Crawford County, Pennsylvania
History
1876 ATLAS 1
"HISTORY OF THE VILLAGES AND TOWNSHIPS OF CRAWFORD COUNTY."
MEAD TOWNSHIP.
Mead Township was formed in 1790. Its present area is twenty-five thousand four hundred and seventy-two acres. The surface is hilly, yet the soil is productive, especially in the French Creek Valley. The population, outside of Meadville, in 1870 was two thousand four hundred and twenty-one. Among the early settlers were William Williams, in 1796, on the state road in the northern part of the township, and James DeFrance, from Lycoming, a settler in the southeast, on a Holland Company tract. John Ryan came out to prospect in 1796, and the next year removed from Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, to Mead Township. James Hunter came in 1799 from Allegheny County, and settled near the centre. During his first night's camp on his tract he was awakened by a dog,—his soul companion,—and saw a bear near his fire and shot him; at daylight a deer was shot nearby, and supplies were abundant. Samuel Hobbs, from Vermont, David Thurston, from New Jersey, Peter Kinney and James McDill were settlers of about 1800. Somewhat later Joseph Baird settled towards the southern part. Edward Ryan, born in 1797, and still an occupant of the old farm, is one of the earliest births in the township. Beriah Battles is mentioned as the first carpenter, and found active employment in finishing log cabins. Mr. Ryan says that James Dickson's cabin was the first erected, and that the first saw-mill was built by Hill and Forbett, on Mill Run, in 1800. A grist-mill was erected about the same time on Sugar Creek, by Jacob Stanbrook. Other mills were put up wherever water-privilege could be secured. The first road ran from Tituses, on Oil Creek, through by the Brawley settlement to Meadville. The Oil Creek road was laid out in 1802. Ryan sunk a few vats and did tanning on a small scale. The marriage of Joseph Hackney to Margaret McGrady, about 1800, was one of the earliest. The first log school-house was built in what was known as the Randolph settlement. The history of the township is closely assimilated to that of the County seat.
The city of Meadville is finely located on the left bank of French Creek, in a valley flat, surrounded by hills and hill-ranges most pleasing to the eye. It is thirty-seven miles from Erie, ninety from Pittsburgh, and twenty-five from Franklin. The town was originally planned by David Mead in 1790, but in 1795 the plan was improved by Major Roger Alden and Dr. F. R. Kennedy. The plot was divided into seventy-five squares, by-streets, alleys, and lanes. One square, known as the Diamond, was laid off in the form of a parallelogram, measuring three hundred feet east and west by six hundred north and south. Public buildings and churches front on this public ground. Edifices, public and private, indicate a refined taste; yards neatly kept and abounding in shade-trees and shrubbery are common, and the citizens bear the name of general urbanity and intelligence. In 1805, most of the land on which the city stands was covered with heavy timber or was but recently cleared. The price of lots was six dollars each. At this time David Mead lived at the head of Water Street, H. Richards opposite the Eagle House, Joseph Hackney kept store in a red building just north of John McFarland's store. David Compton kept the tavern known as the Washington House. Dr. Kennedy was also Prothonotary. B. White kept tavern, as did John Garber, Henry Hurst, and James Gibson. The merchants were Samuel B. Magaw, Andrew Work, James Herriotts, and Joseph Hackney. Eliphalet Betts and George McGunnigle were the tailors; William Dick, carpenter; N. Conrad, baker; Patrick Davis, tanner; A. W. Foster, J. W. Hunter, Patrick Farrelly, and Ralph Martin, attorneys-at-law; William Shannon, saddler; William Burnside, Lawrence Clency, blacksmiths; James Douglass, schoolmaster; and H. J. Huidekoper and Jabez Colt, land-agents. It is of interest to know that the path used by the French and Indians in passing from Fort Venango to Fort Le Bouef, and which was traveled by Washington, was the same ground now occupied by Water Street, from the Mill Run to the north end of the street. Little did he think, as he made his historic journey along this part of his route, of the thousands who in a lifetime would settle thickly in this lovely valley and call it home. In 1817 Meadville contained eighty families, in 1846 about two thousand, and in 1870 seven thousand one hundred and three; it has rapidly increased during the last half-decade. Meadville was incorporated as a borough March 29, 1823, and on June 16 an election resulted in Thomas Atkinson for Burgess, and Eliphalet Betts, James Hamilton, Joseph Patterson, Daniel Perkins, and George Selden for Council.
In 1835 an amendment to the borough charter required the election of two councilmen annually, to serve three years. In 1838, a second amendment created the office of assistant burgess, and John Dick was elected to the office. In 1853, by legislative enactment, the limits of the borough were enlarged and established until February 15, 1866, when a new charter was granted by the legislature, and Meadville became an incorporated city, with William Reynolds, Esq., as Mayor. Important events have been elsewhere noted. The many churches varied in style and structure, the public schools excellently supervised, the educational colleges, time-honored and flourishing, the enterprising manufactures, the stable banks, the well-kept hotels, the public library, the new water-works, the massive blocks, like those of Richmond and Delamater, the railroad shops and depot, the opera, and the systematized post-office are parts, all indicative of the leading features of a beautiful and growing city. The post-office deserves brief mention. It has a room in the Richmond block ninety feet long by twenty-two wide. There are two thousand letter-boxes. Some fifteen hundred letters are daily received, and as many mailed. The money-order office issues four thousand orders yearly, affording safe transit to over one hundred thousand dollars. At Meadville a County fair is annually held. Here are the headquarters of the Twentieth Division of the Pennsylvania Guard. A fine band furnishes music to the citizens on Thursday evenings of each week at the Diamond, and the Opera House, in the Cullom Block, gives a fitting apartment for choice amusement by intellectual entertainment. The population of Meadville is rapidly increasing. The durable and improved agencies for trade, manufactures and education, the enterprise and capital of the citizens, promise a Meadville in the immediate future in full ratio of advancement compared with the past.
