1901
(Mar. 15) The first rural mail route occurs in the county from the Jamestown post
office4 |
1903
Wayside Inn is built in Grove City by Odd Fellow's (forerunner of Fellowship
Manor)29
|
1904
(Feb. 15) The first countywide individual mail routes begin (67 routes are laid
out);4 (Jul. 4) Isaiah Jones is elected first Justice of the 4th District
in Mercer;4 the volunteer fire department is organized in Grove City29 |
1905
First medical hospital opens in Grove City29 |
1906
(Aug. 17) The courthouse gets its first toll phone in the corridor4 |
1907
The Sharon Herald Publishing Company is formed;25 (Nov. 25) the
clock in the cupola of the courthouse is completed; (Dec. 15) a fire that started in the
clock tower destroys the courthouse4 |
1908
Billy Sunday holds weeklong revival; (Feb. 1) 18 architectural firms
submit plans for the third courthouse;4 Greenville Cottage Hospital (one of
forerunners to UPMC Horizon) opens29 |
1909
Billy Whitla is kidnapped; (May 6) James Boyle's trial for kidnapping Whitla is
held at the temporary courthouse and lasted for less than a day;25 the
Sharon Herald becomes a daily newspaper after 45 years as a weekly newspaper;4
(May 29) the cornerstone is laid for the new courthouse;4 Dr. John
Goodsell, later a Mercer County resident, accompanies Peary to discover the North Pole;29
a book covering the history of Mercer County is published;29 George Junior
Republic opens in Grove City as a home for wayward boys and girls29 |
1910
The county's population is 77,699;14 two coffins are discovered on
Fourth Street in Sharon when workman are excavating to put in curbs28 |
1911
(Jun. 25) Thunderstorm hits Mercer and lightning strikes the new dome of the
courthouse; (Sep. 19) the first marriage license is issued at the new courthouse around
3:00 p.m. to John W. Fier and Edna E. Cornelius; (Oct. 12) the new (third) courthouse is
dedicated4 |
1912
First osteopathic hospital opens in Grove City; South Sharon becomes Farrell29 |
1913
Grove City witnesses the county's first plane crash;29 (Mar. 23) the
Shenango River floods with 16.87 feet of water and causes an estimated damage of
$200,0004, 25 |
1914
(Aug. 25) Stephan Banic (an immigrant coal miner who lived in Greenville) is
granted a patent for the first workable parachute;4 South Pymatuning
Township is created29 |
1915
The Grove City Creamery opens29 |
1917
(Jun. 5) All single men between the ages of 21-30 are required to register for the
draft; the county's first 800 soldiers leave to serve in WWI4 |
1918
Heatless Mondays, Meatless Tuesdays and Wheatless Wednesdays are observed due to
rationing;25 (Jun. 7) Frank Buhl dies at home and leaves $2,000,000 to
war-torn Northern France and Belgium in his will;4 the Spanish flu epidemic
hits the county4 |
1919
(Aug. 2) Sharon's Welcome Home Day for 1,000 soldiers is held at Buhl Farm (between
25,000-30,000 people were in the crowd); (Sep. 22) the steel strike suspends five blast
furnaces, and other plants in the Valley become idle or part time4 |
1920
The county's population is 93,788;14
(Jan. 15) the night before Prohibition begins, Greenville ministers and the Women's
Christian Temperance Union hold a symbolic funeral for "John Barleycorn";4
(Apr.) switchmen on the eastern railroads go on strike25 |
1922
(Jan.) 67 of 119 cases tried in the county courts are for liquor violations; (Oct.
26) Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing acquires Savage Arms Corp (an
ordinance firm employing 300 people) and becomes one of the world's largest transformer
manufacturing facilities;16 (Nov. 29) no expense is spared at the formal
opening of the Columbia Theatre in Sharon4 |
1923
Thomas Edison and his wife pass through the county enroute to New York;25
(Feb. 2) the Sharon Public Library opens at the Buhl Club;4
record-making transcontinental flight is made by Grove City pilot Oakley Kelly29 |
1924
(Aug. 5) S. F. Stambaugh's estate gives Sharon land;4 the Telegraph
and the Farrell News merge25 |
1925
Earthquake tremors startle basketball fans at West Middlesex29 |
1926
(Aug. 23) Porter Smith is injured in a 38 feet fall from scaffolding erected under
the south portico of the courthouse4 |
1927
Pardoe Mines close29 |
1928
The last cattle show is held in Grove City's Memorial Park; the Stoneboro Fire
Department is organized29 |
1929
(Apr. 4) A "vivid and vicious bolt of lightning" strikes the courthouse
tower (several people felt the shock, and County Treasurer McQuiston received a "rude
jolt" while using the telephone);25 (Aug. 12) an earthquake
rocks Sharon;25 Cooper-Bessemer is formed29 |
1930
The county's population is 99,246;4 (Jan. 2) a bright flash of
meteor at 5:30 a.m. alarms many residents of Sharon22 |
1931
(Feb. 13) The Farrell Tribune publishes its first issue;11 (Oct.)
ground is broken near Jamestown for the Pymatuning Dam;25 the first
buildings are erected on Grove City College's upper campus29 |
1932
Wendell August moves his aluminum forge to Grove City29 |
1933
(Nov. 7) The county votes to repeal Prohibition; the first public playground opens
at Buhl Farm (more than 1,000 children attend);25 the first
no-direct-contact continuous process is placed into operation at the Sharon Steel Hoop
Corporation11 |
1934
Police search for infamous bank robber, John Dillinger, who may have robbed the Sol
J. Gully bank in Farrell;25 (Aug. 17) the Pymatuning Reservoir is dedicated4 |
1935
The Farrell Public Library board formally opens library and arts center; a merger
of the News Telegraph with the Sharon Herald leaves the new Sharon Herald as the Shenango
Valley's only daily paper;11 (Jan. 2) the Better Housing Campaign begins22 |
1936
(Mar. 3) The Sharon Steel Hoop Corporation changes its name to Sharon Steel;11
(Jul. 31) the "Human Fly" attempts to scale the courthouse; (Aug. 23) GOP
candidate for US President, Alf Landon, delivers his opening address to 10,000 people on
the Tam O' Shanter Golf Course4 |
1938
(Jun. 28) Flood Control Act authorizes the Shenango River Reservoir project;4
first air mail is flown out from Mercer Airport29 |
1939
(Oct. 12) The last trolley car is removed from the runs in Farrell11 |
1940
The county's population is 101,039;14 (Jan. 3) the Home Economic
building at the Fredonia-Delaware High School is destroyed by fire;5 (Mar.
9) the Sawhill Manufacturing Company announces it will establish a plant in Wheatland;4
(Dec. 16) the Federal Food Stamps Program is established in the county4 |
1942
Westinghouse accepts a US navy contract to produce the "Wakeless
Torpedo," delivering more than 10,000 torpedoes and credited with sinking almost 400
enemy ships;16 (Jun. 23) US engineers survey Pymatuning Township to build
an army base4 |
1943
The county's most gruesome murder takes place (3 people killed at the Wilson farm
in Lackawannock Township)28 |
1944
(Apr. 4) Camp Reynolds Prisoner Of War (POW) Camp is established; POWs are working
at Meadville Iron Works and National Radiator Company; (Dec. 11) troops and operators are
transferred to Fort Indian Town Gap2 |
1945
The US War Department designates Camp Reynolds an "inactive
installation"; (Mar. 31) Greenville and Buhl Club USOs close, Greenville's USO
entertained 812,530 servicemen and Buhl's entertained 475,000 soldiers4 |
1946
(Oct. 12) A meeting is held at the courthouse and reorganizes the Mercer County
Historical Society4 |
1947
(Jun. 7) Tornado rips through the county and 14 are killed4 |
1948
The Grove City Creamery closes29 |
1950
The county's population is 111,954;14 Buhl Hospital changes its name
to Sharon General Hospital; (Nov. 24) the county is buried by a snowstorm that measures
just over four feet (damage in Sharon is estimated at $110,000)7 |