Ellsworth to host celebration for 125th anniversary
The celebration is set for July 11-13 in the Washington County community.
For the MVI
The Borough of Ellsworth in Washington County will celebrate its 125th anniversary with a celebration July 11-13.
The celebration will kick off with a community banquet on July 11. A community picnic will be held on July 12 featuring food and craft vendors, a bounce house and slide, petting zoo, car show, pet parade, youth pageant, music by two different bands, a performance by the St. George Junior Tamburitzans, firefighters’ parade and fireworks.
The celebration will end with an ecumenical religious service of thanksgiving on July 13. Addition information about Ellsworth’s 125th Anniversary Celebration can be found on Facebook at “Ellsworth 125th Anniversary Celebration.”
Ahead of the celebrations, state Sen. Camera Bartolotta, R-Carroll Township, recently presented the Borough of Ellsworth with a Senate Resolution that recognizes the town’s 125th anniversary.
The Borough of Ellsworth was founded in 1900 by James W. Ellsworth, a business tycoon from Chicago. James Ellsworth sought to expand his business interest in the blossoming coal fields of Southwestern Pennsylvania. He sunk his first coal shafts along Pigeon Creek in Washington County in 1900. To support the mining operation, a town was built near the mine shaft.
The town took the name of “Ellsworth.” Ellsworth was incorporated as a borough on August 20, 1900.
Ellsworth was originally a “company” town, with all property owned by the coal company. To support its mining operation, the coal company built houses for its employees. As the mining operation expanded, the town also expanded. In time a store, school, doctor’s office, inn, park, theater, and two churches were built.
To obtain employees for the mining operation, agents of the coal company went to Europe and recruited workers from England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, Sweden, Norway, Germany, Russia, Poland, Austria-Hungary, Italy.
The new residents worked hard to transform the coal mining town into a warm, pleasant, and thriving community for their families and for future generations. The men and women who settled in Ellsworth were a part of the great American “melting pot.” They brought and shared diverse cultures from various parts of Europe.
