Fayette County - Uniontown, Pennsylvania - Pennsylvania Historical Markers on Waymarking.com

Excrepted from Wikipedia:
The first Europeans in Fayette County were explorers, who used an ancient American Indian trail that bisected the county on their journey across the Appalachian Mountains. In 1754, when ownership the area was still in dispute, 22-year-old George Washington fought against the French at Jumonville Glen and Fort Necessity. British forces under Washington and General Edward Braddock improved roads throughout the region, making the future Fayette County an important supply route. During the American Revolution, Fayette County was plagued by attacks from British-allied Indians and remained an isolated frontier region. Also retarding settlement was a border dispute with Virginia; Virginia's District of West Augusta and Pennsylvania's Westmoreland County both claim the area. In 1780 the dispute was settled in favor of Pennsylvania, and Fayette County was formed from Westmoreland County in 1783.

Fayette County settlers provided the new United States government with first test in the 1793 Whiskey Rebellion, when farmers rebelled against tax collectors to protest of a new liquor tax. President George Washington called out the militias to restore order. Fayette County continued to be important to travelers in the early 1800s. The National Road provided a route through the mountains for settlers heading west. The shipyards in Brownsville on the Monongahela River built ships for both the domestic and international trade.

As Pittsburgh developed in the mid-19th century, Fayette County become a center of coal mining and coke production. From the 1880s to the early 1900s, an explosion in steel production became nationally important. New immigrants were attracted to Fayette County to seek jobs. The Scottish and German farming communities were soon overshadowed by new populations from Southern and Eastern Europe. The region's wealth nevertheless remained concentrated in the old English and Scottish families with connections to Pittsburgh.

By World War II, Fayette County had a new unionized working class that enjoyed increased prosperity. In the 1950s, however, the coal industry fell into decline; in the 1970s, the collapse of American steel brought hard times to the county. Industrial restructuring meant the loss of the union jobs which had brought so many families to the middle class. Only a few mines now remain, but natural resources remain crucial to the local economy. The region is slowly transitioning itself toward the service sector, with jobs in fields such as telemarketing.

Marker Name: Fayette County County: Fayette Date Dedicated: 10/21/1982 Marker Type: City Location: County Courthouse, 61 E. Main St., Uniontown, PA 15401 Category: Forts, French & Indian War, Government & Politics, Government & Politics 18th Century, Roads Website: [Web Link]

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