History of Bedford Pennsylvania
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Bedford is located in south central Pennsylvania. The population of Bedford was 3,141 in the 2000 census. Present day Bedford, Pennsylvania was founded in 1750 by Robert McRea, who set up a trading post and called it Raystown. He convinced the Indians to trade with him instead of going to their usual trail on Kinton’s Knob, which is the highest mountain around the town. Bedford was laid out in June, 1766, by Governor John Penn's order.
In 1758 the British Army came to Raystown to set up a fort. The fort was named Fort Bedford, for the politically powerful Duke of Bedford in England. Some believe this is how the town later got its name. Fort Bedford was built as one of the many British Army stepping stones through the state leading to the forks of the Ohio River; the other side of the forks was dominated by Indians. The British used the fort to drive out the French to ensure the new continent would be English-speaking. The fort was later a safe house for settlers escaping Indian raids. Fort Bedford was “liberated” ten years before the Revolution by American rebels, James Smith's Black Boys, and was the first fort taken from the British. The fort later collapsed and was reconstructed in 1958.
George Washington marched his army to Bedford in 1794 to subdue the Whiskey Rebellion. There was much more at stake than quieting the uprising of rebels angered by a tax on whiskey; Washington felt the constitution itself was at risk. The rebellion mainly consisted of farmers who learned they could earn more selling whiskey instead of grain. The Rebellion spread fast and when it reached Pittsburgh they almost burnt the city to the ground. Anarchy was on its way; the British and French watched every move hoping they could come back and take over. Washington knew he had to act and make a statement; the laws of America would be obeyed. 12,950 militiamen were called to Bedford leaving the rebels without many choices. One historian later stated, “It was at Bedford that the new federal government was finally to establish itself as sovereign in its own time and place.
Bedford, at one time, was famous for its medicinal springs. There is a mineral spring, a chalybeate spring, a limestone spring, a sulfur spring and two sweet springs. In the year 1804, a mechanic from Bedford, Jacob Fletcher, drank some of the water. The rheumatic pains and ulcers he had been suffering from troubled him less that night. From then on he often drank from the spring and soaked his limbs in the water. In a few weeks he was entirely cured. News spread and the “healing springs” quickly became popular.
The finding of the curative springs led Dr. John Anderson to purchase the nearby land and build a spa in 1804. Due to the lack of medicines in that time, people from great distances flocked to the hotel in search of a cure for their illness. The Bedford Springs Hotel was the first place in America to have an Olympic sized pool. President Buchanan also made it his “summer White House”. While Buchanan was there the first trans-Atlantic cable message was sent to his room from Queen Victoria on August 17, 1858. The hotel, in 1855, also housed the only Supreme Court hearing ever to be held outside of the capital.
[edit] References
- Ned Frear, The Bedford Story: Fort Bedford (Pennsylvania: Gazette Publishing Company, 1998)
- Ned Frear, The Bedford Story: The Whiskey Rebellion (Pennsylvania: Gazette Publishing Company, 1998)
- Ned Frear, The Bedford Story: The Bedford Springs (Pennsylvania: Gazette Publishing Company, 1998)
- Carol Eddleman and Nathan Zipfel, Bedford County Genealogy Project,
http://www.pa-roots.com/~bedford/index.html, (Accessed October 11, 2006)
