Crawford County Historical Society

05/17/2026

Preserving your history one story at a time - This week's interview: Travis Crytzer: https://mailchi.mp/crawfordhistorical/travis-crytzer

05/15/2026

BLOOMING VALLEY VOLUNTEER FIRE DEPARTMENT

The Blooming Valley Volunteer Fire Department was organized March 29, 1948 with Wellington D. Smith as president, Paul Morton as vice-president and Dewey Terrill as the first fire chief. The first meetings were initially held at the school building and in the homes of the organizing members.

Land for the present fire hall site was donated by W. L. Ladds, and a building completed in the early fall of 1950. All labor for construction was volunteered by the residents of the borough and the surrounding community. Since initial construction, there have been several remodelings of the building.

The first fire truck was a 1934 Ford chassis with an American LaFrance pumper, which was purchased in February, 1952 for $1500. The second truck, a 1940 GMC tank truck was purchased in September, 1954 at a price of $850.

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05/15/2026

David Mead's house on Randolph Street taken in the 1870's. The portrait in the center could be that of Mead. Its whereabouts is unknown.

Collection of the Crawford County Historical Society.

05/15/2026

𝙋𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙚𝙧𝙫𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙉𝙚𝙚𝙙𝙨 𝙋𝙚𝙤𝙥𝙡𝙚 - It's True! It seems as if everything was nearly lost is the 70s, 80s, 90s ... stonemasons, plasterers, specialty carpenters , cabinetmakers, window sash makers, millwork artists ... the list goes on and on! These craftsmen and craftswomen are still in short supply today! But, there seems to be a "𝘳𝘦𝘣𝘪𝘳𝘵𝘩 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘴"! Even if it is small, it can grow to a larger movement to help save and preserve our historical architecture! This movement needs one thing ... PEOPLE!

Without PEOPLE ... who will pass along 𝘏𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘤 𝘗𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘷𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯, the skilled "𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘴", knowledge, training, tools, craftsmanship, and education needed to ensure that the next generation WILL carry the torch (𝘵𝘰𝘰𝘭𝘣𝘦𝘭𝘵)? Preservation Needs People ... and Knowledge is Power!

"𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙞𝙙𝙚𝙖 𝙞𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙞𝙣 𝙣𝙖𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙚 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙗𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙠𝙨 𝙙𝙤𝙬𝙣 𝙩𝙤 𝙖𝙣 𝙚𝙦𝙪𝙞𝙡𝙞𝙗𝙧𝙞𝙪𝙢. 𝙇𝙚𝙛𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙚𝙡𝙚𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙨, 𝙢𝙚𝙩𝙖𝙡 𝙧𝙪𝙨𝙩𝙨, 𝙢𝙤𝙧𝙩𝙖𝙧 𝙚𝙧𝙤𝙙𝙚𝙨, 𝙬𝙤𝙤𝙙 𝙗𝙪𝙧𝙣𝙨 𝙖𝙬𝙖𝙮. 𝙄𝙩 𝙩𝙖𝙠𝙚𝙨 𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙖𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙮 𝙩𝙝𝙧𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝 𝙥𝙚𝙤𝙥𝙡𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙝𝙤𝙡𝙙 𝙞𝙩 𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙩𝙤𝙜𝙚𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧. 𝙉𝙤 𝙥𝙚𝙤𝙥𝙡𝙚, 𝙣𝙤 𝙥𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙚𝙧𝙫𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣" - @𝙎𝙩𝙚𝙫𝙚 𝙌𝙪𝙞𝙡𝙡𝙞𝙖𝙣, 𝙒𝙤𝙤𝙙 𝙒𝙞𝙣𝙙𝙤𝙬 𝙈𝙖𝙠𝙚𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙧

05/14/2026

It's a new episode!

In the late 1700s and early 1800s, getting here — or getting anything HERE — was brutally difficult. Like many small towns of the day, Meadville had to contend with isolation, and the only path out (literally) meant developing our transportation infrastructure.

First came crude plank toll roads. Then canals. By the 1840s, the French Creek Feeder Canal turned Meadville into a legitimate inland shipping center. But canals froze in winter and dried up in summer. America, however, was changing FAST. The railroad age had arrived, and one man refused to let Meadville be left behind.

Enter William Reynolds — a Meadville-born lawyer, civic booster, and arguably one of the most important makers in our town’s history. Reynolds believed Meadville deserved to be more than an out-of-the-way county seat. In the 1850s, he helped launch an audacious plan to connect northwestern Pennsylvania to a massive rail network stretching from New York to the Midwest.

The project became the Atlantic & Great Western Railroad. It was huge. Internationally financed. Built with steel rails shipped from England. Constructed DURING the Civil War. And when the railroad finally reached Meadville in 1862, the town exploded with excitement.

The train's arrival wasn't the only big deal either. The actual depot itself was enormous — roughly the size of a football field — and attached to it was the legendary McHenry House hotel, where travelers dined beneath stained glass windows while eating meals so extravagant they became nationally famous. One newspaper editor called Meadville’s dining hall “among the best in America.”

And suddenly, Meadville wasn’t isolated, it was a major transportation hub. The railroad transformed the town into a booming crossroads for industry, oil, manufacturing, immigration, and ideas. At one point, nearly HALF of Meadville’s population worked directly for the railroads or industries connected to them.

But the railroad's impact wasn't just about economics. There was a cultural impact too. The railroad didn’t just bring freight — it brought fashion, entertainment, trends, and national culture.

Traveling performers, theater productions, lecturers, musicians, and salesmen all began arriving in town regularly. An Opera House was constructed in 1869, seating 1,200. In its peak year of 1888, fifty-six traveling theatrical companies performed in Meadville. Shakespeare, minstrel shows, burlesque, Gilbert and Sullivan — a production of The Mikado in the 1880s reportedly led to a local fad for Japanese parasols. Imagine a town that once waited weeks for outside news suddenly becoming plugged into the speed of American culture.

And what would become of William Reynolds? Despite the ups and downs of Civil War labor shortages, oil boom chaos, robber barons, international finance, luxury hotels, and railroad politics, Reynolds would learn the hard way that there's a price that comes with outside investors. He spent the rest of his life in Meadville as a respected civic figure — remembered locally, but largely forgotten nationally — even though the railroad he helped create permanently changed the future of the tri-state region and beyond.

But the story of the railroad in Meadville didn't stop here. A lot more would happen after as you'll soon discover.

Episode 12 dives into how the railroad transformed Meadville from an isolated frontier town into one of the most connected and industrially important communities in the region. If you’ve ever wondered WHY Meadville became such a big deal… this is the episode.

Listen now aboard the Crazy Train and the It's one wild ride in Meadville history. https://meadvillecrc.org/meadville-in-the-making/

05/10/2026

05/09/2026

Brown spent a roughly ten year period from 1825-1835 in Crawford County, Pennsylvania, working as postmaster and a tanner in New Richmond.

John Brown was born into a deeply religious family in Torrington, Connecticut, on May 9, 1800. Led by a father who was vehemently opposed to slavery, the family moved to northern Ohio when John was five, to a district that would become known for its antislavery views.

During his first fifty years, Brown moved around the country, settling in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, and New York, taking along his ever-growing family (he would father twenty children). Working at various times as a farmer, wool merchant, tanner, and land speculator, he was never financially successful. Yet despite his financial setbacks, Brown always found a way to support the abolitionist cause. He participated in the Underground Railroad and, in 1851, helped establish the League of Gileadites, an organization that worked to protect those escaping enslavement from slave catchers.

In 1847 Frederick Douglass met Brown for the first time in Springfield, Massachusetts. Of the meeting, Douglass stated that, "though a white gentleman, [Brown] is in sympathy a black man, and as deeply interested in our cause, as though his own soul had been pierced with the iron of slavery." It was at this meeting that Brown first outlined to Douglass his plan to lead a war to free slaves.

In October 1859, John Brown led 21 men on a raid of the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia. His plan to arm slaves with the weapons he and his men seized from the arsenal was thwarted, however, by local farmers, militiamen, and U.S. Marines led by Robert E. Lee. Within 36 hours of the attack, most of Brown's men had been killed or captured.

Brown was found guilty of murder, treason, and of inciting slave insurrection. In December, he was hanged. It was a turning point for America, for with his death all hope of a peaceful end to the slavery issue died as well.

📸: Daguerreotype of John Brown by Augustus Washington, c. 1846 (Public Domain)

05/08/2026

Our director joined our friends at Wesbury Retirement Community this week to talk about the Justice Bell, women’s suffrage, and Alice Bentley- one of the first 8 female state legislators in Pennsylvania.

05/07/2026

There’s always something new at our museums!