By The Conneaut Lake Our Town Team
Fireman’s Beach, formerly known as Dennis Beach, has served as a popular location for picnics and recreation since the land became available for public access sometime between 1952 and 1956. With the railroad tracks passing through, visitors would…

By The Conneaut Lake Our Town Team
Ice House Park was previously home to the Conneaut Lake Ice Company, which provided a key economic resource to the community from 1880 into the 1930s. In 2007, with Keystone funds and a community effort led by Dr. Robert Moss, a public park was…

By The Conneaut Lake Our Town Team
As the population of Conneaut Lake, which was called Evansburg at the time, began to grow in the 1800s, it became apparent that a more efficient method of transportation was needed. In 1825, the southern extension of the Erie Canal was completed,…

By The Conneaut Lake Our Town Team
As a major tourist destination, visitors to Conneaut Lake would have been given competitive options by the local hotels. Since the construction of the Conneaut Lake House in 1823, more than 40 hotels have existed in the area. Beyond just room and…

By The Conneaut Lake Our Town Team
Through the purchase of Lynce’s Landing and the McClure family farm, Exposition Park, which would later become Conneaut Lake Park, was founded in 1892. Initially Exposition Park was a place summer visitors could come and enjoy all of the frivolities…

By The Conneaut Lake Our Town Team
1825 brought the completion of the Erie Canal, linking Albany, New York to Lake Erie and allowing goods to be transported more efficiently inland. The southern extension of the canal, which was referred to as the Beaver and Erie Canal, brought…

By The Conneaut Lake Our Town Team
Conneaut Lake’s name is derived from the word “Konneyaut” which meant “snow place” to the Seneca Indians who first inhabited the area. As the lake thawed, the snow on the ground surrounding the perimeter of the lake would melt more slowly than in…

By The Conneaut Lake Our Town Team
Even after the first spring melt, the snow would remain on the frozen surface of Conneaut Lake. Capitalizing on this natural resource, the Conneaut Lake Ice Company was established in August of 1880 on a narrow strip of land on the southeastern edge…

By The Conneaut Lake Our Town Team
In 1958, an excavation led by Conneaut Lake resident Carl Burkett, with the aid of geology professor Sam Harrison and a number of his students from nearby Allegheny College, yielded the discovery of a 10,000 year old mammoth tusk dredging between…

By The Conneaut Lake Our Town Team
The construction of the Erie Canal brought with it the first opportunity for commercial use of Conneaut Lake. Until its completion in 1825, Conneaut Lake was accessible only by foot trails. It wasn’t until the southern end of the canal, called The…

By The Conneaut Lake Our Town Team
Approximately 11,700 years ago, at the end of the Pleistocene epoch, the glaciers that covered North America began to retreat. As this occurred, one large block of ice broke from a glacier, carving out a deep depression in the area now known as…

By The NW PA Heritage team
Built in 1853, Ruter Hall was the second building constructed on Allegheny's campus. Ruter was named for Rev. Martin Ruter, the second president of the College (1833-1837) and the first after the Methodist re-founding. This fine example of…

By The NW PA Heritage team
In spring 1865, this three-story wooden dormitory was built directly across Waterford Pike (now Main Street) from Ruter Hall, able to be occupied by as many as 100 male students that fall. Difficulties ensued when the original donor Charles Vernon…

By Meghan Veglia
On January 15, 1915 Alden Hall, home of Allegheny’s chemistry and biology departments burnt down in a devastating fire. The college lost thousands of dollars, and was unsure of their next step when Andrew Carnegie decided to donate $40,000 for a new…

By Genesis Valencia
Montgomery Gymnasium was built as an armory and a center for physical instruction in 1896. The building was designed by Chicago architect M. H. Church to serve the needs of students, faculty, and alumni who had advocated for an on-campus location…

By Alexander Neal
To ensure student retention, and to eliminate the threat of campus community factions, it was decided that the College needed to erect a building that would house 150 - 200 male students, provide club rooms, banquet rooms, and guest rooms. The…

By Brennen French
Ford Memorial Chapel has been the center of spiritual and intellectual life at Allegheny College since it was built in 1901. In the 1820’s, chapel services were held in the second floor of Bentley Hall, then moved to Ruter Hall after 1854. As…

By The NW PA Heritage team
The site where Alden Hall now stands was originally occupied by Alden Academy, the Preparatory School associated with the College. When it closed in 1912, the Chemistry Department moved in, only to be displaced due to a fire on January 15, 1915. The…

By Rachel Raczynski
When it was erected in 1892, Wilcox Hall was only the fourth building on campus, but the first dedicated to specialized instruction. It was a popular gathering spot, because Allegheny College students assembled on the lengthy steps. Demolished in…

By Genesis Valencia
Newton Memorial Observatory was constructed for Allegheny College in 1901 under the guidance of Mary Newton, who commissioned the building to honor her late husband, Captain Don Carlos Newton and to expand the culture of Physics education and…

By Rachel Raczynski
Designed by Alexander Temple with assistance from Timothy Alden, founder and first president of the College, Bentley Hall was the first building on Allegheny College's campus. Considered one of the finest extant examples of Federalist…