Washington, county seat, laid out in 1782, population 21,480. Courthouse, built in 1900, on Main Street, Italian Renaissance, Columbia sandstone and granite; architect, F. J. Osterling; contains portraits, also collections made by the Washington County Historical Society; ground given by David Hoge of Virginia, who owned large tracts of land where the town now is. Town Hall, corner-stone laid by General U. S. Grant, in 1869; contains Public Library, gift of Dr. Francis J. Le Moyne. Washington and Jefferson College, combined in 1870, from Washington College founded 1787, and Jefferson College founded in Canonsburg, 1802; both flourished until the Civil
Washington County
War, when many students enlisted and financial depression followed; located one square east of the courthouse; oldest part, two story, stone, erected, 1793; main building, brick, 1836, enlarged, 1875, houses the Y. M. C. A., the museum, classrooms, and laboratories; several other fine buildings of brick and stone are on the campus; chapel contains portraits.
Washington Seminary, recognized as one of the oldest and best institutions for women students, one square south of college, was built, 1836. Bradford House, first stone house in this locality, was built, 1794, by Colonel William Bradford, a leader in the Whiskey Insurrection. Residence, Dr. Francis Julius Le Moyne, native of this town, built in 1812, East Maiden Street near Main, is one of the landmarks; he was a brilliant scholar, abolitionist, and promoter of the underground railroad; he built the first crematory in America, located south of Washington, first cremation, Baron de Palen, in 1876. Dr. Le Moyne was cremated, 1879. The Presbyterian Church leads, with the other principal denominations represented, also Jewish Synagogue. West from Washington, the Campbell family founded the Disciples, or Christian Church, on Buffalo Creek.
The Cumberland Road, built, 1811, brought an almost unbroken stream of home seekers through this town, en route to the west; bridges and culverts built about the same time still stand, models of solid masonry and good engineering, one is between Washington and Claysville, town named for Henry Clay, who had an interest in the road and frequently came here.
Canonsburg, laid out, 1787, by Colonel John Canon, population 10,632, a portion of his first grist mill is on original location near Chartier’s Creek. Jefferson College chartered, 1802; oldest building erected in 1830; on North Central Avenue, highest ground in town; was outgrowth of Dr. John McMillan’s Log Cabin Latin School from 1782; first classical school west of the Allegheny Mountains, his cabin stands on the campus, marked by a bronze tablet, placed by the Phi Gamma Delta Fraternity, custodians; having been removed from its original site, two miles south of town; Franklin Hall, converted into a Memorial Hall in 1900, contains portraits of college presidents and professors between 1802-69, also collections of old books from several early libraries and literary societies; may be seen by applying to any of the Memorial Hall Committee. Stone edifice, opposite campus, built by John Roberts, Esq, who conducted a school and kept post office here in 1801, parts of walls are said to be part of stone Academy Building, erected by Colonel Canon, for which he donated the ground in 1790; it was merged with the Log Cabin School to form Jefferson College.
Two-story building at northeast corner of Central Avenue and Pike Street, now grocery and hardware store, was site of the Joshua Emery’s Hotel; here President James Monroe was entertained in 1817. On east side of North Central Avenue, between Pike and College Streets, vacant lot, site of Black Horse Tavern, notable as the resort of men who rifled the mail sacks, when letters supposed to contain evidence against violaters of the excise laws were stolen, en route to Philadelphia from Pittsburgh, 1794. Residence 62-68 East Pike Street, built by Dr. Jonathan Letherman, before 1830, here Dr. John McMillan died in 1833; the flower garden, with brick wall, was laid out by a landscape gardener brought from Philadelphia by Dr. Letherman, original designs still retained. The Hutchinson house, north side, West College Street, corner of Hutchinson Avenue and adjacent lots, once the Hutchinson farm, was where the “Whiskey boys” encamped in 1794, here also “musters” were held before the Civil War. Chartiers Presbyterian (Hill) Church and burial ground, one mile south of Canonsburg, is where Dr. John McMillan began his pastorate in 1775, and was buried; here, Woodrow Wilson’s father was also a former pastor; this site became a rendezvous for the Whiskey Insurrectionists in 1794.
A natural park of seventy acres, within east side of the borough, acquired by gift, is a beautiful breathing spot for the whole community. About one mile northeast of Canonsburg, at Morganza, is the Western Pennsylvania Industrial School; the Morgan Lands, eleven hundred acres, was the home of General George Morgan, Indian agent in Pittsburgh 1775-79; a portion of his residence is still standing, about midway between Morganza and Pollock; here he was visited by Aaron Burr in 1806. General Morgan and his two sons were summoned to Richmond, as witnesses, when Burr was tried for treason.