Southwestern Pennsylvania has always been defined by its rivers…. the Allegheny coming down from the north and the Monongahela coming up from the south to form the Ohio and create a waterway that runs all the way to the Mississippi and the Gulf of Mexico.
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"Down the Allegheny.... |
...and up the Monongahela... |
...to Pittsburgh where they form the Ohio." |
The Monongahela is unique in that it flows north not south from it mouth in West Virginia. Prehistoric Native Americans called the Mound Builders camped along its banks still swollen from the disappearing Ice Age and left their legend in heaps of stones, bones and shells. Centuries later another Native American, Chief Nemacolin, and a Maryland frontiersman, Thomas Cresap blazed a path along the Monongahela from Maryland to Pennsylvania that would open a doorway to the West. It became the National Road and would eventually extend from New Jersey to Utah. Along that trail today….
 "Madonna of the Trail" one of 12 monuments in
the 12 states along the National Road.
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 The National Hotel in Beallsville, PA. is still there. |
 Mt. Washington Tavern, Farmington, PA. |
 Addison Toll House, Addison, PA., the only one
made of Pennsylvania cut stone.
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The first white visitors were French voyagers followed by British explorers who built forts when the wilderness met the water. One of them was Redstone Old Fort also called Fort Burd, built of wood by the British on one of those ancient mounds in 1759 and named “Redstone” for the blocks of red sandstone piled there. Nothing remains of the fort today except a marker in the retaining wall directly below Nemacolin Castle in what is now Brownsville.. The castle was built as a trading post and tavern in 1789 before it was enlarged as a residential home for the Jacob Bowman family in the 19th Century. It is now open for the public.
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 Nemacolin Castle |
 Brownsville in 1914 |
 Brownsville today |
It was the same fort General Braddock was heading for when he ran into the French coming the other way. In fact he carved his destination in stone. But at the “Battle of the Monongahela” Braddock lost the fight, most of his men and his life Thanks to his aide-de-camp, Colonel George Washington, only 23 at the time, some of his men were saved. Later Braddock was buried in a secret grave in the middle of a well-traveled road near Fort Necessity. In 1804 workmen found his bones and they were re-interred in Fort Necessity National Battlefield.
 Braddock's stone...the first road sign? |
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 Braddock's retreat |
 Braddock's burial |
 Fort Necessity |
 Braddock's monument |
The Battle of Monongahela . From 1765 to 1767 settlers from Virginia and Maryland swarmed into the Redstone settlement until military units forcibly removed them to prevent Indian uprisings. They returned in even greater numbers. In 1768 Governor William Penn threatened them with “death without benefit of clergy” if they remained but to no avail. The living was just too good in that valley. In 1791 the militia was called again, this time to quell the protest over the new whiskey tax. One of the hot spots was in the Redstone Old Fort area. It was the first and only time a sitting President of the United States personally led troops against its citizens.
 The Whiskey Rebellion |
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The David Bradford House... Coal, lumber, bricks made of riverbank clay, transportation and boat building were the first industries in the valley before steel took over. But the mills soon governed the area. Elizabeth was the boat building center, Newell became a rail terminus, California had the brickyards while Donora and Homestead were centers for coal and steel. But industry had some deadly results before labor laws and air pollution controls took over….
The Homestead Steel Strike of 1892….
In the spring of 1892 skilled workers at Andrew Carnegie’s Steel Works at Homestead were told they were getting pay cuts. They went on strike. Henry Clay Frick, Carnegie’s manager, called in the Pinkerton men (strike breakers). As they came down the river, workers and townspeople were waiting on the bank. A day-long gun battle ensued forcing the Governor to send in the National Guard. Today the steel works is gone and an open-air mall is in its place with a few of the smoke stacks standing guard.
 The Homestead Steel Strike |
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The Waterfront Mall |
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Donora’s Deadly Fog of 1948
October, 1948 brought death to Donora in the form of an air inversion
(trapped pollution) that lasted 3 days. It cost the lives of 70 people including the father of baseball great Stan Musial.
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Deadly smog in Donora |
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 Donora today |
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California, PA........
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a lovely town along the banks of the Monongahela River where….
. houses have names and resumes!.....
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 ...as it stands today behind tall pines, without the porch but with a walled terrace.... |
 ...and right behind it, Arabella's Den! |
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 The Thomas Moore House, the first house built in California in 1849. |
 Shutterly House..a pre-Civil War depot
for the underground railroad
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 ...as it looks today |
 Built in 1904, the Jennings House, now called the Gallagher House after the last owner, is home to the California Historical Society. |
 The Lustron House, one of the three prefabricated, enameled all-steel houses built here in the late 1940s to "defy weather, wear and time". |
. there is an art studio that nurtures artists, music and
film while embracing community events in a warm
inviting atmosphere…..
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. a flower shop speaks the language of love fluently
from every nook and corner….
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. a train depot becomes a library!....
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. the road signs speak volumes….
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. there’s an old bank, a new municipal
building and a young mayor….
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. and a college that just grows and grows! ….
 It all began in 1868 as a State Normal School... |
 ...and just keeps going! |
 The Louis Manderino Library |
 Everyone's Welcome |
Just some of the films made near or about the area….
 Helen Holmes in "Perils of Pauline" 1914 |
 Paulette Goddard in "Unconquered" 1947 |
 "Maria's Lovers" 1978 with Robert
Mitchum, Natasha Kinski.
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 "Wonder Boys" 1999 with Michael Douglas |
 "The Road" 2009 with Viggio Mortenson and Charlize Theron |
 "An Act of Vengeance" 1986 with Charles Bronson...the televised account of the Yablonski murders. |
 A promotionl scene for the new CBS series "Three Rivers" filmed inside Brownsville Hospital where Alex O'Loughlin plays Dr. Andy Yablonski |
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I would like to thank all those who were so helpful in getting this page together… our own Jess who took oodles of pictures… the Jozart Studio who sent pictures… Rosie and the gals at “Flowers by Regina” who gave us the run of the place… Mayor Casey Durdines… Michael Kort…Dani Watters… and the California Historical Society.
