The framed Joseph Warren letter pictured will be among items displayed for Warren’s Founders’ Day. Warren, the County’s namesake, played an integral role in the American independence movement 250 years ago. The exhibit will run throughout April at the Warren County Historical Society, 210 Fourth Ave., Warren. The Historical Society is open from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday.

The Warren County Historical Society will celebrate Warren’s Founders’ Day on Friday.

This year, Founders’ Day coincides with the 250th anniversary of the Revolutionary War’s beginning when the “shot heard ’round the world” ignited the Battles of Lexington and Concord on April 19, 1775.

Warren County’s namesake, Joseph Warren, played a role in the American independence movement. Born in Roxbury, Mass., in 1741, Warren graduated from Harvard at the age of 18 and became a physician in Boston. He soon developed an interest in politics and authored radical papers advocating for American rights. On the night of April 18, 1775, Dr. Warren enlisted Paul Revere and William Dawes to raise the alarm that British troops were marching to Concord. The following morning, Warren himself joined American militia against the Redcoats during the British retreat from Concord to Boston. Commissioned a major general on June 14, 1775, Warren was killed in action at the Battle of Bunker Hill on June 17, 1775.

Writing to her husband John, Abigail Adams mourned, “My bursting heart must find vent at my pen. I have just heard that our dear friend, Dr. Warren, is no more, but fell gloriously fighting for his country; saying, better to die honorably in the field, than ignominiously hang upon the gallows. Great is our loss.”

Twenty years later, the Pennsylvania legislature commissioned Andrew Ellicott to survey the lands in the state’s far northwest. The spot where the Allegheny River meets Conewango Creek was to be named in honor of Major General Joseph Warren. William Irvine, himself a general in America’s war for independence, accompanied Ellicott on his mission. So entranced was General Irvine with the countryside that he bought substantial acreage in what became Warren County.

The Historical Society will host special exhibits throughout April. Antique surveying equipment, old maps, and original explorers’ journals will be some of the artifacts on display. Of special note are an original April 27, 1784, General William Irvine letter and a Joseph Warren letter, dated May 12, 1775.

To view the exhibit, visit the Warren County Historical Society at 210 Fourth Ave., Warren. The historic building is open to the public every Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

In conjunction with the Founders’ Day celebration, the Historical Society board of directors will sponsor a raffle ticket fundraiser. Tickets may be purchased at the Historical Society or from any board member. Winners will be drawn at 4 p.m. Thursday.

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.