Union High School - U Yearbook (Burgettstown, PA)

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Table of Contents Community Introduction ..............2-15 Revolution: Then and Now ........16-27 The Year............................28-61 The People.........................62-167 The Action ...................... 168-273 Patriotism....................... 274-304 3

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To commemorate the Bicentennial Year, we begin the story of 76 with the most integral part of our school system - The Community. The purpose of a school is to serve the community. In turn the community supports the school. Without this intimate relationship. Union High School would not exist. Burgettstown Community Library founded in 1936 acquires a new image with the recently completed addition.

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Industrial Revolution in Burgettstown Prior to the 1800's, the Burgettstown Area, like much of Western Pennsylvania, was noted strictly as an agricultural center. However progress did not bypass the area. During the Civil War, farmers discovered oil on their land. Eventually immigrants settled here to seek employment and a home. For instance, a group of employees who worked for R. G. Gillespie, a noted oil king, built homes in a small cluster and called their village Gillespie City. To- day the general vicinity is Atlasburg. Many other towns of the area developed as a result of the oil industry. Oil remnants of the past still stand in the Racoon area An oil derrick not only provides an architectural design but an artistic photograph. An oil derrick is not an uncommon sight in the Burgettstown Area The four-sided steel tower provided a source of income for many residents. Even oil doesn't last forever, so eventually the wells ran dry leaving drilling crews unemployed. This did not lead to the downfall of industrial development since there still was another resource present. Progress replaces the oil derrick with the grasshopper' which still pumps oil in Langeloth 4