History of Beaver County, Pennsylvania and Its Centennial Celebration

Aliquippa, the county's most populous borough, seemingly grew overnight from the merger of three small villages, each with a history of its own.

While a relatively new community compared to others in the county, Aliquippa's traditions go back to the very beginning of colonial habitation in Beaver County. In the years before the Revolution, two Indian traders, successively, chose the fertile fields across the river from the old Indian village of Logstown to make a home. Alexander McKee, the first resident, built a cabin around 1769, but evidently did not stay too long. In 1771, John Gibson surveyed 300 acres, built a cabin, and planted crops, becoming the first colonial farmer in the county, although the same land along the river had been farmed by the Indians for many years.

Logstown, the Delaware Indian village, was across the river in Baden, but somehow the name was transferred to the stream on the west side of the Ohio. In turn, the small village near the stream mouth became known as Logstown Bottom.

The Reverend Andrew McDonald lived here when he became pastor of White Oak Flats Church in 1810. White Oak Flats was a large level area in the hills west of Logstown, and the site of an early Presbyterian Church, which for a long time was known by the same name. (It was later called Mt. Carmel.)

The Flats were bisected by Brodhead's Road in 1778, when the supply trail from Pittsburgh to Fort McIntosh (Beaver) was cut through the wilderness. Later, a road from the fertile Raccoon Creek valley to the Ohio River intersected the military trail, and a village grew up at the crossroads. In time the village became known as New Sheffield.

In 1877, while the Pittsburgh and Lake Erie Railroad was laying track through Logstown Bottom, a post office was established in the village. A new name, Woodlawn, was suggested by Mattie McDonald and adopted. The P. & L.E. built an amusement area north of Woodlawn, and named it Aliquippa Park. Soon an adjacent village had its own station, called Aliquippa. A shovel factory and other manufacturers located here and a town site was laid out, incorporated in 1894 as Aliquippa Borough.

In the next decade or so, Aliquippa developed into a fair sized industrial town, while Woodlawn village, a few miles to the south, languished as a rural community, although the Woodlawn Academy and a Presbyterian church had been established near the station.

Everything changed, however, in 1906, when construction began for the huge Aliquippa works of the Jones and Laughlin Steel Company. Old Logstown disappeared while a new business district was constructed in the valley and plans of houses sprung up on every surrounding hill.

In 1926, Woodlawn, already the largest community in Beaver County, annexed New Sheffield from Hopewell Township, along with the land in between. In 1928, a merger was effected by a referendum of the voters with Aliquippa Borough, and the new borough retained the name of the smaller partner to better identify with the name of the steel works. (There is no historical evidence connecting the Indian Queen Aliquippa with the location of the borough. This was one of several Indian names selected arbitrarily by the P. & L.E. Railroad in 1878 for stations along the route. Others were Shannopin, now South Heights, and Monaca.)

Aliquippa's leaders were perplexed by the problems created by the automobile and the mobility it gave to people. The younger generations have chosen to build homes in neighboring suburban townships. The Franklin Avenue business district declined as shoppers found it more convenient to drive to the outlying shopping centers than to cope with traffic and parking problems downtown.

The old borough of Aliquippa became known as West Aliquippa (the second time it was named by the railroad.) In the 1960's J. & L. filled in Crow's Island, on the river side of town, and constructed a huge new steel producing facility there. The old town seems destined to be completely swallowed up by the mill, as many houses and buildings have been demolished.

New Sheffield has become the center of the community as many churches and businesses have relocated there, and also contains the borough's only elementary school.

In the last 15 years. most of the J. & L. Steel works has been shut down or demolished in along the Ohio in Aliquippa. The commissioners of Beaver County plan to use a large portion of that site to relocate the county jail. The Franklin Avenue business district is basically non-existent today. Its main purpose now is a throughway for Aliquippa residents to route 51, leading to Ambridge, South Heights, or Monaca.

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A HISTORY OF NEWSPAPERS IN BEAVER COUNTY

Shortly after the beginning of the present century, the Jones and Laughlin Steel Company started construction of a huge steel-making plant along the Ohio River in Hopewell Township. Adjacent to the new plant were two communities, the tiny Borough of Aliquippa, site of a popular amusement park on the Pittsburgh and Lake Erie Railroad, and the even smaller village of Woodlawn. In time, the communities were to grow and eventually merge to form the largest borough in Beaver County. But the history of the area in these intervening years was colored by a population factor missing from most of the early communities but common to steel and mining towns - the arrival of many immigrant workers from Southern and Eastern Europe, and of blacks from the impoverished southern states.

The "Aliquippa Works" of J & L bordered Aliquippa Borough (later called West Aliquippa) without changing it drastically, but the pastoral Woodlawn Village was transformed, in a few years, to a huge residential and business complex, housing and serving the needs of more than ten thousand steel workers and their families.

In the two decades following construction of the steel plant, Aliquippa and Woodlawn were rivals for the honors of being the leading steel community. As the towns developed, local officials believed that the lack of political unity hampered solutions to many community problems.- Finally, a plan for consolidation of the two boroughs was discussed. The proposal of a merger was presented to the citizens and approved. Thus, in January of 1928, the merger of Woodlawn and Aliquippa became a reality, the latter becoming the name of both.

Long before the merger of the two Boroughs, ethnic groups already had made their mark upon the area. Aliquippa had been referred to as the textbook example of the "melting pot" theory. This theory is a concept of assimilation through a process of modification of the characteristics of the immigrant to accord with prevalent American types, psychology, customs, and institutions usually by superimposing American manners plus American ideas upon those of the immigrant.

Revisionist historians have challenged this melting pot theory. One such historian, Bayard Rustin, put their position succinctly when he wrote, "there never was a melting pot; there is not now a melting pot; there never will be a melting pot-, and if there were, it would be such a tasteless soup that we would have to go back and start all over."

This revisionist view does not seem to be completely applicable to Aliquippa. The community's ethnic groups have been assimilated into the American cultural ideal, but not at the expense of their heritage. They haven't forgotten their culture and traditions. The people have held fast to their folkways and in many cases have adopted customs, foods, expressions and holidays of other groups. The Serbian and Croatian groups sponsor orchestra and dance groups composed of the adolescent members of their nationalities who perpetuate the use of traditional folk instruments, tunes and dances.

The Orthodox Churches still celebrate Christmas on January 7, complete with traditional foods and customs and music. One of the major ethnic events is the Observance by Italians in Aliquippa of the San Rocco Festival each year in August. While the San Rocco Festival is distinctly Italian in origin, it is celebrated and looked forward to by all residents of Aliquippa. The ethnicity of the area is further illustrated by the annual nationality fair days, first held during the Bicentennial year.

It is tempting to sugarcoat the story of ethnic groups in Aliquippa, but the process of assimilation has been marked by a certain degree of turmoil, hate, violence, and bigotry. There is a complex duality involved in the story of ethnic groups in Aliquippa. Steve Twomey in a recent article, "Education: The Task Was To Make Americans" probably stated it best:

"For the natives of English descent," Twomey writes, "the desire was almost overwhelming to mold the foreigners into the American character.... Yet many .... felt that such mass indoctrination violated the spirit of another great American ideal -- that no one should be forced to accept beliefs....

"Likewise, the immigrants were torn by conflicting forces. Many wanted desperately to become Americans. They knew what ideals America stood for, and had, in fact, come here to partake of those ideals.

"But for many other immigrants the links to the past, to the culture and traditions of the homeland, were equally strong. Often, in fact, these remembrances of another world were all they had to sustain them as they struggled in an alien environment."

Who are these ethnic groups? When did they come? Why did they come? How were they received and treated? Table I provides ethnic groups as they are listed in the United States Census. There are over 30 ethnic groups represented. Table 11 (not included with this web version) give the number and percentage of foreign born for the period from 1920 to 1970, and the number of Blacks in Aliquippa. Table III (not included with this web version) is an attempt to show percentage of groups in relation to the total population as well as percent plus or minus from 1920 to 1970.

The figures in Table I (not included with this web version) shows that the ethnic population and foreign born have long been a significant percentage of the total population of the town. 1930 marks the peak of ethnic population in terms of number of foreign born and those of foreign-born parents or of mixed parentage -- the latter having at least one foreign born parent. 1920, however, marks the peak in ethnic percentage of the total population

The ethnic character of Aliquippa, though generally high, has been steadily decreasing since 1920 as a percentage of the total population. A number of tentative explanations may be given - one is the adoption of restrictive immigration quota laws in the 1920's which discriminated against central, eastern and southern Europeans; another is the improvement of conditions in some European countries by the acquisition of political independence after World War 1; still another is the possible restriction on immigration imposed by some European countries which previously provided the bulk of immigrants to America.

The Negro population of Aliquippa on the other hand has increased steadily both in total number and percentage of the total population. It is particularly interesting to note that while the number of inhabitants in all groups declined between 1960 and 1970 the percentage of the black population in relation to the total population increased.

When did the ethnic and black population begin to come into the area? The published United States Census for 1900 and 1910 does not provide ethnic or racial information for communities of less than 2,500. Both Woodlawn and Aliquippa had a population of 620 in 1900 and 1,743 in 1910. Woodlawn in 1910 had a population of only 1,396.

That there was a significant number of ethnic people in the area by 1907 is attested to by a statement found in the House of Prayer Evangelical Lutheran Church in Aliquippa, Centennial Booklet in which is found the following comment:

"The Logstown Community was now changing (sic 1907). The Jones and Laughlin Steel Company had established their mill, and European immigrants were settling in the area. Most of the members of the House of Prayer had moved to Woodlawn."

Why did immigrants and blacks come to Aliquippa?

Obviously the choice of Aliquippa by Jones and Laughlin Steel Corporation as the site of the new steel works in 1905 had much to do with it. The decade beginning in 1900 saw the influx of over one million immigrants annually into the United States. These immigrants were generally unskilled peasants coming to America in the search for jobs. They found jobs in the heaviest and hardest work in the mills, handling steel billets, loading trains in cinder pits; labor that demanded strength in large measure.

The number of blacks seemed to remain small until after 1910. 1 base this assumption upon two things: first, the first black church, the Emmanual African M.E. Zion Church was not established until 1915. It wasn't at least until then that there were sufficient numbers to-, support a church; second, the outbreak of war in Europe in 1914 cut off immigration to the United States and northern industries turned to the southern black for a new supply of cheap unskilled labor.

What was the reception given to the immigrants and blacks?

David Chaimovitz in his study, "A Public Health Survey of Aliquippa" in 1946 described the housing situation and indicates that blacks were largely confined to Logstown and Plan 11 areas. The discrimination and its affects on the community are described when he wrote'.

"The segregationalism though seemingly inevitable is truly depressing and unfortunate for it fosters misunderstanding and ill-feeling among people who in lieu of the common call which brought them to this country and to Aliquippa should be sympathetic of one another."

The history of the Emmanuel African M.E. Zion Church makes an indirect reference to the existence of racism when it states:

"Burned once, and the congregation was forced to move several times. The Church has had its struggles."

This obviously is an understatement of the difficulties encountered by the blacks.

The immigrant was not received much better by native residents. The following entry appeared in the secretary's book of the House of Prayer Evangelical Lutheran Church of Aliquippa, dated July 18, 1909:

"On account of the foreigners making a picnic ground and gambling resort of the church property yard, and on account of the poor location of the church property, it being amongst the J & L foreigners houses, it was decided to sell the property."

The immigrant and the black both found living conditions which can best be described as dilapidated. Paper was torn off walls, plaster sagging, windows broken, the ceilings low and damp, rooms dark, stuffy and unsanitary, with few openings for either light or air.

The presence of the immigrants, brought an early change to the community during the 1920's: Aliquippa High School began to teach foreign languages other than Latin and French. Also many of the immigrants began to attend Americanization classes in night school at the Jones and Logstown Schools. These classes were established to provide information and assistance to those who wished to qualify for citizenship papers.

The immigrant in Aliquippa while becoming assimilated into American Society continued to cling to his past. The Romanian immigrants, for example, founded the Emenescu Parochial School in Woodlawn. This was one of sixteen such schools in Aliquippa before 1920. The school was established to keep alive among their children Romanian customs, language and culture.

Other groups did similar things. The Serbians first organized a church and school in 1912 and 1913 respectively. In 1914 St. Elijah Serbian Eastern Orthodox Church was founded. Greek and Romanian immigrants organized the Assumption Greek Orthodox Church. Adam Adamakis and other of Greek descent organized a Greek Orthodox Community which received a charter from the Beaver County Courts on January 13, 1919.

Many other ethnic groups and blacks formed similar organizations, many of which are still active today. For example: the Croatian Social Club, Circle of Serbian Sisters, Sons of Italy, Lebanon Society, Slovak American Social Club, N.A.A.C.P. and many others too numerous to mention.

Thrust into an alien culture, living through lean, early years under abominable conditions before improving his lot, the immigrant struggled and finally achieved a measure of success. He was able to combine with his new life the best of the new and the old world cultures demonstrated in the community observance of the San Rocco Festival and the nationality fair days.

Beaver County PA

Beaver County was created in 1800. After founding utopian communities in nearby Butler county (1805) and in the state of Indiana (1814), George Rapp and his Pietist sect of Harmonists (Rappites) created an agricultural and manufacturing center called Economy (1825–1906). The thriving community dwindled in the late 19th century. The American Bridge Company bought the village in 1901 and later renamed it Ambridge (1906). Old Economy Village features several restored buildings from the early settlement.

Aliquippa, Beaver county, western Pennsylvania, U.S. It lies along the Ohio River, just northwest of Pittsburgh. Settled about 1750 as a post for trade with Delaware, Iroquois, and Shawnee Indians, it was first known as Logstown and later renamed for "Queen" Aliquippa, probably an Iroquois. After the French and Indian War (1754-63), the Indian peoples lost their title to the land, and Logstown was deserted. White settlers came again in the 1770s, and saw milling and grist milling were early industries. During the winter of 1793-94, General Anthony ("Mad Anthony") Wayne trained his troops at a site across the river from the adjacent borough of Woodlawn before moving into western Ohio to defeat the British-supported Northwest Indian Confederation at the Battle of Fallen Timbers (August 20, 1794).

Aliquippa was incorporated as a borough in 1892. It grew rapidly after 1900 with the establishment of steel mills in the area, and much of the working force was engaged in steel production until the contraction of the steel industry in the late 1970s and early '80s. Although some structural steel is still being produced, most of the steel making operations have been torn down, leaving the city with restricted employment opportunities and an aging population. Aliquippa consolidated in 1928. Pop. (1990) 13,374; (1998 est.) 12,448.

Beaver County PA / Pennsylvania Article Courtesy Encyclopedia Britannica

Our county has a rich Indian heritage. The Indians living in our valleys during the historic period were here only from about 1725 to 1758, but they left us a colorful legacy of place names. Here they are, with what is known of their origin.

ALIQUIPPA

Queen Aliquippa, queen of legend. Many residents of Aliquippa are convinced that their city was named for the Indian queen who once lived there, but the facts are different. The city of Aliquippa received its name from the Pittsburgh and Lake Erie Railroad who built an amusement park in what is now West Aliquippa in the 1880's and, in accordance to their policy, gave it the name of an Indian personality (others along the line were Shannopin, Kiasutha, and Monaca.) Aliquippa was a Seneca woman of some importance who lived near the forks of the Ohio. She met with George Washington in 1753 at the site of McKeesport. History records her as living near the mouth of Chartiers Creek; in New Castle, Delaware; and at Aughwick. There is no evidence that she ever lived at or visited the future site of the city of Aliquippa.

BEAVER

Beaver County, Beaver Borough, Beaver Falls, Big Beaver, South Beaver Township, Beaver River, Little Beaver Creek; the list goes on. There is much controversy as to the source of the name of Beaver Borough. A state historical marker in town attributes it to King Beaver (Tamaqui or Amockwi), a chief of the Delaware Indian tribe. Others claim it was named for the beaver, for which the river and other towns were named. In the historical Indian period, a village called Shingas Town was located here. Shingas was one of two brothers of King Beaver.

Fort McIntosh was built here during the Revolutionary War by General Lachlan McIntosh, long after the Indian inhabitants had moved westward. The Beaver River was named "Amahkwi-sipu" (there are many spelling variations of all Indian names) which meant "beaver stream" to the Delawares and "Tankamahkwisipu" was Little Beaver Creek. South Beaver Township, now much reduced in size, was one of the six original townshipsof Beaver County in 1800.

BLACKHAWK

This is the name of a village on Lisbon Road (the "Tuscarawas Trail") on the border of Ohioville and South Beaver Township; a school district in northwestern Beaver County; and a road leading west from Chippewa Township through South Beaver (which does not go through Blackhawk village). The village came first and was probably named for its post office, established 1837. Blackhawk was a Sauk Indian Chief who led an insurrection ("Blackhawk's War") in Illinois in 1832. The newspapers of the time played up Blackhawk as a major adversary of president Andrew Jackson. The war didn't amount to much. And Blackhawk never set foot in Beaver County.

CHIPPEWA

Chippewa Township was the name chosen by its residents when South Beaver Township was divided in 1816. The Chippewa were a tribe principally located in the western Great Lakes region and were not known to have inhabited Western Pennsylvania in any significant numbers. One source gives the meaning of the name as "to roast until puckered up", referring to the puckered seam in their moccasins. Another claims that the name comes from the word "Chipwayonwok" which means "tailskins", referring to the nature of their dress. The Chippewa, like the Delawares and the Shawnees, were of the Algonquian lingistic stock.

CONNOQUENESSING

This beautiful Creek flows through northeastern Beaver County and enters the Beaver River just at the Beaver-Lawrence County line. Its name probably derives from the word "Gunachquenessink" which means "for a long way straight". Another source suggests that it comes from a chief named Conoquieson. Washington records crossing the Connoquenessing in 1753, at a place called "Murdering Town". In 1947, the Reader's Digest listed Connoquenessing as one of the ten most beautiful place names in America.

CROW

Little is known about the Indian chieftain known as Crow, who left his name on Crow's Run (New Sewickley to Conway), Crow's Run Road, of course, and Crow's Island in the Ohio River. There was a village known as Crow's Town (also called "Mingo Cabins") located in what is now Conway Yards. A significant Indian trail, taken by George Washington in 1753, followed Crow's Run northeast toward Venango.

LOGSTOWN

This name lives on as a section of northeastern Aliquippa, nearly erased by urban development and in Logstown Run, which flows under Franklin Avenue in Aliquippa. The original Logstown was across the river in what is now Harmony Township. Called "Chiningue" by the French (which means "beaver"), Logstown was one of the most important Indian towns in the state. Its name came from the log cabins in the village. The Iroquois claimed the land and were among the principal inhabitants of Logstown, along with the Delawares and Shawnees. An impressive number of historically important people lived at or near Logstown or visited here during its brief heyday. George Washington was here twice (1753 and 1770). Others included George Croghan, Christian Frederick Post, John Gibson, Alexander McKee, Conrad Weiser, and Captain Celeron de Bienville, who claimed the land for France.

The leading Indian resident was the "Half-King" Tanacharison, who, along with his subordinate and successor, Monacatootha, supervised affairs among the Delawares and Shawnees.

MONACA

The town in the bend of the Ohio bears part of the name of Monacatootha, an Oneida warrior chief also known as Scaroyady. Monacatootha (which means "Great Arrow") was a representative of the Iroquois Confederacy with the authority to supervise affairs among the Delawares and Shawnees in that area. He met with Washington in Logstown in 1753. He was a strong friend of the English and campaigned against the French. Monaca Borough (formerly Philipsburgh until 1892) took its name from a P. & L E. Railroad station at the east end of town.

OHIO

Ohioville Borough, Ohioview village (in Industry Borough). The Ohio River flows from east to west through Beaver County, reaching its northernmost point at Rochester. Ohio is a Seneca name and is shown on the earliest French maps, translated as "La Belle Riviere", or "the beautiful river". Another author suggests the "Bloody River", which it certainly was in the years of the Indian wars. The name may be related to "Ohiopyle", which means "waters whitened by froth". The Delawares called the river "Kit-hanne", which means " great river", or "main stream". This is the origin of Kittanning. The Indians and the French considered the Allegheny and the Ohio to be one river.

RACCOON

Raccoon Creek, which flows from Washington County through Southside Beaver County, received its name from the Algonquian word "aroughcoune". The Delawares called it "Nachenumhanne" or "Raccoon stream". Colonel Brodhead reported in 1779 to George Washington the capture of two boys by the Indians along this stream, one of many Indian raids in the Raccoon valley. Raccoon Township was, of course, named or the creek.

SEWICKLEY

North Sewickley Township, New Sewickley Township, Big Sewickley Creek. This name is derived from one of the divisions of the Shawnee tribe. The original name could have been "Asswikales" or "Thewegila" depending on the source. The Sewickley division was one of the principal clans from which the head chief of the Shawnees was selected (the other was the Chillicothe clan). There were many Sewickley towns in Western Pennsylvania. The name came to Beaver County as Sewickley Township, one of the original townships in the land obtained from Allegheny County in 1800.

SHENANGO

Shenango Road passes through Chippewa Township and Big Beaver. The name is said to be a corruption of the word "Ochenango" which means "large bull thistles". Shenango may be related to the word "Chiningue", which the French used to describe Logstown, and which means "beaver". Most significantly, Shenango is one of the two rivers which meet in Lawrence County to form the Beaver River (the other is the Mahoning River). An important Indian trail followed the Shenango River to Kuskuski, a major Delaware town near New Castle, then down the Beaver to Shingas' Town. In a slightly different form, Chenango is the name of a river in New York.

TAMAQUI

This Delaware chieftain (also known as Amockwi) leaves his name on a housing project in Vanport Township, Tamaqui Village. King Beaver (Tamaqui means Beaver) was a leader of the Turkey clan ("Unilachtigo clan") of the Delawares and a friend of the Pennsylvania settlers. Brother of head chief Shingas, he was considered chief of many Delawares in the region around the Ohio and Beaver rivers.

TUSCARAWAS

An ancient Indian trail, "the Great Trail" or "Tuscarawas Trail" led from the forks of the Ohio, across the Beaver River and along the ridge now followed by Tuscarawas Road (and Lisbon Road) in Brighton Township. Tuscarawas was the name of an important Delaware village on the Tuscarawas River in central Ohio. This village was the headquarters of King Beaver, after he left the mouth of the Beaver following the fall of Fort Duquesne in 1758. The Great Trail was followed by Colonel Bouquet in 1764 and by General McIntosh in 1778 on his way to establish Fort Laurens. The name does not appear to be related to Tuscarora, an Indian tribe akin to the Iroquois.