When I was writing about Capt. Robert Howard Fuellhart Jr. a few weeks back, I learned that Andrew Ellicott was buried with Fuellhart at West Point.

Now I knew that Ellicott — along with Gen. William Irvine — laid out Warren in 1795.

But what is required to lay out a town from scratch? How does the process work?

For what would become Warren County, it started with an act in the General Assembly.

The act, per Schenck’s History of Warren County, was passed on April 18, 1795 with the following purpose: “in order to facilitate and promote the progress of settlements within the Commonwealth, and to afford additional securities to the frontiers by the establishment of towns….”

The act included establishment of towns at Presque Isle, at the mouth of French Creek, at the mouth of Conewango Creek and at Ft. LeBoeuf.

The French Creek location is likely what we now know as Franklin while “Presque Isle” isn’t what we know now as Presque Isle State Park but rather Erie proper.

The General Assembly’s action required that commissioners be appointed by the governor that “shall survey or cause to be surveyed three hundred acres for town lots and seven hundred acres of land adjoining thereto for out lots, at the most eligible place within the tract heretofore reserved for public use at the mouth of Conewango Creek; and the lands so surveyed shall be respectively laid out and divided into town lots and outlots, in such manner, and with such streets, lanes, alleys and reservations for public uses, as the said commissioners shall direct.”

The act further stipulated that none of the town lots should be more than one-third of an acre and the outlots no more than five acres “nor shall the reservations for public uses exceed in whole, ten acres.”

The legislation also named the town “Warren” and required that “all the streets, lanes and alleys thereof, and of the lots thereto adjoining, shall be and remain common highways.”

Troops were stationed at Ft. LeBoeuf to support the commissioners’ efforts, though being days away from Warren it’s fair to question how much assistance those soldiers could actually provide in case of emergency.

Subsequently, Ellicott and Irvine were appointed by the commissioners to conduct the surveys, which were completed that year.

In August 1796, the lots in the towns laid out under the act were put up for sale at Carlisle, Pa., over 200 miles away.

This wasn’t the only entity trying to sell and develop, such as it was on the frontier, Warren County at this time.

The Holland Land Company held broad ownership in what we now consider western Warren County.

Interestingly, it was that company, Schenck writes, that erected the first building by “English-speaking whites” when a block storehouse was built on the back near the mouth of the Conewango. The structure was a supply option for surveyors and settlers.

“This first structure,” Schenck continues, “remained in a good state of preservation for many years, and its grimy roof and walls afforded shelter and protection to considerable numbers of the early residents during the first days passed by them in Warren.”

So it takes a state act and military protection to pull out laying out new towns.

It also takes exceptional surveying experience and that means it’s no secret that Ellicott was selected for the task.

He’s known for completing L’Enfant’s survey laying out Washington D.C. and also surveyed the “Erie Triangle,” the state’s only access to the Great Lakes which also settled the boundary for western New York.

His most famous pupil? Merriwether Lewis.

Prior to the Corps of Discovery launching on their famous expedition in Aug. 1903, Lewis lived with Ellicott to learn the trade from April to May of that year.

Irvine, who ultimately was awarded “donation lands” in the county for his Revolutionary War service (he’s the namesake of Irvine), also came to the project with a distinguished record.

Born, raised and educated in Ireland, Irvine became a doctor and served on a British Man of War prior to emigrating to Carlisle, Pa. before the American Revolution.

After his service in the war — and immediately before he undertook the surveying project — he was a representative in Congress from 1793 to 1795.

In 1799, another surveyor, Col. Alexander McDowell was sent by legislative act to lay out lots around the towns laid out in 1795. The lots were not to exceed 150 acres.

The following year, 1800, the General Assembly created the county of Warren.