Point Marion

Point Marion. History. , Point Marion History, In 1724 the French set up a trading post where the Monongahela and Cheat Rivers meet., As settlers moved into the frontier Colonel George Wilson was granted 108 acres of land at the site of the original trading post., Following the Revolutionary War the legislatures of Virginia and Pennsylvania agreed to abide by the Mason-Dixon Line as the boundary between the two states. The point where the rivers meet which had been in Monongalia County, Virginia, was now in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania. Fayette County was formed in 1783., In 1784 General George Washington made a six week long trip across the mountains to inspect his property in western Pennsylvania. On September 24 he wrote that he had crossed the Cheat River. "Crossed in Cheat at the mouth as it was too much swelled up to attempt to ford a little higher up. This Cheat, at the mouth, is about 125 yards wide. The Monongahela is nearly double that. The color of the Cheat is dark, the other is clear.", The land at the point was sold by the Wilson family to Jacob Sadler in 1801. Land was divided into lots and auctioned to the public on March 15, 1842. The purchaser of the first lot was to name the new town. For $100 Seth Stafford chose "Point Marion" to honor General Francis Marion, the Revolutionary War hero and subject of the most popular book at the time., The principal business in Point Marion was lumber. Logs were floated down the Cheat River from camps in the West Virginia mountains and processed into millwork for doors and sashes. Planing mills, saw mills, and finishing mills were operating., In 1890 McClain Brothers Sand Company was formed to provide sand and gravel for masonry structures being built by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad between Morgantown and Uniontown. Production expanded with the addition of dredges, a steamboat, and fleet of barges., The glass industry arrived in Point Marion in 1900. Morris Glass Company, Jeannette Glass Company, Federated Window Glass Company, Point Marion Glass Novelty Company, Nilan Glass Company, and Point Marion Window Glass Company operated plants., On July 5, 1923, Leon J. Houze consolidated three smaller firms to form the L.J. Houze Convex Glass Company. It was known for colored glass, art glass, utilitarian products, and window glass. It was the only plant in the country able to produce hand-blown replacements for the 1792 windows for the White House renovation in the early 1950s. In later years the company used innovative techniques to decorate a diverse line of products for other manufacturers. Houze was the prime employer in Point Marion for almost 100 years. It closed in 2004.