Crawford County Messenger and CCHS News

Culture – As Reported in the Local Newspapers If cultural climate were to be judged by numbers of local newspapers, Meadville would rank as one of the most cultivated towns in the country. More than...

The Cultural Climate of Meadville: From 1800-1900 is an article written in 1974 by Mrs. Julian (Carol) Ross for the members of the Meadville Women’s Literary Union. She researched theater, art, music, and other categories...

Many think of the 1960s in America as a time of peace, love, and understanding. But, during the time the country was nearing the end of the decade, turmoil crisscrossed the United States. By 1968,...

On the fifth of April, I803, Jesse Moore was appointed President Judge of the Sixth Judicial District of Crawford County by Governor Thomas M’Kean, succeeding Judge Alexander Addison who was the first Judge of this...

Leonard Graves was an expert blacksmith who learned the carpentry trade by building carriages as a hobby for family and friends. During the post-war period following the Civil War, business was booming, and demand for...

The homes at Hillcrest in Meadville, Pennsylvania, have become such a part of the fabric of the community that one could almost take them for granted. They seem to have always been there. Like a...

Dorothy Thurston was born on July 31, 1896, in Meadville, Pennsylvania, to Alic and Jessie May (Hill) Thurston. She was one of five children in a family well known for its contributions to local and...

2025, marks the 117th anniversary of one of the more gruesome episodes in the long history of Crawford County’s old jail. It all begins on Christmas Eve, 1908, when Jack Cronin uses a .32 revolver...

Crawford County has rarely stifled its opinions regarding national politics. The tone was set by residents in 1807 who burned an effigy of Federalist, Aaron Burr outside the courthouse. And this was hardly the county’s...

The morning after – charred remains of the fire’s path. The Hotel Conneaut stands untouched in the background. As the morning darkness of December 2, 1908, dissolved into daylight, a scene of utter destruction revealed...

One of John Leech’s Original Illustrations for A Christmas Carol  With the Baldwin-Reynolds House Museum hosting their annual “Fezziwig’s Christmas Dinner” in just a few short days, some readers might be curious “what’s in a...

Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton Duel Crawford County does not have much of a history of domestic strife. The county was largely unsettled during the time of the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812 never...