While driving up to see a friend in Erie County via Pa Route 8 you would pass a rather strange and elaborate stone entry way which looked like it at one time may have been an entrance to a former Trolley or Amusement Park it had an elaborate water fountain as well.
But this was not the case and sadly over the years the elaborate stone work back ground disappeared and road slightly realigned . Sadly all that's left now is a white painted concrete arch that says McKinney Road .If you ever traveled thru here prior to rebuild in 90s you probably wondered the same thing as well .
So what was the archway commemorating it is in fact a marker to honor the Prominent McKinney Oil Family which helped to build the original section of modern road from Cherry Tree Twp to Titusville Pa.
https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=138334
Excerpt from Titusville Herald
Mr. McKinney is known for making the largest individual contribution that was ever received by the Pennsylvania Highway Department. In 1924, he and his family provided the funds to improve Route 205, now Route 8 south. An arch was constructed at the bottom of Cherrytree Hill, with the name of the thoroughfare, McKinney Road. A water fountain once stood at the location, as well.
The road was completed in November 1924, with a formal opening on Nov. 25, the 80th birthday of Mr. McKinney. He passed away days later, on Dec. 7, 1924.
So there you go not an entrance to a long forgotten park but a loving tribute to a family which was a major benefactor to Titusville
I hope to one day find pictures of the original memorial setup and will update this article when I do
Cherrytree Twp has an interesting history as well right where this marker is located once had its own phone company the operations office was across from the marker which is now a storage facility after it was absorbed by GTE which is now Verizon.
No comments:
Post a Comment