Editing Canonsburg, Pennsylvania (section)

==History==
===18th century===
[[File:Canonsburg plots John Canon.jpg|thumb|Original plots laid by Colonel [[John Canon]]]]
[[File:JohnMcMillanLogSchool1780s.jpg|thumb|[[John McMillan's Log School]], built in the 1780s]]
Sometime prior to May 1780, Colonel [[John Canon]], a common [[miller]] who served as justice of the Virginia courts at [[Fort Pitt (Pennsylvania)|Fort Pitt]], purchased some land around Chartiers Creek from the state of [[Virginia]]. The state had claimed what is now [[Yohogania County|southwestern Pennsylvania]] in a dispute that would not finally be settled until later in the decade. In 1781 Pennsylvania carved Washington County out of [[Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania|Westmoreland County]], and the county seat was established at Washington. The notes of the first session of the Washington County Court during that year indicate a call for a road from Canon's mill to Pittsburgh. The road to Pittsburgh, called Pitt Street, remains in part today as an archaic and indirect route to the city. The first surviving [[plat]] of the town is from April 15, 1788. Lots were sold around Canon's property, and the emerging town took the name of Canonsburg shortly thereafter.

Many of the participants in the [[Whiskey Rebellion]] in July 1794 were residents of present-day [[Washington County, Pennsylvania|Washington County]], which includes Canonsburg. Some of the insurrectionists are believed to have gathered in the town's Black Horse Tavern. However, records do not indicate whether any Canonsburg residents participated in any of the violent acts which occurred during the rebellion.<ref name="Grefenstette">{{cite book|last=Grefenstette|first=Jerry|title=Canonsburg|publisher=[[Arcadia Publishing]]|year=2009|pages=7|isbn=978-0-7385-6533-0|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vr31Qfo34g0C&q=Canonsburg+%22whiskey+rebellion%22&pg=PA7}}</ref>

===19th century===
The town was the site of the first institution of [[higher education|higher learning]] west of the [[Allegheny Mountains]], Jefferson College. Founded in 1802, it was the eleventh such institution in the United States. The [[Phi Gamma Delta]] and [[Phi Kappa Psi]] fraternities were both founded at Jefferson College. Phi Gamma Delta, of whom President [[Calvin Coolidge]] was a member, was founded in 1848. Phi Kappa Psi, of whom President [[Woodrow Wilson]] and over 100 [[U.S. Congress]]men claim membership, was founded in 1852. The school would go on to become [[Washington & Jefferson College]] in nearby Washington.

For generations, Jefferson College financially supported Canonsburg by accounting for much of its income. In 1868, however, the college was moved to nearby Washington, leaving behind empty college rooming and boarding houses, known as the "forts". Canonsburg's largest financial draw having left, it would take the introduction of the railroad system to return the city to its former glory. The railroad system, on its way from [[Carnegie, Pennsylvania|Mansfield]] (Carnegie) to [[Washington, Pennsylvania|Washington]] (See: [[Chartiers Branch]]), was fully operational, as scheduled, on May 18, 1871. The first scheduled train departed from the Washington depot carrying "borough authorities, the committee of arrangement and reception, as well as Rankin’s Cornet Band and a number of…prominent citizens who had been invited to join the excursion." They traveled to Mansfield, where they waited for the special to arrive from [[Pittsburgh]]. The special had 12 coaches pulled by two locomotives and was filled with a large number of dignitaries, most especially the mayors of Pittsburgh and Allegheny. The special then made it down the newly laid tracks, passing stations full of spectators to cheer on the train. Canonsburg had a large crowd of supporters, and many people climbed aboard the train to ride along to Washington. There, led by Pittsburgh's Great Western Band, the crowd marched to Town Hall for a round of speeches. The Washington Reporter editor pronounced the day "a grand success."

===20th century===
In 1903, the Washington and Canonsburg Railway Company linked the two towns with a trolley line. The company was bought by the ''Philadelphia Company'' in 1906, later becoming part of the [[Pittsburgh Railways|Pittsburgh Railway Company]], linking through to Pittsburgh as part of their [[interurban]] service in 1909.<ref>{{cite book |title=Canonsburg – Images of America |last=Grefenstette |first=Jerry |year=2009 |publisher=Arcadia Publishing |isbn=978-0-7385-6533-0 |page=46 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vr31Qfo34g0C|access-date=October 18, 2009}}</ref> The line closed on August 29, 1953, with the last three trolley cars travelling south through Canonsburg to the [[Pennsylvania Trolley Museum]] in 1954 shortly before the track was removed.

In 1911, South Canonsburg was [[annexation|annexed]]. On August 26, 1911, 26 people were killed in the [[Canonsburg Opera House disaster]]. A [[Shouting fire in a crowded theater|false shout of "fire"]] triggered a panic that killed twenty-six people.<ref>{{Cite news|title=THEATRE DEATHS DUE TO NARROW STAIRS|date=August 28, 1911|work=The New York Times}}</ref>

The [[Canonsburg Armory]], [[Hawthorne School (Canonsburg, Pennsylvania)|Hawthorne School]] and [[Roberts House (Canonsburg, Pennsylvania)|Roberts House]] are listed on the [[National Register of Historic Places]].<ref name="nris">{{NRISref|2010a}}</ref>

The Standard Chemical Company operated a [[radium]] refining mill from 1911 to 1922 on a {{convert|19|acre|m2|adj=on}} plot of land. From 1930 to 1942, the company purified [[uranium]] ore. [[Marie Curie]] was invited to the United States in 1921 and was given an honorary degree by the [[University of Pittsburgh]], and one gram of radium.

From 1942 to 1957, Vitro Manufacturing Company refined uranium and other rare metals from various ores and onsite residues, government-owned uranium ore, process concentrates, and scrap materials. The government bought the uranium ore from Vitro and used it in the [[Manhattan Project]]. Waste from incomplete extraction and other [[metallurgical]] processes accumulated during the site's long history. About 11,600 tons of mill tailings were moved to railroad property near [[Blairsville, Pennsylvania|Blairsville]] between 1956 and 1957. After the closure of Vitro, the site was used by the [[United States Atomic Energy Commission|U.S. Atomic Energy Commission]]. The site was then used by the Canonsburg Pottery Company, operated by the George Family, for land and clay.

The Canonsburg mill site was designated in the 1978 Uranium Mill Tailings Radiation Control Act as eligible for federal funds for clean up. It was the only uranium mill east of the Mississippi River to receive funds. In a $48 million cleanup project, the mill site and 163 nearby properties in Canonsburg were remediated. Residual radioactivity was consolidated into a covered, clay-lined cell at the Canonsburg mill site, which is fenced and posted.