The Leechburg Area Museum and Historical Society canal stone is definitely rockin', but this exhibit is not going anywhere--it's too heavy.

Back behind the Museum (which is in one of the homes once owned by David Leech, the town founder), is a small workshop/paint shop built in the early 1900s. Museum President Nancy Nawrocki calls it the Little Museum. It was the first home of the Society.

The "little museum," once a paint shop, was the original location of the Leechburg Historical Society and Museum.

We take a walk-through of Leechburg's "Little Museum" in this month's online video program of Our Local Heritage. Besides featuring old mill office machinery, the old Schenley school bell (my favorite), miner's tools, a magic lantern, and an antique dentist chair, we look at a HUMONGOUS 1828 canal keystone. This was an important stone for the canal.

Canal boats often had to pass over creeks and other small bodies of water. Rather than build the canal through the creek, they built aqueducts over the water--stone bridges that carried the water for the canal boat over the other body of water. The keystone was the central stone on which the two opposing sides of the bridge rested. This keystone in the Museum's collection was in the aqueduct that went over Elder's Run where it flows into Kiski River, near Gilpin. Allegheny Ludlum had it in their possession and gave it to the Leechburg Museum. Come take a walk with us in the online video as we check out the canal keystone and more in the Little Museum.

The Keystone from the Pennsylvania Canal aqueduct that went over Elder's Run next to the Kiski, near Leechburg. Keystones were the central stone that supported the weight of both sides of a stone bridge or tunnel.

And now, The Rest of the Story:
Here are the answers to the heritage riddles posed in our print magazine edition of Alle-Kiski Today

The Lost Company?
When war broke out in the 1860s, Apollo's Sam Jackson recruited a local group of men and led them into battle to save his country. He and his Apollo-area men later found themselves cut off from the rest of the Union Army and were given up as lost in action. But were they?
Jackson was selected as Captain and later Major, Lieutenant Colonel, then Colonel of Company G of the 11th Regiment of the Pennsylvania Reserves, known as the Apollo Independent Blues. They fought in major battles at the second Bull Run, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Gettysburg, and Wilderness. Among other engagements, at the battle of the Wilderness, they were separated from their Division by a line of Confederate soldiers. For several hours, the Union commanders back at the main camp feared the Independent Blues had been captured or killed. But Jackson had rallied the men in his command. They rushed at the enemy lines and somehow wove through them back to the safety of their own lines.

The little museum includes an old school bell from the Schenley school.

Passing the Buc:
It was June 7, 1966, and 271 Burrell High School students were marching across the stage as the first graduating class of Burrell High School. Their class designed the school ring, which cost just over $20 then, and chose "Buccaneers" for the school mascot. The second choice for school mascot was not a lot of bull either. Or was it?
Of course it was. The second choice for Burrell's mascot in 1966 was the Bison. Today, we could be cheering the Burrell Bisons at football games. The Burrell Yearbook at the time was called the Buccopeia, but had the Bison been the mascot, who knows? Maybe it would have been called "The Bison-tenniel."

Remembered Still:
He was in trouble. A landowner, bank president and upstanding businessman, an 1818 economic downturn was too much for him. Yet, Fox Chapel would one day arise on his property, and a school and more bear his name. Who was he?
He was none other than James O'Hara, of course, for which O'Hara Township and O'Hara Elementary School are named. He also owned a brewery, a glass works, and built ships. But when an economic panic hit in 1818, a James Ross, who later received 1700 acres from O'Hara, rescued him from the financial watery grave. Today Fox Chapel makes up a good portion of that land given to Ross.

An old dentist chair from a Leechburg area dentist.

Bushwhacking Bravado:
The fort (at today's Freeport) in the 1790s was filled with mostly inexperienced men who'd seen no battle, but yakked at how easily they'd defeat Indians. Captain Craig and two rangers fixed that with a little test. Would these greenhorns stand tall?
Actually, no, they did not. The two rangers, with Captain Craig's permission, left the fort, snuck down to a spring, disguised themselves as Indians, and hid in some weeds. When the rookie soldiers were nearby, they yelped and whooped and shook the weeds. The greenhorns dropped their guns in the road and ske-daddled back to the blockhouse. The two rangers, now back in normal dress, came back later that evening to the blockade but could not get in. The rookie soldiers would not let them come in. They knew there were Indians out there in the weeds and were afraid they might get in when they opened the door! Captain Craig finally ordered the greenhorn soldiers to let the two rangers in, who, of course, told them of their trick. This time, the rookie soldiers had the red faces. Talk about redskins!

Abridged Boro:
The Negley brothers had split their property, and Felix had traded his Pittsburgh property for some local Allegheny Riverbank land. Nearly a half-century later, Felix signed a petition to make it a borough. Did it, and have you been there?
Most likely, you have been to Tarentum, which became a borough in 1842. Felix Negley's property was just over 200 acres, which encompassed roughly the land from the railroad almost to Rt. 28, in the vicinity of Tarentum Bridge.

Inside the "little museum"

AK Guard:
They guarded America's Western borders--which in the 1790s extended through Bell, Washington, and Allegheny Townships. And the fortified positions of the 60 men who made up the " Kiskiminetas line" might have been near your neighborhood. Were they?
They might have been. The 60 men, in four divisions (commanded by two captains and two lieutenants), ranged to and fro through these three townships. A Captain Lochry asked for soldiers to assist residents in these areas who faced frequent hostile Indian attacks. These 60 soldiers were probably part professional (from America's Continental Army) and part volunteer from men in our area. The posts which they guarded and were stationed at were: Fort Hand, near Pine Run in Washington Township; the Chambers blockhouse, on Orr Ave. in Oklahoma; Carnahan's Blockhouse in Bell Township. They likely served as a supplement to American forces at Craig's Blockhouse and Reed's Station in Freeport, Fort Crawford in New Ken, and Orr's Blockhouse in Tarentum.

Got The Stop:
Daily, 24 trains screeched to a stop in Arnold so train personnel could depart the train to sign a book, then get back on. They didn't stop for bigger areas nearby, but they stopped at Arnold--basically, little more than 50 people and some woods at the time.
The Arnold family gave the land for the Arnold Station. It was mainly a wooded area, with orchards nearby. An agreement was put together and signed between the railroad officials and a Mr. W. H. Crawford, which required EVERY train that came through Arnold to stop to sign the register. No word on how or why the political pull. But according to http://www.arnoldpa.org/ some of the trains never had to stop in the more heavily populated cities of New Kensington and Parnassus. But they did in Arnold!

Iona-Verner?
James Verner owned some land in Plum along the Allegheny River in the 1860s. He laid out a town there, right next to the new-fandangled iron horse: the railroad. Verner and a rail stop named Iona would both give the new town its name. Years later, Oakmont would be born from the borough. Can you guess its name?
But of course you did. The borough of Verona was officially incorporated in 1871 and included four railroad stations: Edgewater, Hulton, Iona, and Verner.

Home-Grown:
It was a two-day extravaganza at Plum High School that featured canning, quilting, chickens, floral and other exhibits, a softball tourney, and the best of local crops and livestock. The Plum Township Farm Show, which was held annually in the '40s, may have been one of the first Autumn Festivals in the Alle-Kiski Valley. But email us if you know of any earlier ones.

Uncontained:
The Saltsburg plant, sometime around the 1890s, employed 80 men and boys. They made pharmaceutical companies their main customer, but the Saltsburg Glass Company also specialized in making bottles for condiments produced in Allegheny County. What was put in these bottles?
The glass company, which included a 10-pot furnace and produced around 100 gross of bottles, was mainly a maker of bottles and glass for prescription drugs. And they also made bottles for catsup and sauces. It is unknown to this writer if Heinz was one of the companies, but it would fit.

Waterworks?
Nearby today's Cheswick, the first person to apply for postmaster had a daughter named Sarah, who thought the post office (and therefore, the area) should be named for all of the surrounding springs of water. And so, it was done. Of course, you know the name. Or do you?
Oh, you probably got this one easily. Springdale. Or to be more technical, Springdale Township, and of course, Springdale Borough got its name from the Township.

P. S. Hope you enjoyed this edition of Our Local Heritage. Don't forget to see Our Local Heritage video program about the Leechburg museum! -Jeff