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Crawford County, PA
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Created on March 12, 1800, from part of Allegheny
County, and named for Colonel William Crawford, a
frontier hero. Meadville, the county seat, was named for
its founder, David Mead, and incorporated as a borough
on March 29, 1823. On February 15, 1866 it was
incorporated as a city.
 First
settlement occurred in 1788. Three big land companies
(the Holland, North American, and Population) sold land
to Irish and Scotch-Irish immigrants. Roger Alden from
the Holland Company stayed on to found a bank and
stimulate road building. Timothy Alden led early
Allegheny College, founded 1815, part of the New England
influence in the area. Corn and rye grew well from the
start, leading to advanced livestock production. The
Erie Extension Canal, opened 1844, boosted the economy.
Lumber and wood products flourished in the nineteenth
century. Following Drake’s discovery of oil in Venango
County (1859) Crawford had an oil boom centered around
Titusville. Later a tool and die industry arose. Talon
Zipper Company came into existence about 1900,
Channellock was famous for hand tools, and Spirella
Corset developed a superior product. Today, thirty-seven
percent of the land is farmed. There were Underground
Railroad stations in Meadville and Randolph. Author Ida
Tarbell, abolitionist John Brown, and Supreme Court
Justice Henry Baldwin once lived in Crawford. |
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