Another Washington County, Pennsylvania historic landmark was lost this month with the demolition of the Joseph Cowden and Margaret McCarrell Cowden house on Cowden Road in Cecil Township, Pennsylvania. Cecil’s Cowden Road has tragically lost the original house of its namesake and the last vestige of a once great farm that numerous Cowdens are descended from. Very few properties in the township, save for the Alexander McConnell house of 1805, can claim such an extensive history.
The house had stood strong and seemingly unchanged and unmaintained for 211 years, displaying its original Federal architecture-style window trim, unique porch balusters, and clapboard wood siding until its dilapidation and demise. It was built in 1813, at a time when the United States was at war with Great Britain and only 18 stars flew on the US flag. The US was only on its fourth president - James Madison. Early records of the farm that hosted the house remain scarce, but it is believed to have originally been owned by the Oram family, and was later the center of a large farm managed by Joseph and Margaret Cowden and their several children.Â
The property survived the coming of the Pittsburgh, Carnegie, and Western Railroad (aka the Wabash), the route of which cut directly through the farm. It survived a large flood in 1890 that caused $500 (about $17k in 2024) in damage. It survived a multiple fatality explosion of 500 pounds of dynamite during the railroad construction, even if its windows did not. It survived several acres of land being forfeited to the coal company. It survived a brief moment of time when the Forest Oil Company came to drill on its lands. It survived a robbery by tenant farmer William Rasel in 1897. It survived, at first, decades of residential sprawl of several newer houses and then industrial encroachment of factories like Miller Centrifugal Casting. It survived being outright purchased by the Pittsburgh Consolidation Coal Company in 1946. It did not survive its final purchase by the neighboring storage facility business in 2023. Along with many other long-gone local historic properties, the house was depicted in an illustration in Caldwell’s Atlas of Washington County in 1876. Joseph’s son-in-law Campbell Ledlie Reed even lived on the farm for a short time. He was a grandson of Capt. David Reed, the squatter who famously hosted George Washington at his house for dinner only a few miles away.Â
The once great farm had dwindled down to less than an acre over the last century of its lifespan, only to eventually fall into disrepair under unfortunate circumstances, and then slip into foreclosure soon after. Going for only $40,000 at auction, the once-grand Federal manor changed hands into its final executioner and the axe came down in September of 2024. The house was purchased in November of 2023, approved for demolition in January of 2024, and met its fate just two weeks ago. Like many other neglected structures before it, this house and all it once represented was deemed less valuable than the small parcel of land it sat upon, and after more than two centuries, a property among the oldest in the county was destroyed forever, taking with it all of the memories and echoes of those who cherished it before.Â
Joseph Cowden lived through numerous historic events from 1825-1908. His wife Margaret McCarrell was at his side for most of his life, living from 1825-1897. They witnessed the peak of the industrial revolution and all of the vast changes it brought to their farm throughout the 19th century. Joseph was born into a lower class pioneer farming family and died with a fortune worth over $100,000 (about $3.5m in 2024)Â from the success of his own hard work and from the lands forfeited to the railroad, coal mine, and oil well sales. He was a founder of the Venice Presbyterian Church, and the Cowden railroad station was named for his family. Eventually the area around the station came to be known simply as Cowden, but this, along with the house, has since vanished.Â
I can’t help but find it a bit ironic that my 3x great-grandparents’ house was demolished within the same year that I co-founded a nonprofit organization with a goal of historic preservation. I now further understand the reality of having my ancestral heritage senselessly stolen away right before my eyes. I hope that Historic Fort Cherry and other organizations with similar goals can help to save the unique history of our rural heritage and prevent these atrocities from continuing. Even in 2024 when society should know better from mistakes made in years prior, the master craftsmanship of our ancestors is at a greater risk than ever before, and almost no measures of protection have been placed on any of our old heirloom architecture. All around the Pittsburgh area there are historic structures rotting away as shadows of their former selves. It is entirely up to us to spread the message on the importance of preserving, rather than destroying. If we do not, our future generations will not have a single example of our once-prevalent and spectacular historic architecture to appreciate.
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