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LEGIONVILLE DESERVES PLACE IN HISTORY ARCHAEOLOGIST SAYS

Virginia Ross-Lutz (Reprinted from the November 22, 1992, Beaver County Times of Beaver County, Pa.)

HARMONY TWP.- Legionville is just a grassy field, but it's a grassy field with history. Patrick R. Riley, a Pittsburgh archaeologist, knows that the field once held the nations first military training camp, led by Gen. "Mad" Anthony Wayne. He knows that Wayne opened the camp 200 years ago Saturday. And he's sure that restoring the camp to its rustic splendor would benefit his science, the tourist industry of the Beaver Valley and the pride of its residents. He doesn't know, however, if he'll ever see the camp resurrected. For one thing, few people remember the story of "Mad" Anthony Wayne and Legionville. "Here we have a site of major historical significance and nobody knows about it, "said Riley, a native of Economy. "that's the first thing we need to change."

As a member of the Anthony Wayne Historical Society in Baden, he's well equipped to spread the story. Wayne was an American officer during the Revolutionary War. He won his nickname with the reckless courage shown while leading the recapture of Stony Point, N.Y., a British post on the Hudson River, in 1779. In 1792, the retired general accepted the position of commander of chief of the nation's army. "Mad" Anthony set up a training camp at Fort Fayette in Pittsburgh. By October, he had tired of the city's distractions and began looking for land downriver. He found a site, and moved his men on Nov. 28, 1792, to what would become Harmony Township, Beaver County. The men drilled at Legionville until April 30, 1793, when the general led his troops to Ohio to fight the Indians. "When Wayne left the site, he left everything- buildings, huts- intact," Riley says, "What we want to do is to dig up the site, do a serious archaeological study of the land and see what we can uncover... But we can't do this because the land doesn't belong to the society."

The society has been trying for years (since 1915, ed.) to have the site along Route 65 preserved as a national park and paid for its development, passed Congress in 1978. President Jimmy Carter did not sign it. Now, Legionville's 50 acres are owned by two businesses and zoned for industrial use. GenCorp Inc., a Fairlawn, Ohio- based firm that makes aerospace, automotive and polymer products, owns 22 acres of undeveloped land. Jerart Inc., a Baden slag- processing company, holds the other 26 acres. Although the site was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975, few federal rules control use of the property. The owners may do what they want with their land, providing they use no federal licenses or money. Pennsylvania regulations, however, force the owners to perform archaeological assessments before any development is done. The findings are then reviewed by the Pennsylvania Bureau of Historic Preservation. The bureau, an office of the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, determines whether the owners may develop the site. GenCorp has spent between $40,000 and $50,000 for state mandated testing, and turned up some ammunition and flint chips dating to the time of Wayne's encampment. It must now pay for a second study. The Anthony Wayne Historical Society has asked GenCorp for the land.

"We are unable to make any decisions regarding the land until the assessment is completed and reviewed," says Cynthia Riddle, director of communications at GenCorp. "The bureau will determine if the property can be released for development. Right now it is too soon for us to determine what will happen." The Jerart's study found nothing, but there's a 25-square-foot area adjacent to the GenCorp property line that the archaeologists thought was worth another look. The bureau requested an additional dig, while clearing all the rest of Jerart's land for development. To date , Jerart has invested $14,000 in the process." Jerart plans to donate our portion of the land to the Anthony Wayne Historical Society once we complete our work on the site," says Jerry Peckich, co- owner of Jerart. "We want to see it as a national park and we hope that happens."

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