This article was published in the Butler Eagle on Aug. 12, 2021.

In 1803, after trustees auctioned dozens of the long, narrow lots carved from the 76 acres that made up Butler’s Main Street, residents of the new town began going about daily life.

“The pioneer villagers entered upon the humble beginnings of what were to be, as a rule, successful careers,” according to resident recollections in “History of Butler County, Pennsylvania — 1883.” “There was promise of prosperity for almost everyone.”

Buyers of the lots paid anywhere from $10 to $90, in three payments, and began building on them.

Blacksmith James Thompson erected Butler's first log cabin, near the Diamond. William Young, William Neyman, Abraham Brinker and Jacob Funk built the next four cabins on Main Street, which was called High Street at the time, according to the Butler history.

“Other houses, all of very primitive character, were built soon after by John Emfrey, George Powers, Stephen Crawford and John Potts,” the book states.

William Graham, born in the late fall or early winter of 1803, was the first child born in Butler. The first infant girl to make her appearance was Sarah Potts, who later married Robert Carnahan, according to the book.

As families eked out their existence in the new village during the dreary winter of 1803, two taverns, a store and a blacksmith shop appeared, according to the recollections of Henry Brackenridge, who rode the bridle path from Pittsburgh to Butler to serve as the clerk for Butler’s first prothonotary, William Ayers.

“The country around was a howling wilderness, with the exception of a few scattered settlements, as far removed from each other as the kraals in the neighborhood of the Cape of Good Hope,” Brackenridge recalled.

By the summer of 1804, residents were ready to assemble socially, and a festive Fourth of July celebration was planned for an area near the Connoquenessing Creek. It marked the 28th birthday of America, which at that time boasted 17 states.

Gen. John Purviance, who addressed those assembled at the event, recalled that a table estimated at 100 feet was filled “with the best the country afforded.”

Ayers sat at one end of the table and Sheriff John McCandless at the other. Both men offered patriotic toasts. When Ayers proposed a toast to a man named Thomas McKean, he described him as having “energy and wisdom.” But “McCandless, who was a little deaf, and possibly of the opposite political party, rose at the foot of the table and in a sonorous voice announced ‘Thomas McKean — injured by whiskey,’ and so the toast was drunk,” according to the book.

The little town of Butler continued to grow, and by 1828, contained 400 to 500 residents, two doctors, seven lawyers, seven taverns and 14 stores that accepted cash or payment in bear and deer skins, cranberries, honey or beeswax.

Butler also was incorporated as a borough by that time.

As Butler Borough grew, with mercantiles, mills of various kinds, churches, schools and distilleries opening, other settlers chose to put down roots in villages and townships throughout Butler County.

Thirteen townships existed in the county in 1804, including North and South Butler. By 1854, officials decided that the county required dividing into the 33 townships that exist today, including Butler Township, which surrounds the City of Butler. The city was incorporated from Butler Borough in 1918.

The identity of Butler Township’s first settler is not know, but several notable settlers have been recorded.

Irishman William Kearns settled there in 1796 after leaving Westmoreland County.

Unusual for the times, Kearns’ sister, Jane, “took up in her own name and secured by settlers’ rights 100 acres of land” adjoining her brother’s.

A man named Thomas Collins sunk a salt well in 1811 or 1812 in Butler Township, which was mined for many years.

The quality of the salt, however, was harmed by crude oil that was also in the ground, and meat pickled in brine from the salt tasted of oil.

“Old Mrs. Kearns usually kept a jug or two of the oil in her cupboard, from which many small vials were filled for her neighbors,” according to recollections in the book. “It was believed to be a sovereign remedy for many of the ills afflicting man and beast, especially cuts and bruises.”

In about 1800, John Buckhart settled in the southeastern corner of the township after being captured by Native Americans four years earlier in Allegheny County and made to run the gauntlet.

“He received a tomahawk wound upon the forehead, the scar of which he carried until his dying day” in 1855.

Revolutionary War veteran Peter Peterson of Somerset County settled in Butler Township sometime before 1800. Peterson had served in a company that fought at Braddock’s Defeat.