Past Westmoreland milestones: Centennial banquet, bicentennial week at Hanna's Town

Apr. 7—Westmoreland County celebrated its centennial by holding a banquet replete with champagne toasts and speeches.

The gala gathering was held at 9 p.m. on Feb. 20, 1873 in the Kettering House in Greensburg. It apparently lasted until 2 a.m., according to a series of reports published over the following week in the Pennsylvania Argus newspaper.

That allowed time for a dozen speakers to hold forth on topics ranging from appreciations of the county's physicians and attorneys to summaries of progress made in mining and manufacturing.

Speech titles included: "Old Westmoreland — Mother of Counties and her Offspring;" "Westmoreland's Daughters;" and "The Pulpit, Press and Schools."

Railroads also got their due. The banquet guests learned that the first passenger train reached the county in 1851, arriving from the east on a rail line along the Conemaugh River gap through Laurel Ridge.

On Nov. 18, 1852, "The first entire rail connection between east and west was made by laying the land-connecting rail in the cut on the farm now owned by John P. Kilgore Esq. three miles east of Greensburg," according to the Argus report of the speech.

"And now in a period of say about 22 years, less than a single generation, we have completed and in operation 160 miles of railroad operated by several companies which already traverse 16 of our 22 townships and nine of our 12 boroughs," the speech continued. The speaker noted new lines were being constructed from Latrobe to Ligonier and from West Newton to Belle Vernon, which would leave just four townships — Donegal, Cook, Salem and Franklin (which includes modern Murrysville) without railroads.

Regarding transportation projects, the Argus also published a "Notice to Bridge Builders," announcing that county commissioners were seeking sealed proposals for construction of a "county bridge across Loyalhanna Creek at Samuel Johnston's fording in Ligonier Township." The commissioners were scheduled to present plans and specifications for the project on April 10, 1873.

The concluding Feb. 20 speech looked forward to "Our next Centennial."

When that milestone arrived, a much more elaborate weeklong celebration was held but was delayed from the actual anniversary of the county's formation until July 8-14, 1973.

Perhaps planners of the county bicentennial were inspired by anticipation of the nation's bicentennial that would arrive in another three years.

As reported in the Tribune-Review, many of the activities took place at the site of Hanna's Town — the location of the first county seat that is now a county park featuring recreated or relocated log structures, a stockade and the headquarters of the Westmoreland County Historical Society.

The recreation of Historic Hanna's Town kicked off during the county bicentennial, with volunteers raising a two-story log building to serve as a replica of an 18th century original that had functioned as a courthouse, tavern and inn.

Festivities also included a wagon train trek from Bakersville to Hanna's Town, frontier olympics, a horse-pulling contest, a historically-themed pageant, skydivers, a country music festival and displays of museum artifacts, wild animals and a moon rock.

Turning past disaster into present delight, bicentennial organizers staged a fireworks display to remember the burning of Hanna's Town by a raiding party of Native Americans and their British allies on July 13, 1782.

Events at other locations included an ox roast at the Ligonier Holiday Inn, a polka fest at Greensburg's William Penn Club and a dance and midnight buffet at the Greensburg Country Club.

The bicentennial week began with a "frontier" parade in downtown Greensburg and ended with a "modern" parade that involved 5,000 participants and attracted an estimated 30,000 onlookers.

Held at dusk, the final three-hour parade began with vehicular units departing from the Hanna's Town site. They were joined in Greensburg by marchers, with the procession ending at Offutt Field.

Gwen Snyder of Monessen was crowned as the Calico Queen, the idea being that she would reign in a simple calico dress rather than a fancy robe, to recall the county's rural beginning.

National Guard howitzers fired off a 20-round salute. Another series of fireworks ascended into the Greensburg sky from the hilltop campus of Seton Hill — which changed its status from a college to a university in 2002.

Jeff Himler is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Jeff by email at jhimler@triblive.com or via Twitter .