Traveling through what is now Preston County, George Washington crossed Laurel Hill and reached “the ford of Sandy Creek at one James Spurgeons,” which he placed about 15 miles from Ice’s Ferry. The editors of his diary identify the ford as apparently near present-day Bruceton Mills.
Washington continued toward the Youghiogheny Glades, where he recorded spending the night outdoors, sheltered only by his cloak during a heavy rain. His diary names Spurgeon’s place as a landmark along his route but does not record an overnight stay at the Spurgeon home.
Research status: Verified to source
Citation / research lead
The Diaries of George Washington, Volume IV, September 25, 1784 — Library of Congress PDF, page 50
By 1818, the National Road connected Cumberland, Maryland, with Wheeling, Virginia, through southwestern Pennsylvania. Although it passed north of Preston County, its traffic created nearby markets for the county’s farmers and merchants. Oren F. Morton later described the road’s taverns as buyers of local farm produce and associated its busy years with Brandonville’s growth. Connections to this neighboring transportation corridor helped shape the economy of northern Preston.
Research status: Verified to source
Additional source
View the National Road map at e-WV — credited to the Library of Congress
The Baltimore & Ohio Railroad built a Fink truss bridge across the Cheat River at Rowlesburg in 1851, according to the Historic American Engineering Record. HAER identifies it as the first of three successive bridges at this crossing. The Smithsonian’s B&O Railroad Records preserve an undated view specifically identified as the Fink bridge, along with another undated view of the Cheat River bridge near Rowlesburg. Together, the engineering record and archival images document the earliest bridge generation in this crossing’s history.
Research status: Verified to source
Additional source
Library of Congress — HAER WV-13 catalog and photographs
Three days after voting against Virginia’s ordinance of secession, Preston County delegate James C. McGrew joined a small private meeting of western delegates in Richmond. The group discussed leaving the convention, returning to their constituents, and organizing opposition to secession. The effort formed part of the political movement that soon gathered at Wheeling and ultimately led to West Virginia statehood.
Research status: Verified to source
Related photograph
Hon. James Clark McGrew of West Virginia, between 1860 and 1875
James Clark McGrew of Kingwood began the first of two terms in the U.S. House of Representatives. A merchant and banker who had opposed Virginia’s secession in 1861, McGrew represented West Virginia’s Second Congressional District until March 3, 1873.
Research status: Verified
Related photograph
Hon. James Clark McGrew of West Virginia, between 1860 and 1875
The Preston County Herald began publication in Kingwood in 1870. It was renamed the West Virginia Argus in 1877 and operated from the Bishop Building until 1945.
Research status: Verified
Citation / research lead
Library of Congress, West Virginia Argus (LCCN sn86092245)
The Rowlesburg B&O crossing entered its Bollman-truss generation in 1870, following the earlier Fink bridge, according to HAER. A Smithsonian archival image dated circa 1870 records two adjacent bridges over the Cheat River, each carrying one track across two spans, with water spouts beside the tracks. The image provides a view of the crossing between its Fink and Warren generations; its later repair and replacement history still requires investigation.
Research status: Under Review
Additional source
Library of Congress — HAER WV-13 catalog and photographs
After prolonged heavy rain, the Cheat River surged through Rowlesburg. Contemporary reports said 17 houses, a sawmill, a planing mill, and an iron Baltimore & Ohio railroad bridge were washed away; five families lost everything, and damage at Rowlesburg was estimated at $125,000. Federal records place the flood peak at Rowlesburg on July 10, with an estimated discharge of 71,000 cubic feet per second.
Research status: Verified
Additional source
The Kanabec County Times, July 19, 1888, page 2 — Library of Congress
The Elkins Coal & Coke Company's Bretz plant entered full production in 1907. The Morgantown & Kingwood Railroad connected the operation with its principal customer, the Maryland Steel Company plant and shipyard at Sparrows Point near Baltimore.
Research status: Verified to source
Additional source
Library of Congress, Historic American Engineering Record — Elkins Coal & Coke Company, Bretz Ovens (HAER WV-7), photograph 3, “Watering the ovens”
The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the long-recognized Deakins line in the boundary dispute between Maryland and West Virginia. The decision directly affected the border between Garrett and Preston counties. The Court considered the established practices of residents who paid Preston County taxes, voted there, and used West Virginia schools. Commissioners subsequently surveyed and marked the boundary, and the Court confirmed their majority report on May 2, 1912.
Research status: Verified to source
Citation / research lead
Maryland v. West Virginia, 217 U.S. 1 (1910), especially pp. 40–47; 225 U.S. 1 (1912)
Around 1910, a riveted Warren truss bridge carried the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad across the Cheat River at Rowlesburg. HAER describes it as the third bridge at this site, following the Fink bridge of 1851 and the Bollman bridge of 1870. Its surviving documentation includes four photographs and a short written history, preserving a record of this early twentieth-century railroad structure.
Research status: Verified to source
Citation / research lead
Historic American Engineering Record, HAER WV-13, B&O Railroad, Rowlesburg Bridge, written historical and descriptive data (transmitted 1984) and Library of Congress catalog
No direct online link recorded for this citation.
Additional source
Library of Congress — HAER WV-13 catalog and photographs
The Lake Lynn hydroelectric plant began operating on the Cheat River in Monongalia County, downstream from Preston County. Its dam created the reservoir now known as Cheat Lake and formed part of a power system serving northern West Virginia and southwestern Pennsylvania. The project also has a documented Preston connection through the construction albums of civil engineer and Preston County resident Harry Snedden Laird, preserved at West Virginia University.
Research status: Verified to source
Additional source
Library of Congress — powerhouse and dam, Jet Lowe, September 1980 (HAER WV-30-3)
On the evening of November 16, 1951, a U.S. Air Force Douglas RB-26C Invader returning from Pittsburgh to Langley Air Force Base on a routine training flight suffered an engine failure and struck a mountaintop near Eglon, southeast of Aurora. All three Air Force Reserve officers aboard—Jerome J. Walsh, William L. Langdon, and Prentice Ross Jr.—were killed. Wreckage scattered across the Ernest Shaffer farm, and one engine narrowly missed the family’s house. Hundreds of military personnel, National Guardsmen, police officers, Civil Air Patrol crews, hunters, and local volunteers participated in a weeklong winter search centered at Aurora High School.
Research status: Verified to source
Citation / research lead
The Republican (Oakland, Maryland), November 22, 1951, p. 1, “Crash of B-26 Bomber Near Eglon Takes Two Lives, Possibly Three”