¯ In 1749, in response to the English traders, Captain Celoron de Blainville floated down the Conewango and steered his canoes out onto the Allegheny River. Halting his expedition to land his men and mark his visit with a lead plate, he claimed the land, now known as Warren, in the name of the King of France.

¯ In 1784, with the assistance of Chief Cornplanter, the Treaty of Fort Stanwix deeded the land to the government, giving the white man clear access to the land, now known as Warren.

¯ On April 18, 1795, an act was passed by the State Legislature to promote the settling of the frontier by establishing the settlement of Warren. It was determined that Andrew Ellicott and General William Irvine would go forth to survey and layout the lands. Warren, named by General William Irvine for Revolutionary soldier General Joseph Warren, was determined to be located at the junction of the Conewango and the Allegheny. Andrew Ellicott and General Irvine, protected by the state militia from Indian warfare, mapped out 524 lots with six streets running nearly east to west and ten nearly north to south on the Governor Mifflin’s mandated three hundred acres for town lots, seven hundred acres of land adjoining for out lots, and the most eligible place within the tract be reserved for public use, known as “The Diamond.”

¯ In 1796, the first permanent structure was built by the Holland Land Company made from hewn logs, used as a supply depot, and stood until 1840.

Times Observer photo by Josh Cotton Depicted on a waymarker downtown is this painting of Celeron de Blainville’s meeting with the Native Americans inhabiting the area.

¯In the early 1800s, the town had very few houses and businesses varied with the seasons. Springtime brought large rafts floating down the Allegheny River and small crafts down the Conewango. The breaking of the ice and rising of the waters brought the floods and the ability to move lumber south to Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, and New Orleans. Guy C. Irvine, known as the Napoleon among lumbermen, owned more pinelands and sent more lumber to market than any other man on the Allegheny.

¯ The town Warren became the county seat by a request of Col. Joseph Hackney on March 16, 1819. While citizens were pleased with the new legislation and happy to no longer be traveling to Meadville or Franklin for judicial proceedings, Warren sorely lacked a space fit for the court. Regardless, on Monday, November 29, 1819, Warren’s first court session ran in an unfinished room of a house being constructed by Ebenezer Jackson.

¯ In 1825, Warren County Commissioners agreed it was time to build a courthouse. The $7,000 brick building was completed in 1827 on the site of the present-day courthouse. A stone jail was built nearby and county offices were located in a one-story brick building maintained by the Warren County Commissioners. This state of affairs held for quite some time. The county building was destroyed by a fire in 1854, but a replacement quickly occupied the charred space and the town went on growing and developing while its county facilities remained stagnant. By April 1876, Buffalo architect M.E. Beebe’s plans were accepted by Warren County Commissioners, and construction was underway. Thomas Bell oversaw the demolition of the standing courthouse and jail while J.P. Marston was charged as superintendent of construction. Though the $107,000 finishing cost far exceeded Beebe’s $65,000 opening estimate, the courthouse was completed by December of 1877 and was commended as a “model courthouse of the state.

¯ On May 24, 1826, the first four-horse stagecoach arrived. The first stagecoaches ran from Warren to Dunkirk.

¯ In 1828, the first physicians settled in Warren, Dr. Abraham Hazeltine, and Dr. Thomas Huston.

¯ In 1830, the first steamboat christened the “Allegheny” was built by Archibald Tanner and David Dick in Pittsburgh and steamed up the river to Warren. The “Allegheny” was the only steamboat to navigate up the river as far as Olean.

¯ On April 3, 1832, Warren was incorporated as a borough and held its first election on May 7th. The town merchants served the surrounding lumbering camps and the streets were filled with raftsmen, many were over-polluted with whiskey. In those days, one could almost cross the river on rafts moored side to side up and down the Allegheny River and in almost every eddy. The Lumberman’s Bank, Warren’s first, came and went.

¯ In 1834, Warren’s first school, the Academy, was completed, but few attended as tuition was required.

¯ In 1839, the first bridge across the Allegheny was built at the foot of Hazel Street.

¯ By 1840, the population had reached 737 and there were three churches Presbyterian, Methodist, and German Methodist. The Baptist and German Lutherans had congregations, but no house of worship.

¯ In 1849, Youngsville became a thriving oil boomtown and attempted to take the county seat claiming that Warren was unfit to hold the position. Many marked improvements were made including the enforcement of a law making it illegal for “pigs and swine” to run loose in the city limits. Warren retained its position as the county seat.

¯ Between 1854 and 1856, Warren’s Union School was built facing Third Avenue where the Municipal Building is located today. It was the town’s first free public school. By 1870, the building had become over-crowded, so, in 1871, a three-story Italian Renaissance brick structure was added to the original building. In 1897, a new high school was built on the southeast corner of Market Street and Second Avenue. The Warren Union School was razed circa 1900, and the Central School was demolished in 1936.

¯ In 1859, Thomas Struthers completed the Erie to Warren Railroad line. A celebration with bonfires and speeches was held when the first train came to town.

¯ In 1863, the name “Warren” became famous with the establishment of C. T. Hazeltine’s “Piso’s Consumption Care” world-wide remedy. The medicine was manufactured on the island east of today’s Veterans Memorial Bridge on Hickory Street.

¯ In 1865, Warren’s greatest flood occurred.

¯ In 1870, David Beaty decided to retire and bought the Clemons’ 34-acre farm just across the Conewango from Warren. Beaty poured over $100,000 into building his luxurious mansion and its surroundings. He grew tired of heating with coal, so in 1874, he moved in his drilling rig from Trunkeyville and within two years was producing 475 barrels of oil a day from what was then referred to as the “Glade City Boom.” Warren yielded great fortunes from its natural resource resulting in the establishment of eleven large refineries. Warren was known for its production of high-quality oil and gas.

¯ In the summer of 1871, the Hon. Glenni W. Scofield stated to the Pastor of the Presbyterian Church in Warren Rev. W. A. Rankin that he was in possession of a large collection of books and wished to donate them for public use. Rev. Rankin offered the Lecture Room as a temporary storage space and there the book collection remained for many months. Later in 1871, at a meeting of the YMCA, it was proposed that the community required a library. The Library Committee was formed, chaired by Rev. Rankin, and the fundraising efforts began. The YMCA Library was formed providing a large room in the Verback Building located on Water Street. Six hundred and nine volumes were purchased for $500, and Judge Scofield’s two hundred and three volumes were cataloged for lending. Hours were instituted on Wednesdays and Saturdays, a list of rules was posted, and all patrons were required to pay 15¢ for each book borrowed.

¯ In 1872, the YMCA library was dissolved and The Warren Library Association committee was appointed to draft a new constitution. On October 16, 1873, the new constitution was adopted with C. W. Stone, C. H. Noyes, F. A. Randall, R. P. King, J. H. Spencer, G. P. Orr, and G. O. Cornelius named as members.

¯ In 1877, the Warren County Courthouse opened its doors for business. Designed by a Buffalo architect in a Modern Italian Renaissance style, the Fourth Avenue entrance wears chamfered quoins at the first story angles and projections with plain pilasters of stone running up through the second story and terminating under the cornice with large carved stone capitals. The two large archways are built with stone pillars at each side and faced with dressed stone. Inside the first story vestibule, two stairways on either side wind their way to the second-floor main courtroom as the wide corridor with marble tile floors and walnut woodwork, extends the length of the original building. The second story houses the main courtroom, Judge’s chambers, and two jury rooms, with the grand jury room on the third floor. The office and courtroom woodwork and floors are Georgia pine. Additions were made in 1916, and the north wing was built in 1925.

¯ In June 1877, the Lady Justice was raised on the dome. She stood 125 feet above the sidewalk. The clock was made to order in New York and the bell, which weighed 1600 pounds, was cast in Cincinnati.

¯ In 1882, at a public meeting Thomas Struthers proposed, if the citizens of Warren would purchase a suitable site, he would at his own expense, erect a building suitable for the accommodation of the Library. The Struthers Library Theatre was built with the accommodations promised and the library maintained residence at the theatre until 1916 when Edward D. Wetmore and J. P. Jefferson donated the current library building to the community.

¯ In 1891, the work began of paving the city streets with brick and concrete.

¯ Circa 1903, Water Street was renamed Pennsylvania Avenue.

¯ In 1920, the financial growth of Warren ranked the city as the richest city in the United States. The bank deposits showed the city to have had the largest per capita wealth of any city in the land.

¯ In 1934, the Conewango Realty Corp. deeded 43-acres on the west-side parcel to the Borough for Warren’s first and only airport. Warren Airport was listed in the airport directories as early as 1933. It was described as a commercial airport having three sod runways, the longest being the 2,250′ with “Airport” painted on the hangar roof. The airport closed circa 1970 and the hanger was demolished in 1973. Since 1990, the city has utilized the land to create a complex for the community. The Clifford R. Betts Memorial Park offers many faucets of recreation and is a perfect example of the City of Warren’s dedication to the quality of our community.

¯ Between 1936 and 1937, the current Municipal Building was constructed, replacing a 70-year-old structure that had surpassed its economic usefulness. The plan is H-shaped providing offices for the burgess, clerk, city engineer, and police department.

¯ In 1967, On January 1, 1978, the City became a Home Rule Municipality, giving citizens the right to self-govern except where expressly forbidden by state law.

¯ In 1988, Warren was initially designated as a Tree City USA.

¯ On January 2, 1989, the Borough of Warren changed its municipality designation to the City of Warren. The change was motivated by a potential increase in state funding and in the April 1988 election the voters agreed.

¯ In 1999, a 28-block area of Warren was designated by the Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission as a historic district as well as placed on the National Registry of Historic Places by the National Park Service. The boundaries for the Warren Historic District are to the east, the Conewango Creek, to the south, the Allegheny River, to the north, Seventh, Sixth, and Fifth Avenues, and to the west, Hazel Street.

¯ In 2014, the Walkable Warren corridor was launched. The project promotes healthy lifestyles, recreation, and cultural history in an urbanized setting. Several kiosks have been installed highlighting Warren’s remarkable history.

There are many more facts and attributes about the City of Warren that should be included in this brief summary. If you have something to share, please send it to the Warren County Historical Society at 210 Fourth Avenue, Warren, PA 16365 or warrencountyhistory@aol.com.