Relics on the 1873 Wilkes Barre Map

   The more I look at the map, the more I come to appreciate it.  I like the colors and the various cryptic denotations.  I was able to learn a neat little history about how the town came to look how it does.

In the center you will notice a very uniform grid of small lots.  These lots are numbers from 1-50 and were the original 50 lots established when the town was settled in 1770.  These original lots were plotted in 1770 by one "Major Durkee" at direction of the Susquehanna Company.  This is where the history gets interesting (always my favorite part).

The Susquehanna Company was a company formed in the great state (then a British colony) of Connecticut.  The Company was formed, probably at the behest of the Connecticut colonial government, in order to establish settlements in the Wyoming Valley, which is in the northeastern part of  what is now-Pennsylvania.  In 1770 however, Connecticut laid claim to 'lands west of New York,' including parts of Pennsylvania, where Wilkes Barre now is.  The original 50 plots of Wilkes Barre, as depicted in the center of this map, are a relic of the land dispute between the colonies of Pennsylvania and Connecticut in 1770. 

The dispute between Pennsylvania and Connecticut led to what's called the "Pennamite Wars."  These were a series of wars fought by militia units of Pennsylvania and Connecticut.  After Connecticut settlers founded Wilkes Barre in 1769, Pennsylvanians sought to expel the Connecticans(?) by force.  The battles were not particularly bloody, resulting in only two Connecticutans and one Pennsylvanian killed.  There were three 'conflicts' in this war, one in 1769-70, 1775 and even as late as 1782, which was basically the end of the American Revolution.  Eventually the Continental Congress resolved the dispute by upholding Pennsylvania's claim to the land, which is now why the Wyoming Valley is part of Pennsylvania and not Connecticut.

The forced settlement of the Wyoming Valley was an effort by Connecticut to establish a foothold, a claim, in the area.  The relic of this conflict is seen today in the layout of Wilkes Barre.  The fifty original lots are a memorial to this now-forgotten conflict.  They persist to this day, and are reflected on this awesome map from 1873 (one hundred years after their being plotted) given to me by my awesome girl.