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Samuel and Alic Thurston: Ballooning Daredevils
As colorful balloons fill the skies over Crawford County for the annual Thurston Classic, it’s always a worthwhile venture to dig into the histories of father and son, Samuel and Alic (sometimes Alex) Thurston, the...
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Crawford County Native Won the First Indy 500
Ray Harroun 1879-1968 The winner of the first Indianapolis 500, Ray Harroun was born on January 12, 1879 in Spartansburg, Pennsylvania in northern Crawford County. Harroun was the youngest of Russell and Lucy Harroun’s four...
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Steel, Concrete, and Politics: A History of the Mead Avenue Bridge
The architectural beauty of the Mead Avenue Bridge in modern times The Mead Avenue Bridge, as many can recall, has through the years, been a stalwart fixture within the Meadville Community. The bridge not only...
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Mapping History: How Chasing Sanborn’s Show What Once Existed
The Sanborn Map Company Those interested in the past often obsess over the “when” of things. The first person settled in 1822. The first brick home was built in 1845. The first train arrived in...
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How the Trolley Arrived at Conneaut Lake Park
Allegheny students wait at the Exposition Park trolley station – 1913 On May 30, 1906, the Meadville and Conneaut Lake Traction (M&CLT) Company formed with a goal of bringing trolley service to Exposition Park (Conneaut...
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How Crawford County Forever Changed Women’s Undergarments
Lady Mary Crawley’s corset in an early episode Change stands prominent as the obvious theme depicted in TV’s historical drama, Downton Abbey. The show begins famously with news of the Titanic’s sinking in 1912 and...
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Crawford County Estates in the Downton Abbey Era
Baldwin Reynolds Home & Estate The “Downton” Era (1910s and 1920s) was a time or expansion of ideas, but for a tightening of funds in large manors, or, in the case in America, smaller landed...
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