Freedom Area High School's Student Newspaper

FHS Press

Freedom Area High School's Student Newspaper

FHS Press

Freedom Area High School's Student Newspaper

FHS Press

Freedom’s history

Close your eyes and imagine Freedom. No, not the Freedom you’ve grown up with, but a bustling little river town. Erase the highway, even erase Conway Rail. Now put up buildings, old mom and pop shops, a library, a jewelry store and a steamboat dock. Remember the bell from the middle school lobby? Put that hanging near the docks, more churches, a saw mill, even a casket factory right in little Freedom. Imagine walking down the streets of Freedom, or going to the old high school made out of an old church. Imagine New Sewickley, truly a farm area, but with huge oil wells and millions of dollars flowing out. This doesn’t sound like the area that you know in your lifetime, does it? Our town has a huge history that barely any of the youth know about, so make today the day that you take pride in your town, or at least what it used to be, and keep reading. Let your imagination take hold as you imagine this different Freedom about to be painted for you. In 1832, Jonathan Betz and Stephen Phillips bought 100 acres of land from General Abner Lacock so they could operate their steamboat business more effectively. One year later, another 39 acres were bought from Captain Vicary, and 320 people resided on this land. By 1837, there had been big improvements to the town with just a steamboat business. There was a metal casting factory, steam engine factories run by J. Baker & Co, a large distillery with a grain mill nearby, three inns, two doctors and five merchants. Saint Clair Borough joined with Freedom in 1896; it had been a part of the Vicary Extension since the captain laid out the town himself. New Sewickley, on the other hand, was used in the Act of Assembly March 12, 1783, to be given to the Revolutionary War heroes as thanks for fighting in the war. In 1801, the land of Sewickley was broken up, and New Sewickley joined the Freedom School District. There used to be close to 20,000 acres of land, including Big Knob Hill. However, Economy Borough, Rochester Township, and Pulaski Township broke away as well in more recent years. The southern end of the previous New Sewickley was Crow’s Run, keeping the local Native Americans title, where it drained to the Ohio River. John McKee was the first white settler in the Crow’s Run area, where he eventually sold 250 acres to Michael Conway. McKee is also credited with making the first railroad from Pittsburgh to Beaver County: Conrail. John Conway, the grandson of Michael Conway, created the steamboat business on the riverside. This steamboat business was in use during the Civil War, making one steamboat a day. After a boat was completed, a bell would sound. The bell was washed away during the flood of 1913 but found in West Virginia on a cow farm, and now resides in the middle school lobby. Freedom Area School District In 1896 when Saint Clair Borough joined with Freedom, there was a Presbyterian church that became the first public school. Before this, both areas had one-room school houses, but were for private education only. By 1930, quite unlike today’s time, the enrollment for the schools were so high they needed to create a new one. The high school was transferred to Tenth Street and Fourth Avenue, and the old school was rebuilt to be bigger. Once New Sewickley and Conway merged with the Freedom School District, another wing was added to the building in 1964. However, that never solved the problem. There became an annual enrollment total of around 2,000 students. In 1971, the new high school was built, which we still use it today. Crow’s Run In 1880, a stone quarry was opened in the Crow’s Run area. These stones were used for many buildings around this area such as the Pittsburgh Post Office, Pennsylvania Railroad Station in Pittsburgh and most of the Beaver County Courthouse. The First Presbyterian Church in 1890 and the Carnegie Library in 1902 used these stones before being rebuilt in modern times. The quarry was started by John Park, whose family had run the lumber mill in town. Park is also responsible for being the postmaster and opening a general store. We all know that if we dig a hole in most of our backyards, we dig up clay, which is not the best farming dirt. However, in earlier times, this clay was excellent for brickyards. In fact, two were opened on the west side of Crow’s Run to utilize the huge supplies of clay. Approximately 250,000 bricks could be made a day in this area. These bricks were hard and sturdy, so they were often used for making roads. Almost all of the brick roads made in Beaver County were made with this brick, among countless other brick roads across America and Canada. Wallace City At the bottom of Dunlap Hill at the intersection with 989 used to be New Sewickley’s one and only city, Wallace City. In 1900 on this small farm, oil was found. Robert Wallace was the first to drill into the ground and 1,400 barrels of oil came up a day. However, when oil was first found, so much flowed from the farm that it went into the Ohio River. There were many farmers who found oil on their land and had numerous wells drilled. Thirty wells were on the Stewart farm, 17 on Whipple’s, 22 on the Kramer farm and 17 on the Wallace farm. During its heyday, the Whipple farm was pumping out 2,600 barrels of oil a day. However, all good things have their time and must end. By 1910, Wallace City’s oil was starting to run so low that the machines could no longer reach. Regardless of the many more gallons of oil far below the surface, oil drilling stopped. In the 1920s, the wells were officially and completely shut down. Most of the derricks and buildings had been torn down. Today, going down Freedom Crider Road and past Dunlap Hill, we can still see where the buildings that the blacksmith shops, the livery and boarding houses were in full function. The Railroad For over 125 years, there is one thing that kept Conway on the map: Conway rail yards. These railroads brought along the first industrial revolution to the Conway and Freedom areas. The railroad first came here in 1848, and it was called the Ohio and Pennsylvania Railroad. By 1851, most of Beaver County had been touched by the railroads. In July of 1856, the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne and Chicago Railroad bought out the railroads and was renamed the Pennsylvania Railroad Company. Conway Yards was officially built in 1884 in what is now Economy Borough. Conway Yards quickly became nicknamed “gateway to the west” in the railroad business. The town was very valuable when transporting goods. In 1900, Pennsylvania Railroad expanded by buying 63 acres from Mary Conway to build more railroads. They also bought 92 acres in 1901 to house the families of the workers from the railroad. Allegheny Yards was shut down in 1904, which allowed Conway Yards to expand greatly. The men working at the Allegheny Yards were readily accepted to work for Conway Yards. Because of this, there were only four families that did not have someone in their family working at Conway Yards. By the 1950s, approximately $35 million was spent making the Conway Yards bigger. From the start of Conway Yards, 145 more miles of track, a boiler room and a fueling facility were added as well. By the 1960s, Conway Yards officially transferred to a diesel terminal. Pennsylvania Railroad saw Conway as a valuable asset and spent $782,000 more to make Conway the largest and most modern diesel terminal. More than 600 trains, over half the Pennsylvania train fleet, were transferred to Conway Yards. By 1969, however, money became very tight with the Penn Central station, so no further additions were made to Conway Yards after the bankruptcy in June 1970. By 1976, the government combined 12 railroads and made the Consolidated Railroad Corporation, Conrail for short. It was during this time that Conway Yards really stood out for being awarded the “Busiest Automated Rail Yard in the United States.” Recently at a seminar in Salt Lake City, there was a speaker discussing about how to be a better leader. At one point he said that you have to be proud of where you come from or else you will never get anywhere. He said that he could ask any person in the room about his or her town and most of the responses would be “It sucks.” He said that a real leader is proud of where they are from, and that the future of America needs to understand and embrace that.