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Life in Warren County > Heritage
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It all began in 1795. Andrew Ellicott
and General William Irvine were appointed by the government
to survey and lay out the town of Warren. Warren County was
carved from Lycoming and Allegheny Counties and named after
General Joseph Warren, who was a hero at the famous Revolutionary
Battle of Bunker Hill (Breeds Hill). It became a full-fledged
county in 1819 with the establishment of the county seat at
Warren.
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Warren County Historical Society
The Warren County Historical Society
(WCHS) - also the Warren Historic District Information Center
- holds the collection of our timeless past. With a large collection
of genealogical records, newspaper clippings, notebooks, scrapbooks,
and yearbooks, the Historical Society holds thehistory of the
people of Warren County. Material and information on surrounding
areas is also available. The Society is housed in the  Struthers-Wetmore-Schimmelfeng
House in which it displays exhibits on county history. Fourteen
additional local history exhibit rooms have been established
in the Wilder Museum of Irvine, an off-site property of the
Warren
County
Historical Society.
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Celeron's Lead Plates
In 1749, Frenchman Celoron de Blainville
made his way to and through Warren County via Conewango Creek
and the Allegheny River. The territory had already been claimed
for France by explorer La Salle, and Celoron reinforced that
claim by burying lead plates at strategic locations. Although
four of these plates placed during his exploration have been
discovered, the plate for Warren has never been found.
Chief Cornplanter
During the early settlement of the
whites, the Native Americans of the Seneca Nation still inhabited
the region, and trade relations were set up. Under the command
of Chief Cornplanter, the Seneca Indians fought with the British
during the American Revolution. Cornplanter realized the value
of aligning with the newcomers to maintain peace for his people.
He was given a plot of land for his successors to live on, known
as Cornplanter Grant, in Corydon and Kinzua Townships. The area
is now under the waters of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
Allegheny Reservoir. The Seneca Indian cemetery, home to Cornplanter’s
grave, taken by eminent domain in 1964, was moved to higher
ground just across the border in New York State. The Cornplanter
Grant was the last of the occupied Indian lands in the state.
Lumber and Oil
The earliest settlers to Warren County
came with the dawn of the 19th century. Due to its location
at the confluence of the Allegheny River and Conewango Creek,
Warren was an obviously prime area for settlement. The lumber
industry boomed. Men constructed wooden rafts to ride on as
they directed lumber down the Allegheny to Pittsburgh. They
would often return to Warren on foot by following a path along
the river. Tanneries also sprang up. The Sheffield area was
home to many. In the mid 1800’s, oil was discovered, with Tidioute
having particularly rich deposits. By 1900, oil had become a
major industry in Warren County. At one point, there were thirteen
active oil refineries within a six-mile radius of Warren. Even
though locally it is not as large an industry today, oil still
plays a substantial role in our economy.
Underground Railroad
The Sugar Grove area was a stop on
the Underground Railroad that took slaves from below the Confederate
border all the way to Canada. Escapees would often stay and
work in Sugar Grove to make enough money to continue their journey.
Sugar Grove was considered a safe haven from slave bounty hunters.
Among the buildings that were a part of the Sugar Grove Underground
Railroad is the First Presbyterian Church, the oldest religious
facility in Warren County still in use. Many famous abolitionists
came to the region, including Frederick Douglass and J.W. Loguen,
both of whom spoke at the 1854 Anti-Slavery Convention in Sugar
Grove. Sallie Holley, a lecturer for the American Anti-Slavery
Society, also visited to speak against slavery in 1858.
Visit the Sugar
Grove Underground RR website
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The first building constructed in Warren was a log storehouse owned by the Holland Land Company. It was erected in 1795 and stood until 1840.
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Revoultionary War hero General Joseph Warren never set foot in Warren County.
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Chief Cornplanter was known by Indians and non-Indians alike for his intelligence and abilities as a spokesperson. He was the son of a Seneca woman and a Dutch father.
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The second oil well in the world was drilled at Tidioute, Warren County in 1860. The first was drilled in Titusville in 1859.
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Lewis G. Clarke, famous abolitionist author and orator, lived in Sugar Grove before moving across the New York border to Busti. He was the inspiration for character George Harris in Harriet Beecher Stowe’s novel, Uncle Tom’s Cabin.
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Blair Corporation, originally called New Process Company, was founded in Warren in 1910. Its original name is derived from a new process used to vulcanize fabric so that undertakers could wear black raincoats that wouldn’t ‘bleed’ in the rain.
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