CRAWFORD COUNTY: A STORY OF NATIONAL SIGNIFICANCE
Few areas have a story like Crawford County, Pennsylvania – one with such a diverse legacy of national significance spanning much of the national narrative.
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NATURAL SIGNIFICANCE
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While 1800 may mark the official start of Crawford County, its story far predates that of its recorded history captured at the onset of European colonization. The county’s geological formation, which played a major part in its future history, can be traced back to four major glacial events that would eventually form the largest natural lake in Pennsylvania, Conneaut Lake where the remains of Wooly Mammoths would be discovered on its shores. These glacial events also were responsible for a unique phenomenon, reversing the northward flow of area waterways into the Saint Lawrence River, to run south into the Ohio River.
French Creek – lampreys and hellbender salamanders
Oil Creek – flooding natural disaster
Mound Builders
Native American Tribes – Cornplanter
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POLITICAL SIGNIFICANCE
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George Washington – French and Indian War
Direct primary
Burr Conspiracy
War of 1812 – Mead and Commodore Perry
Henry Baldwin
John Brown & the Underground Railroad
Desegregation of Schools
Civil War – Gettysburg, George Cullum, Lincoln’s bodyguard
Shryock – Arizona Women’s Hall of Fame
Alice Bently
Frederick C Howe
Ida Tarbell
Congressman Arthur Bates
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INDUSTRIAL SIGNIFICANCE
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Chamber of Commerce
Oil Boom (Tarr Mansion)
Erie Canal
Railroad and McHenry House / Bessemer & Lake Erie – Carnegie
Overhaul of the Census
Maj AC Huidekoper – North Dakota Cowboy Hall of Fame (Perchion Stock)
Meadville Distilling
Talon Zipper
Spirella Corsets
Keystone Viewing Company – Johnson Shaw Stereoscopic Museum
QWERTY Typewriter Keyboard
Invented here: Stationary Bike, Gas Pump, Tank Tread, cable tv
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CULTURAL SIGNIFICANCE
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Crawford Messenger
Allegheny College
Meadville Theological Seminary
Austa Sturdevant
Clarence Underwood
Ray Haroon and the Indy 500
John Heisman