Monongahela Area Historical Society buys Longwell House

By KRISTIE LINDEN
klinden@yourmvi.com
About 15 members of the Monongahela Area Historical Society gathered under the cover of the gazebo in Chess Park Wednesday evening for an announcement worth dodging raindrops to hear.
The historical society has bought the Longwell House at 711 W. Main St. and will move its offices and museum to the home in July.
Society President Laura Magone told the group the house, which is on the National Register of Historic Places, is in good shape, having been examined by a home inspector.
Bob Richards, who owned the home with his late partner, Roy Lietza, operated an antiques shop in the home that bore the Longwell House name.
According to the historical society, Riverboat Capt. David Longwell lived in a brick house behind the main house that stands today during the Civil War.
His original house, an adjacent barn and the cellar of the nearby Bethel A.M.E. Church — also on the National Register — were used to hide slaves as part of the Underground Railroad.
After the war, the Pennsylvania Railroad came through and laid tracks very near Longwell’s old home.
He hired local architect and builder John Blythe to build a new house, closer to West Main Street. Blythe was a busy builder and was responsible for transforming Monongahela from a Greek Revival style village to an Italianate city.
The Longwell House is one of Blythe’s Italian Villas.

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