History
History of Erie, Pa
Erie, Pa, named for the lake and the Native American tribe that resided along its southern shore has had a long history as a major city in the Great Lakes region of the United States.
Iroquois and Seneca Nations
The Six Nations of the Iroquois Confederacy and the Seneca Nation occupied the lands now known as Erie.
Early French Settlement
The French built Fort Presque Isle near present day Erie in 1753, as part of their effort to garrison New France against the encroaching English. The French word “Presque-isle” means peninsula (literally “almost an island”) and refers to that piece of land that juts into Lake Erie that is now called Presque Isle State Park. When the fort was abandoned by the French in 1760, it was their last post west of Niagara. The British occupied the fort at Presque Isle that same year, three years before the end of the Seven Years’ War in 1763.
Erie Triangle
Present day Erie would have been situated in a disputed triangle of land that was claimed by the states of New York, Pennsylvania, Connecticut (as part of its Western Reserve), and Massachusetts. It officially became part of Pennsylvania on 3 March 1792, after Connecticut, Massachusetts, and New York released their claims to the federal government, which in turn sold the land to Pennsylvania for $151.6 million in Continental certificates. The Six Nations of the Iroquois Confederacy released the land to Pennsylvania in January 1789 for payments of $2,000 from Pennsylvania and $1,200 from the federal government. The Seneca Nation separately settled land claims against Pennsylvania in February 1791 for the sum of $800.
Surveying and Settlement of Erie
The General Assembly of Pennsylvania commissioned the surveying of land near Presque Isle through an act passed on 18 April 1795. Andrew Ellicott, who famously completed Pierre Charles L’Enfant’s survey of Washington, D.C. and helped resolve the boundary between Pennsylvania and New York, arrived to begin the survey in June 1795. Initial settlement of the area began that year.
Erie was established as a borough by act of the General Assembly on 29 March 1805. This act created a Borough and Town Council headed by a burgess. This form of government stood until the City of Erie was incorporated on 14 April 1851, when a mayoralty and Select Council were established.
War of 1812
During the War of 1812, President James Madison ordered the construction of a naval fleet at Erie in order to regain control of Lake Erie. Noted shipbuilders Daniel Dobbins of Erie and Noah Brown of New York led construction of four schooner-rigged gunboats and two brigs. Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry arrived from Rhode Island to command the squadron. His fleet successfully fought the British in the historic Battle of Lake Erie, which was the decisive victory that solidified United States control of the Great Lakes.
1853 Railroad Gauge War
Erie was an important railroad hub in the mid-nineteenth century, the city being the site where three different sets of track gauges met. While the delays required to unload and load passengers and cargo were a problem for commerce and travel, they provided much needed local jobs in Erie. When a national standardized gauge was proposed, those jobs, and the importance of the rail hub itself, were put in jeopardy. The citizens of Erie, led by the mayor, set fire to bridges, ripped up track, and in general did everything imaginable to thwart standardization.
Recent Developments
Recently, the Erie Downtown Improvement District (DID) contracted a Philadelphia-based company (Kise, Straw, & Kolodner) to set up a “master plan” for the city of Erie’s downtown. The DID plan includes building several mid-rise and high-rise structures which will be utilized primarily for housing and retail expansion in the city centre. Fourth River Development and Radnor Property Group were selected as the developers.
GAF, an asphalt shingle manufacturer announced plans in january of 2007 to relocate to Eastern Pennsylvania, thus making available several extremely valuable acres right next to the Convention Center and hotel currently under construction. A recent local newspaper poll shows that the majority of local citizens desire a park-like setting, followed by retail development in the area.
