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution. Farther east is quaint old town of ECONOMY, home of the Harmony Society, disciples of Doctor Rapp; thrifty, industrious people of the past, almost effaced by the town of Ambridge, of the American Bridge Company, who purchased a large tract of their land.

Near Smith’s Ferry, on the north bank of the Ohio, is large group of interesting Indian picture carvings, cut into the surface of the Piedmont sandstone, exposed in the river at a three foot stage of water; they are scattered over the surface of the rock ledge, for a space about forty feet in width, and 700 feet in length, and represent a great variety of the forms of men and animals, birds, fish, and reptiles, including the beaver, bear, wolf, turtle, snake, and eagle, human footprints and the tracks of various beasts; as well as inanimate objects, scalphoop, bows, and arrows; there is also a picture of a bison chasing a dog; another large collection of similar pictures, on the Susquehanna River at Safe Harbor, Lancaster County, contains the same forms of the wolf and the turtle, from which well-known tribes of the Delaware Indians were named, which would seem to connect them with that tribe; casts and photographs of these carvings may be seen at the Carnegie Museum, Pittsburgh.

[Illustration: CRAWFORD COUNTY]

XXIX

CRAWFORD COUNTY

Formed March 20, 1800; named for Colonel William Crawford. First well in the world drilled for petroleum, was completed here in 1859; valley of Oil Creek, south of Titusville, once most productive of oil in United States. Land peculiarly suited to grazing, stock raising, and general farming. French Creek was followed by Washington, 1753, from Franklin, Venango County, to Fort Le Breuf, Erie County. He returned, descending it in canoe; on French Creek, north of Meadville, are Saegerstown and Cambridge Springs, with famous health-giving waters. Conneaut Lake, three and one-half miles by one mile, is largest lake in Pennsylvania, covering about 1200 acres.

MEADVILLE, county seat, population 14,568, settled in 1788 by David Mead; his house still stands on Randolph Street, with modern outer walls; at roots of a maple tree, planted by him, is granite marker, inscription, “This house, erected May, 1797, by General David Mead, founder of Meadville; Ensign in the War of American Revolution; Major-General, 14th and 15th Division, Pennsylvania Militia; rendered signal service in the war of 1812, and an associate Judge at the time of his death. Placed by the Colonel Crawford Chapter, D. A. R., 1902.” In Diamond Park, center of city, five acres, set in huge granite boulder found there, is bronze tablet, inscription, “In commemoration of Colonel William Crawford, born in Virginia 1732, burned at the stake by Delaware Indians near Sandusky, Ohio, June 11, 1782. Revolutionary soldier, friend and companion of Washington, brave and distinguished frontiersman of Western Pennsylvania; this county is named in his honor. Erected by Colonel Crawford Chapter, D. A. R., 1912”; also Pioneer’s Monument, erected May 12, 1888, to mark one hundredth anniversary of Meadville; and the Soldiers’ Monument, erected, 1890. Parrott guns, relics of the Civil War, are at the base; inscription, “Crawford County’s tribute to her loyal sons, 1861-1865.”

Courthouse faces the park, Renaissance, architect, E. T. Roberts, built in 1870. On a house west of the park is a tablet, inscription, “Site of first Court House and Gaol, north of Pittsburgh, 1804-25; placed by Colonel Crawford Chapter, D. A. R., 1909”; also facing the park are the post office, built by the government, 1910, Georgian architecture, red brick and white marble; and the Unitarian Church, built in 1835, red brick, classic, Doric architecture. On the terrace, at Locust Street, is a small stone tablet, marking an old Indian trail, along which Washington passed to Fort Le Boeuf; The “Terrace,” an attractive residence street, is the sloping ground following the old canal.

Meadville Free Library contains a complete file of the “Crawford Weekly Messenger,” published by Thomas Atkinson at Meadville, first newspaper northwest of the Allegheny Mountains; annual exhibitions of paintings by American artists are held here; an excellent permanent collection is being accumulated by the art association, among the artists represented are Charles C. Curran, Charles Bittinger, and Charlotte B. Coman.

Allegheny College founded in 1815, co-ed, is well equipped as to instructors, apparatus, and buildings, campus twenty acres, nearly one million dollars endowment; Bentley Hall, the oldest building, erected in 1820, is of fine colonial architecture; Library, classic architecture, contains autograph letters from Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, James Monroe, John Wesley, Commissions to Timothy Alden, first President, descended from Longfellow’s John Alden; portraits of all the Presidents of the college, President Clark by Inman, also Hon. James Winthrop, and of Rev. William Bentley of Salem, Massachusetts, who bequeathed here his library, one of the rarest in the country.

The Pennsylvania College of Music, chartered, 1887, is complete in its faculty and curriculum, for study in every department of music and allied arts. Meadville Theological School, chartered 1846, contains a fine library; in the chapel is a portrait, by John Neagle, Philadelphia, painted in 1848, of Harm Jan Huidekoper, founder of the school; he was the first representative of the Holland Land Company in Meadville in 1802. Lafayette Hotel is on site of “The Gibson Tavern,” where Lafayette dined in 1825. A house on Water Street, corner of Steers Alley, is site of blockhouse built, 1794; and North Ward School is on site of the State Arsenal, 1816-58; all three marked with tablets by Colonel Crawford Chapter, Daughters American Revolution.

TITUSVILLE, chartered as a city in 1866; population 8432; named for Jonathan Titus, first settler in 1796. Here in 1859, Colonel Edwin L. Drake, by drilling, gave to the world rock oil; first oil well half mile southeast of center of town, is marked by a boulder monument, with large tablet, showing replica of photograph of oil derrick and surrounding trees, taken when oil was discovered; inscription, “This native boulder marks the spot where, through the foresight, energy and perseverance of Edwin L. Drake, the first well was drilled for oil, August 27, 1859; oil was found at a depth of sixty-nine feet; this great discovery inaugurated the Petroleum Industry. Erected by the Canadohta Chapter, D. A. R., Aug. 27, 1914”; Drake Monument, entrance to Woodlawn Cemetery, emblematic figure of a driller, bronze, heroic size, curving architectural background, granite; sculptor, Charles Niehaus; tomb of Drake faces the monument; Drake Museum, west of Titusville, brick, architect, Edwin Bell, contains collections of interest relating to early history of the oil industry.

Benson Memorial Library, Franklin Street, near Main Street, colonial, brick and Indiana sandstone, built, 1902, architects, Jackson & Rosencrans, New York. St. James Protestant Episcopal Church, built, 1863, Gothic, native stone, has fine Tiffany window. Presbyterian Church, built, 1887, Romanesque, Medina sandstone, is on site of log church built in 1815; stained glass window by the Montague Pastle-London Co. of New York. Presbyterian Chapel, 1907, Romanesque, stained glass window by Lamb, New York. The Commercial Bank has a portrait of John L. McKinney, former president, by John C. Johanson.

[Illustration: DRAKE MONUMENT WITH STATUE OF THE DRILLER, TITUSVILLE

_Charles H. Niehaus, Sculptor_]

XXX

ERIE COUNTY

Formed March 12, 1800; named for Lake Erie, the name Erie from a tribe of Indians, Eries, conquered by the Iroquois Confederacy in 1653, their identity and language is lost; curious mounds and circular embankments, still found in several places, show traces of a race superior to the Indians; human bones in large quantities have been unearthed on line of the Pennsylvania and Erie Railroad, indicating huge physical development, one was nine feet in height. The triangle north of Pennsylvania and west of New York was purchased, by authority of Governor Mifflin, in 1791, from the United States, to obtain a lake port for the state; conveyance being signed by President Washington and Thomas Jefferson, Secretary of State; afterwards the Indian title was purchased from the Six Nations, through the diplomacy of Cornplanter (Gyantwachia), the Seneca chief, for which the state gave him a reservation in Warren County; later the Indians resolved to prevent the settlement of Presque Isle by Americans, but General Wayne gained a decisive and final victory against them in the battle of “Fallen Timbers” on Maumee Road in 1794.

The Shore belt, for ten miles in width, is noted for grape and fruit raising; back of this is a productive agricultural section. Iron and steel industries predominate. Principal roads are along the south shore of Lake Erie, called the East and West Lake Roads,

[Illustration: Erie County]

[Map of Erie County showing: City of ERIE; Towns of EDINBORO, WATERFORD, and LE BOEUF; Railroad lines of the Pennsylvania Railroad, New York Central, and New York Chicago & St. Louis; _LAKE ERIE_; PRESQUE ISLE; and WALNUT, ELK, CONNEAUT, and FRENCH Creeks]

that form a fifty-mile section of the international touring route across the continent. The old French Road from Erie southeast to Waterford, 18 miles, was originally part of the stage route between Pittsburgh and Erie, and also the old portage route from Lake Erie, for military and commercial purposes, to the head waters of the Allegheny River navigation, at Fort Le Boeuf, Waterford, on Lake Le Boeuf.

In 1753, Major George Washington, twenty-one years old, first caught the attention of mankind; he came with a message from Governor Dinwiddie of Virginia, to notify the French to discontinue fortifying Presque Isle and Le Boeuf, claiming them to be British territory. Captain Riparti came from Presque Isle for the conference. Washington was accompanied by Christopher Gist (White) and an Indian interpreter. They were in Fort Le Boeuf from December 11-16, and treated courteously by the French officers, who stated they would communicate with their superior officer, Marquis Du Quesne, but at present must refuse to comply.

ERIE, county seat, population 93,372, on site of Presque Isle Fort, built by the Marquis Du Quesne in 1753; one of the chain of thirteen French forts extending from Quebec to Fort Du Quesne; is 35 feet above the lake, 573 feet above sea level. Surveyed by Andrew Ellicott, in 1795, first Surveyor General of the United States, three public parks of five acres each were in the original plan, along Sixth street, one mile apart. Perry Square, Sixth and State Streets, on original plan, is focus of public life, it contains memorial monuments to Captain Charles V. Gridley, bronze statue, erected in 1913, commander of the flagship of Admiral Dewey’s Squadron, in Manila Bay; Eben Brewer, bronze statue, first American postmaster in Cuba; General Anthony Wayne, large granite boulder surmounted by two cannon, erected, 1902; and bronze statue to Civil War soldiers, erected, 1872.

Courthouse, facing Perry Square, classic, Corinthian columns, native stone, erected in 1852, the bell is a trophy of war, from the British battleship _Queen Charlotte_, in 1813; court room contains complete representation of portraits of Erie County judges. Public Library, South Perry Square, Italian Renaissance, granite, built in 1897, architects, Alden & Harlow, Pittsburgh, contains portraits of Commodore Perry, General Anthony Wayne, Captain Charles V. Gridley, President Lincoln; in the Art Gallery is a small permanent collection of works by American artists, among those represented are Childe Hassam, R. M. Shurtleff, F. S. Church, George R. Barse, Arthur Parton, H. Bolton Jones, Charles A. Hulbert, and Henry Mosler; annual art exhibitions are held here by the Erie Art Club.

The Library also has a museum, with relics of the French and Indian, the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, and later wars. Erie has a conservatory of music, with an organized symphony orchestra, and glee club. The old Custom House, State Street, north of Perry Square, built in 1837, classic, brick with white marble steps and Doric columns, was first used as a United States bank, now in possession of the Grand Army of the Republic. Erie has fifty-five churches, eighteen missions, and

[Illustration: WASHINGTON STATUE

Site of Fort De Boeuf, Waterford

_Mr. and Mrs. E. C. Kilpatrick, Sculptors_]

other religious societies, also two cathedrals. St. Paul’s, Protestant Episcopal, West Sixth Street, Gothic, stone, built, 1866, architect, St. John of Detroit, rose window by Tiffany, who also made some of the memorial windows; St. Peter’s Roman Catholic, Tenth and Sassafras Streets, Gothic; Medina New York red sandstone, trimmed with white sandstone from Amherst, Ohio, and Mercer County, Pennsylvania, built in 1893, architect, C. C. Keely, New York; contains statues of St. Peter and St. Paul, Carrara marble, made in Italy; stations and stained glass windows from Munich, Germany; other windows made in this country. Memorial windows are also in the First Presbyterian Church; St. Mary’s and St. John Kanty (Polish).

The State Soldiers and Sailors’ Home and Marine Hospital, built, 1867-68, brick and stone, is located on the lake front; on the grounds is a replica of the original blockhouse fort, where General Anthony Wayne died in 1796, after his conquest of the Northwest in 1795; he was buried here, until his body was removed in 1809 to St. David’s burial ground, Radnor. The blockhouse, showing plan of construction, was built in 1880, as memorial to General Wayne, it contains relics, and part of coffin lid with his inscription; these grounds were the reservation, on old City Plan of 1795, set apart for fortifications, in the most commanding position, for protection to entrance of harbor. Most of the military history of Erie is interwoven with the location between Parade and Wayne Streets, north of Fifth Street; here was the first white settlement, Presque Isle Village, and French fort in 1753. On bluff near Parade Street, blockhouses were erected, 1753-96-1813. Parade Street formed part of the old French road to Fort Le Boeuf, French garrison, 1753-59; English 1760-63, and in 1785 American 1795-1806, also 1812-13. Here in 1763 took place the hard fought two days’ battle of Presque Isle, with Pontiac, chief of the Ottawas, who, with a vast force, simultaneously attacked all thirteen forts, and captured nine of them, including Presque Isle and Le Boeuf, and again this was the objective point of the Indians in 1794, when they were finally conquered by General Wayne.

Here Thomas Rees, first justice of peace, entertained in his tent at the mouth of Mill Creek, a French exile, the Duke de Chartres, subsequently Louis Philippe, king of France. At the foot of Peach and of Cascade Streets, granite blocks, with brass markers, note approximate positions where Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry’s ships were built, on which he won the victory of the “Battle of Lake Erie,” in 1813. The powder used to fight that battle was made at Du Pont’s, Wilmington, Delaware, and brought through Pennsylvania in Conestoga wagons. The second flagship of his fleet, the _Niagara_, is in Erie Harbor, having been raised from the sand of Misery Bay, where it lay for nearly a century; it was rebuilt by the state at a cost of $75,000 for the Perry Centennial in 1913; the first flagship, _Lawrence_, was raised and rebuilt for the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia, in 1876; also in Erie harbor is the United States warship _Michigan_, now named _Wolverine_ and used as a naval militia training ship; built in 1844, it was the first iron warship, and brought to Erie in sections from Pittsburgh; the original engine is still intact and seaworthy; now oldest ironclad vessel in the world.

At foot of French Street, Commodore Perry’s fleet landed with the captured British squadron. This place was camping ground of the Pennsylvania militia; in War of 1812-13, the British fleet was drawn up in front of the harbor, to destroy Perry’s vessels while under construction; Captain Daniel Dobbins of Erie, commander of the _Ohio_, was the guiding spirit in building the fleet; 2500 soldiers encamped here, with cannon mounted, and such military preparedness as to forebode disaster to an enemy attempting entrance to the harbor. General Lafayette visited Erie in 1825, and a banquet was given him.

The Presque Isle peninsula, surrounding Erie harbor, has a state park, of more than 1500 acres, which is free to all; it gives Erie a large and thoroughly protected harbor; 100 acres were reserved for United States fortifications and dockyards; a life-saving station here, established in 1876, is place of interest. Presque Isle Bay is the finest natural harbor on the Great Lakes, four and one-half miles long, one and one-half miles wide. Lakeside Park, an irregular and sloping strip of land along the water front, from Mill Creek on east, to City line west, sixty-five acres, was laid out in 1888 by John L. Cully, landscape engineer; other open spaces are the Waterworks Park; the Reservoir; Erie, Trinty and Lakeside Cemeteries. Present city planner is John Nolan, of Massachusetts. Erie has also twenty smaller parks, of these the largest are Glenwood, between Sassafras and Cherry Streets, purchased by Erie Public Park Association in 1903, 114 acres, a natural forest with large stream of clear water and swimming pool; the Fish Hatchery, Twenty-third and Sassafras Streets, one of the most important in the state; Waldamere, four miles west on Lake Erie, and the State Normal School Grounds at Edinboro, sixteen miles south of Erie.

XXXI

VENANGO COUNTY

Formed March 12, 1800, territory then recently acquired by treaties from the Indians, named from In-nan-ga-eh (a rude figure cut in a tree), Seneca language. A well-watered country, the Allegheny River meandering through rugged hills, about 400 feet high, presents places of rare scenic grandeur; into it flow several streams of considerable volume, among them Oil Creek, French Creek, and Big Sandy. For a number of years after the discovery of petroleum, in 1859, it continued to be the principal oil-producing field; now chief industries are manufacturing, refining of petroleum, lumbering, and agriculture.