Did you know?
Long before he became known as “The Father of our Country,” long after he, as a young military officer, gave way to the French at that place he named the “Fort of Necessity,” and just one year before the brother of Uniontown’s founder (Henry Beeson), Jacob Beeson, named the street west of Morgantown Street – Mt. Vernon Avenue in his honor – George Washington called himself “Your obedient servant.”
I discovered that bit of history by reading the Feb. 22, 1909 edition of the Uniontown Morning Herald.
“Has a letter written by Washington,” said the front-page headline.
It was reported that a letter sent to a fellow officer of the Continental Army by Washington in August of 1781, was in the possession of Mrs. Margaret J. McClelland, who lived on Morgantown Street.
“Sir: – I will not be able to reach Springfield (presumably New Jersey) with the army as soon as I expected, for which reason I desire you will continue to perform the duties I directed Col. Dayton to enjoin on you ’till you hear further from me or General Lincoln by my order,” Washington wrote.
It was reported that the letter was in very good condition, and still quite readable considering its age – which by 1909 was 127 years, six months and one day old. (Ironically, the date Washington’s letter was revealed was on what would have been his 177th birthday.)
The final two paragraphs of the letter involved complex military maneuvers, and, as I mentioned earlier, Washington signed it, “I am sir, Your obedient servant, G. Washington.”
Of course, it’s quite fitting that U.S. presidents who’ve visited Fayette County over the years have been honored with much fanfare.
However, one U.S. president got short shrift.
I found an extensive speech given by Dr. William Blake Hindman, who was the pastor of Uniontown’s First Presbyterian Church back in April of 1946, in which he spoke at the White Swan Hotel about Uniontown’s history as part of the town’s 150th anniversary.
Dr. Hindman mentioned many of the famous people who’d passed through town over the years, but one of them – President Andrew Jackson – only merited a brief mention in the local newspaper at the time.
According to Dr. Hindman, the June 28, 1830 edition of the Genius of Liberty and Fayette and Greene Advertiser’s complete coverage of one sitting president consisted of a mere two lines: “General Jackson, President of the United States arrived in this place Wednesday evening, June 21, 1830, and took lodging at the stage office,” it said. This paragraph is twice as long as that one!
I found a bizarre murder story on the front page of the Nov. 22, 1907 edition of the Morning Herald.
Some guy died, well, I’ll let the headline tell the story: “Hit on head with plate, man is dead,” it said.
It was reported that a “jangle of words” had resulted from a “trivial cause” over dinner at a Buffington boarding house.
Words gave way to a fracas. The fracas turned into a scrap. One man got slapped in the face, and that led to a plate being hurled and a skull got crushed. The victim died within 10 minutes.
The man who threw, what had been, a “harmless kitchen utensil,” was being charged with murder.
Some predictions, no matter how optimistic, never come to fruition.
On Nov. 23, 1907, there was one of those optimistic, but flawed, predictions.
In those days, the population of Uniontown was between 7,000 and 13,000.
But one editorial writer for the Morning Herald wrote, “Uniontown is destined to become the metropolis, not only of Fayette, but of Greene County as well; and long before the tributary to the Fayette County seat has reached anything like the limit of its development ‘Beesontown on the Pike’ will have become a city of 50,000 people, while some of the more enthusiastic are not afraid to double this figure.”
That never quite happened.
The highest number of Uniontown residents was in 1940, when the population (according to the U.S. Census) was 21,819. The following census (in 1950), the population dropped to 20,471.
The number has decreased in each succeeding census since then.
The 2010 U.S. Census population estimate, by the way, was 10,372.
Al Owens is a native of Uniontown.