HISTORY OF CARROLL TOWNSHIP PENNSYLVANIA > SOURCE: THE HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY, EARLE L. FORREST, 1926 > Submitted By: Dave Copenhaver Sr. dlcope@sgi.net > > Carroll Township, situated in the Horseshoe, also known as the Great > Bend of the Monongahela River, includes the Horseshoe Bottom in which Donora is now located. There has been much coal development in this township, and > along the river are many mills, principally owned by the American Steel and Wire Company and located in Donora, which is built on the site of West > Columbia. > The territory now in Carroll was formerly parts of Fallowfield and > Nottingham. A new township was formed in 1834 and named Knox, but when the > court made the decree it was changed to Carroll. The reason for this is not now apparent. > Just who the first settlers of this section were we can not say, but it is known that prior to 1790 the following men lived there: Daniel and > Joseph Depue, Samuel Cole, Thomas Nichol, Jacob Stillwagon, Cornelius and > Peter Weyandt, Robert Galloway, Harmonus Cole, Andrew Platter, Thomas > Shaver, John Ammon, James Coulter, Jacob Rape Jr., William VanHorn, Thomas > Legg, Joseph Hall, George Grant, Samuel Baxter, Nicholas Depue, Samuel > Quimby, Martin Wirt, David Grant, Isaac Teeple, Richard and Stacy Storer, > Robert and Alexander George, Conrad Ammon, Peter Castner, Daniel and James > Rice, John Shouse, Jacob Ammon, Samuel VanVoorhis, Gen. John Hamilton, David VanVoorhis, Vincent Colvin, Isaac Cole, Jonathan and Daniel Hamilton, > Abraham Frye Sr., Abraham Frye Jr., Frederick Cooper, Samuel Frye, Abraham > Brokaw, and many others. > Thomas Nichol kept a ferry at the point where Donora now stands. Before 1800 and during the early years of the past century there were a number of > grist and saw mills on Pigeon and Mingo creeks. Benjamin Parkinson, of > Williamsport, now Monongahela city, came into possession of the mills at the > mouth of Mingo Creek as early as 1800, and operated them for a number of > years. One of these was the old River mill, at the mouth of Mingo Creek, > which was one of the best known in the Western country. He carried on quite > a manufacturing business at both Mingo and Elkton, where he had two > distilleries, three grist mills, a woolen factory, a comb factory, a sickle > factory and a gun factory. > The VanVoorhis mill, on Pigeon Creek, was also famous in its day, as was Cowan's mill. Joseph Beckett ran a distillery opposite the old brick house at Baird Station. Where Yohe's slaughter house now stands, on Pigeon Creek, was Black's mill. A dam crossed the creek just above this point. > One of the first glass factories west of the Alleghany Mountains was > established in this township by Maj. H. A. Warne, a soldier in the War of > 1812, in connection with his boat building business. Another glass factory was erected at Dry Run by Samuel Black in 1824, who also built the first > mill at that point. This was a tramp mill, the power for' which was supplied by oxen. > The churches in Carroll Township are the United Brethren Church, a mile and a half from Monongahela city, on the Washington-Monongahela Pike, and > the Ginger Hill Lutheran Church. In early days the Horseshoe Bottom > Presbyterian and the Horseshoe Bottom Baptist churches were located in > Carroll Township, but these congregations have removed to Monongahela city. > The first school in Carroll Township was in a log building near > Withe-row's blacksmith shop, three and one-half miles southeast of > Monongahela city. The date this school was started is uncertain. In 1796 > another school was opened in a log building at Parkinson's Ferry, now > Monon-gahela city. There are now twenty-six teachers in the township's ten schools, as follows: Victory Hill, Star Sampson, Alexander, Taylor's Run, > Wylie, Stone, Haywood, Valley Inn, and Mingo. > Coal mining in Carroll Township goes back to a very early date. In 1814 > there was a small mine at West Columbia. As this township has a big river > frontage, there were formerly a number of tipples for loading coal on barges as well as the railroad. There were such mines as Black Diamond, Catsburg, > Ivil, Schoenberger, Dunkirk, and Hazelkirk. Recently Black Diamond and > Schoenberger have been dismantled, the coal all hav-ing been removed. The > following coal companies still own coal in this township: Pittsburgh Coal > Company, 1,326 acres coal; Mingo Coal Com-pany, 1,132 acres coal; H. C. > Frick Coal and Coke Company, 577 acres coal; Youghiogheny & Ohio Coal > Company, 185 acres coal; Union Coal and Coke Company, Dunkirk mine, 114 > acres coal; Hazelkirk mine, 13 acres coal; National Mining Company, 114 > acres coal; Smith Coal Company, 1.3 acres coal.