Erie Extension Canal

Mercer County, PA

Marker Text: Route of travel and trade, Pittsburgh to Great Lakes, 1840-1871. Important to the western Pennsylvania iron industry before the rise of the railroads. The only remaining canal lock still stands in Sharpsville.

Location: West of the intersection with PA Route 18 & 518 on Route 518, east of Sharpsville. Erected by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission in 1946.

Second Marker Text: Route of travel and trade, Pittsburgh to Great Lakes, 1840-1871. Important to the western Pennsylvania iron industry before the rise of the railroads. Lock #10, a guard lock, represents the only remaining canal lock.

Location: In front of the park where this canal is located. East High Street Extension along the route going to the Shenango Dam. Project sponsored by: PA Department of Community Affairs State P-500 Bond Program.

  For today's posting there are two markers making reference to the same remaining canal lock on the Erie Extension Canal. One marker is near Hermitage, PA at the turn going west to Sharpsville where the lock is located. There is a similar, but smaller marker in front of the park leading to the only remaining lock. The complete masonry remains of Erie Extension Lock number 10 are preserved in a public park with picnic grounds and fishing facilities.

Mercer County

Mercer, Pennsylvania

Marker Text: Formed March 12, 1800 from Allegheny County. The U.S. census reported 3228 residents in 1800. Named for General Hugh Mercer, Revolutionary hero killed at Battle of Princeton, 1777. Early iron and coal center. Mercer, the county seat, was incorporated 1814.

Location: On the northside of the Mercer County Courthouse, at Courthouse Square, Mercer, PA.  Erected by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission in 1981.

General Hugh Mercer – PLAQUE

Marker Text: In memory of General Hugh Mercer. Born in Scotland, Colonel on General Forbes Expedition against Fort Duquesne 1758, Commander at Fort Pitt 1759, Colonel 3rd Virginia Regiment 1776, Brigadier General Continental army 1776, killed in the Battle of Princeton 1777

This tablet placed by the Pennsylvania Historical Commission and the Pennsylvania Daughters of the American Revolution to honor the soldier for who Mercer County is name. 1917.

“I am willing to serve my adopted country
in any capacity she may need me.”

Bigler Graves, Mercer Co., PA

Marker Text: Jacob and Susan Bigler, parents of two governors, are buried here. Their son William was Governor of Pennsylvania, 1852-55; and their son John, Governor of California, 1852-56.

Location: On PA Route 58, Southeast of Greenville, PA.

Erected by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission in 1946. Dedicated on 11/12/1946

   One reason that I began my interest in historical road markers was the rich history and amazing facts that often lie below the surface of the information found on these markers. Frequently, a person will discover another fascinating story within another. A case in point is the Bigler Graves marker located on PA Route 58 in Mercer Co., Pennsylvania just south of Greenville. Countless people drive by this marker without noticing the simple historical information on this marker. Nowadays people are not too much interested in the simple graves of a seemingly obscure couple. This marker is located in front of an old cemetery dating back to the early years of Mercer Co. PA.

   Jacob Bigler moved his large family to Mercer County about 1822 and five years later died leaving his wife, Susan with ten children to support alone. Susan Bigler lived until 1854 and at the time of her death her son William was governor of Pennsylvania and another son, John was governor of California.

   When Mrs. Bigler died her obituary stated, “She was a strict member of the Presbyterian Church, and died in the fullest confidence of the Christian...” When, “Mr. Bigler died, leaving her in that wild unsettled region, with ten children dependent upon her alone for support. She maintained them all, maintained them in knowledge, and impressed upon their minds lessons usefulness to guide them safely and with honor through subsequent life. During the 28 years of her widowhood, she resided upon the same old farm, about nine miles from Mercer, on which she died.”

   Susan Bigler's son William moved to Clearfield, PA and made his fortune in the timber business and from 1841 to 1847 served in the Pennsylvania State Senate. In 1851 he was elected Governor of Pennsylvania and served from Jan. 20, 1852 until Jan. 16, 1855. He later was elected to serve as Pennsylvania's U.S. Senator from 1856 to 1861. He worked with others during these years attempting to develop a compromise with the southern states in hopes of avoiding the coming Civil War. After his political life, he became the president of the Philadelphia and Erie Railroad.

   William's older brother, John Bigler decided to go west during California's gold rush by driving an ox team west. John Bigler became know for his bravery in aiding the sick and burying the dead in Sacramento during a cholera epidemic, though it nearly killed him. John Bigler served as California's Third Governor from 1852-1856 and was the first governor to successfully complete an entire term and the first to win re-election. A couple of legends are connected with Governor Bigler. In 1852, State Senator James W. Denver and U.S. Representative and Alta California publisher Edward C. Gilbert rowed out to Angel Island to settle a dispute over Gilbert's attacks against Governor John Bigler on the field of honor. Only Denver returned alive. Also, while governor in 1854, it is said that Bigler rescued the portrait of George Washington from the Senate Chamber during a fire, the portrait still hangs in the Senate Chambers, today. The 1854, California legislature honored Governor Bigler by naming the state's largest lake after him. In 1870, Bigler Lake was renamed “Lake Tahoe.”

Albert Bushnell Hart, Mercer Co. PA

Marker Text: Distinguished scholar and historian, Harvard graduate and member of its faculty for sixty years, was born nearby, July 1, 1854, and lived here six years. He died July 16, 1943, at Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Location: On PA Route 258 at Clark near the intersection with Routes 18 and 258, south of the Route 18 causeway across Shenango Reservoir.   Marker Dedicated: 4/30/1948 

   I have a number of appropriate marker photos I could have started this blog, but somehow it seemed appropriate to start this blog with a marker about an historian. This Pennsylvania Historical Road Marker is about Albert Bushnell Hart. Dr. Hart was described by Samuel Eliot Morison as “The Grand Old Man” of American history. Albert Hart was one of the first generation of professionally trained historians in the United States. During his life he authored about 100 historical volumes in numerous books and edited historical collections, such as, the 28 Volume, “American Nation” series (1903-1918).

   Albert Bushnell Hart was born at Clarksville, in Mercer County PA on July 1, 1854 near where this marker is located. The original town of Clarksville no longer exists after being moved to higher ground during construction of Shenango Dam. The original town location is now mostly under water and the relocated town is now called Clark. The marker is located across the road on Route 258 from Tara, a Country Inn and their dining area parking lot.

   Albert Hart graduated from Harvard in 1880 and was classmate and friend to Theodore Roosevelt. In 1883, he received his Ph.D. from the University of Freiburg in Germany and in the same year joined the faculty at Harvard where he continued to teach as a professor of government until his retirement in 1926.

   Some of the other writings of Albert B. Hart were the books Formation of the Union (1892), Samuel Portland Chase (1899), Essentials of American History (1905), and Slavery and Abolition (1906). He was an editor of the American Historical Review for fourteen years, and president of both the American Historical Association (AHA) and the American Political Science Association. Hart was editor of the American Year Book, 1926-1932. He edited a five-volume history of Massachusetts in 1927-1930, and worked as the official historian of the George Washington bicentennial commission in the 1920s and 1930s.