Pictured are General William Irvine (left) and Andrew Ellicott (right), Warren founders.

The Warren County Historical Society invites the public to celebrate Founders’ Day by visiting a special exhibit before April 30.

The exhibit includes a collection of artifacts relating to the early days of Warren, including antique surveying equipment, explorers’ journals and early maps of northwestern Pennsylvania will be on display.

The founding of Warren dates to April 18, 1795, when the Pennsylvania General Assembly passed an act directing that towns be laid out at Presque Isle, at the mouth of French Creek, at the mouth of the Conewango Creek and at Fort Le Boeuf. These would later become known as Erie, Franklin, Warren and Waterford.

The legislation required that commissioners be appointed by the governor to conduct surveys in those areas. The commissioners appointed by the governor were General William Irvine and surveyor Andrew Ellicott. General Irvine had received a land grant in the area for his service as a Brigadier General and commandant of Fort Pitt. While he never lived there, his son Callender developed the land and the community of Irvine in Brokenstraw Township is named after him.

The 1795 act also directed that the town at the confluence of the Conewango Creek and Allegheny River be called Warren in honor of General Joseph Warren. General Warren, a native of Boston, was a Founding Father of the United States and a Revolutionary War hero who was killed at the Battle of Bunker Hill. On the night of April 19, 1775, he enlisted Paul Revere and William Dawes to raise the alarm that British troops were marching to concord. The bronze statue in General Joseph Warren Park is one of only 5 in the United States and was the only one outside of Boston until June 2025 when a new one was unveiled at the Harmon Museum in Lebanon, Ohio, commemorating the 250th anniversary of his death.

In conjunction with the Founders’ Day exhibit, the Warren County Historical Society Board of Directors will sponsor a raffle with the proceeds benefiting preservation efforts. Prizes include $500 cash for first place along with 10 additional prize packages with items donated by local businesses. Tickets are $5 each and are on sale at 210 Fourth Ave, Warren, between 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m., or from any board member. The raffle drawing will take place on Thursday, April 30, at 4 p.m. at the Historical Society.

For more information, call 814-723-1795, visit the Warren County Historical Society’s website at www.warrenhistory.org, or like the Warren County Historical Society’s Facebook page.