Allegheny Almanac

Warren PA's changing skyline

Today's weather report

 

American flag peaks out above other nearby buildings in downtown Warren PA as Northwest Savings Bank (NWBI) expands its headquarters.

 

New bank building will straddle a space between Second Avenue and Pennsylvania Avenue as seen here from Pennsylvania Avenue. The site leaves room for increased green space.

 

200 years of change. The top of the new Northwest Savings building can be seen from the Tybout House on Market Street. No one knows for sure when this wood frame structure was built but Warren is home to numerous "little houses" built in the early 1800's. The house is named after one of its original occupants who was a popular author in her day. Some Warren County residents can still remember attending tea with the author in the Victorian garden which adjoins the house. It was originally located next door to its present location but was moved from the corner of Second Avenue and Market Street.

It's an old house. It did not have central heating, but there is a fireplace in the two main rooms on the first floor and the two bedrooms on the second floor. Close inspection of the front shows that the porch was added later. If you can imagine the house without its porch you can time travel back to Warren's earliest days. And most of Warren's "little houses" were probably painted white. You can see two other examples of these "little houses" at the corner of Liberty and Third streets and next door to the Warren Post Office.

Ella Middleton Tybout was best known for her book, The Wife of the Secretary of State, but she wrote several others and was a frequent contributor to popular magazines. One of her books, called Poketown People: Or Parables In Black (1904), relates perceptions of African Americans in her day. She makes an heroic attempt to capture the dialect of her characters, but just ended up making a book that is almost entirely unreadable. She was originally from Delaware and most likely a descendant of French Hugenots. More info on Ella Tybout (pronounced "tie-bow") here.

The house is about a block from the Warren Public Library and there is no parking. Might make a great book store. I think the asking price is $149,900. Some fear this may just become a parking lot if no one buys it.

 

photos by Chris Lareau

Photos are Copyright 2013 by Allegheny Almanac. You can re-use these photos for free as long as you give proper credit and include a link to http://www.alleghenyalmanac.com. Otherwise re-use is prohibited. Enjoy.

In search of Warren County's oldest grave site: Clendening Cemetery

Clendening Cemetery, June 2012, Cable Hollow Road, Elk Township, Warren County, PA.

"died May 11, 1817"

 "L. 8 mo. 15 da"

 

 

Most of the graves here appear to be unmarked. The sign for the cemetery notes that it was incorporated in 1893, yet these photos show that it was used much earlier than that. The earliest marked grave I found was dated 1817 and if my history is correct there were only a few hundred Europeans living here and many more indigenous peoples.

The oldest standing structures in Warren County date back to the 1820s. Many of the graves here are probably older than that.

I believe the earliest wave of settlers came here down the Allegheny River from New York state, such as Ezra Pound's grandfather who set up a sawmill in Elk Township. His son became Governor of the Territory of Wisconsin. Ezra Pound had to move to Italy because his poetry was too radical.

 

 

photos by Chris Lareau

Things Are Happening Here

 
 Crowd throngs around dedication ceremony this morning of Warren's Wildlife Fountain at the intersection of Second Avenue and Pennsylvania Avenue. The fountain depicts deer, fish, and fowl seen commonly in this part of the country. It was commissioned through the philanthropy of Northwest Savings Bank and created by an Alabama workshop called Robinson Iron. More photos to come later today.

 

See the weekend's full schedule at this link.

--photo by Chris Lareau,  Copyright 2011