Who Killed Local History?
The Legion Ville Story
Legacy
Timeline
- 1792 (November): Legion Ville established by General Anthony Wayne.
- 1793-04-13: Legion Ville camp “broken up.”
- 1818: Eyewitness accounts state that some of the buildings still standing (cited in Zadoc Cramer’s Navigator).
- 1824: Harmony Society purchased the property on which Legion Ville stood. The site was later bought by the A.M. Byers Ironworks Company who in turn sold it to National Tire and Rubber Company of Akron, Ohio.
- 1888: “Legionville of to-day is comparatively unimportant . . . The place has one house, in which lives the [postal] agent George Brown, with his family . . . The importance of Legionville is owing to two considerations: 1. It is near the ancient Logstown, the most important Indian village on the Ohio River. 2. It was the place selected by Gen. Anthony Wayne for the rendezvous of his army during the winter of 1792-73.” Richard J. Fraise in History of Beaver County, Pennsylvania (pp 599-600).
- 1904-03-09: Fort McIntosh Chapter DAR formed
- 1904 (September): Map published J.E. Leaf shows details of encampment.
- 1915-10-30: First recognition of the Legion Ville encampment (flag raising), by the Fort McIntosh Chapter of the D.A.R.
- 1918-06-14: Wayne-Logstown Monument was dedicated at Legion Ville by Fort McIntosh Chapter of the D.A.R..
- 1924: A Deptartment of Highways guide suggests that motorists would find at Legionville a free campsite, states Brian Butko in The Lincoln Highway (2002, p. 313).
- 1973: Anthony Wayne Historical Society formed to preserve the site.
- 1975-03-17: “Legionville” 25-acre site listed on National Register of Historic Places.
- 1977: Senator John Heinz introduces S. 1104 in the Senate to restore Legionville.
- 1978-11-02: President Carter “pocket” vetoes Congressional Legion Ville restoration legislation.
- 1992: Legionville referenced in “Pennsylvania at Risk,” by Preservation Pennsylvania: “The Legionville site is threatened by the development of an industrial park” (Vol 6, No. 20, p. 2).
- 1994: Anthony Wayne Historical Society changes name to Legion Ville Historical Society.
- 1994: Tentative land developer who wants to put a mall on the vacant Legionville site calls opponents, “a bunch of sick people–jerks–who want something for nothing, and care more about a bunch of dried-up bones than living people who want to make a living.” As reported in “The Battle of Legion Ville,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, May 10, 1994.
- 1996: Regina Morrow Riley publishes “Legionville: Then and Now” in Milestones: The Journal of Beaver County History (Vol 21 No 2 Summer 1996).
- 1999: Eliot Johnson publishes “Legionville” in Milestones: The Journal of Beaver County History (Vol 24 No 1 Spring 1999).
- 1999-05-05: Pending sale of Legion Ville to Northwest Auto, Inc. halted by Judge John D. McBride. Site owner B. Paul Mouradian is willing to sell property to BEaver County for historic preservation but the County cannot raise matching funds for its $300,000 Keystone grant.
- 2001-06-21: Pa Legislature unanimously passes HR 27 urging support for development of Logstown/Legionville as a Pennsylvania historical park and historical center.
- 2002 (February): “Logstown/Legionville Historic Park & Center” sign erected at Legion Ville site.
- 2005: Legion Ville land acquired by developers.
- 2013: Car dealership built on part of Legion Ville land.
- 2018-11-13: Jeffrey Snedden publishes “The forgotten 17: America’s earliest veterans buried in unmarked graves” in The Beaver County Times.
- 2023: Legion Ville and Logstown sites sit inactive and abandoned except for a handful of roadside markers. There are no local history events or programs conducted at the sites.
231 Years. Where Are We Now?
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