History is Alive and Well in Beaver County

Posted by on Nov 29, 2013 in | Comments Off on History is Alive and Well in Beaver County On June 6, 1824, the steamboat Ploughboy with the first contingent of Harmony Society members came around the bend in the river at Legionville; the skipper gave a cannon salute. After dropping anchor, the passengers disembarked and made camp. The following day, Father Rapp, leader of the Harmonists, wrote to the remaining members at New Harmony: “I consider this place the most healthful in...
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Butler County: A Story in Diversity

Posted by on Nov 27, 2013 in | Comments Off on Butler County: A Story in Diversity The story of Butler County is one of many stories. It is the story of an unusual religious commune. Of an engineer whose invention made the Brooklyn Bridge a reality. Of a European baron who con­structed a German castle he named Bassenheim. Of an oil boom town which sprang up­ – and crashed nearly overnight. Of the birthplace of that be­loved American automotive institution, the jeep. Of...
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Currents

Posted by on Nov 26, 2013 in | Comments Off on Currents It’s a Zoo! When the Zoological Society of Philadelphia was organized at the home of Dr. William Camac (its first presi­dent) on March 21, 1859, it was the first of its kind in North America. In spite of its auspicious beginnings, the early years of the Philadelphia Zoo – now touted as “America’s First Zoo”­ – were dampened by the Civil War, which not only...
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The Valley That Changed the World: Visiting the Drake Well Museum

Posted by on Nov 26, 2013 in | Comments Off on The Valley That Changed the World: Visiting the Drake Well Museum “They’ve struck oil!” They were only three words, but they thundered triumphantly throughout the valley along northwestern Pennsylvania’s Oil Creek during the days following the long-anticipated breakthrough – one that would change the world forever – on an otherwise quiet Saturday in August 1859. To many it was a miracle, one on which great fortunes would be...
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John A. Mather’s Lens: The Unerring Eye of History

Posted by on Nov 26, 2013 in | Comments Off on John A. Mather’s Lens: The Unerring Eye of History When the dapper Englishman John Aked Mather (1829–1915) stepped from the stage coach in Titusville, Crawford County, that October day in 1860, he had no idea that he was about to become the pre-eminent chronicler of a Pennsylvania phenomenon, petroleum. But for five and a half decades Mather recorded the birth and development of the new industry, one which would forever change the way the nation...
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Drake Well Museum

Posted by on Nov 26, 2013 in | Comments Off on Drake Well Museum Visitors can sense the feverish excitement of Pennsylvania’s oil boom years – which spurred the country’s greatest land rush since gold was discovered in California a decade earlier – by touring the Drake Well Museum near Titusville, Venango County. In August 1859, Edwin L. Drake drilled the world’s first producing oil well, forever hallmarking the site as the...
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The Lady and the Titan

Posted by on Nov 25, 2013 in | Comments Off on The Lady and the Titan Before the creation of the Pulitzer Prize, long before Woodward and Bernstein, there was Pennsylvania’s own Ida M. Tarbell (1857-1944). Best known as the muckraking journalist who single-handedly took on the mighty John D. Rockefeller (1839-1937), she was among the most feared and admired women of her time. Writing during the Progressive Era, an age of hope and reform running roughly from...
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A Letter from the Chairman

Posted by on Nov 25, 2013 in | Comments Off on A Letter from the Chairman It’s no secret that Pennsylvania abounds with spectacular resources, both natural and historic, including vast forestlands, state parks, majestic mountains, verdant valleys, and hundreds of historical organizations and cultural institutions, including the more than two dozen historic sites and museums that make up the popular and well-traveled Pennsylvania Trail of History. No matter where...
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Pithole

Posted by on Nov 25, 2013 in | Comments Off on Pithole Pennsylvania’s oil boom began in Venango County, one-half mile south of Titusville, late in the afternoon ­of Saturday, August 27, 1859, when Edwin L. Drake (1819-1880) perfected a way to drill for oil and extract it horn the ground. Initially, production was centered in the valleys of Oil Creek and the Allegheny River. In 1865, Isaiah N. Frazier and James Faulkner, employees of a nearby...
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Executive Director’s Message

Posted by on Nov 25, 2013 in | Comments Off on Executive Director’s Message This issue of Pennsylvania Heritage includes the new format of the Pennsylvania Heritage Society’s quarterly newsletter. If you’re an individual or family member of the Pennsylvania Heritage Society, you’ll undoubtedly appreciate the many interesting programs available to you with free or discounted admissions. If you’re not a member, I hope you will consider joining to...
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