In 1766 the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania decommissioned Fort Ligonier. A former British officer and veteran of the French and Indian War named Arthur St. Clair (no relation to Sir John St. Clair) became the Fort’s civil caretaker. St. Clair was a mysterious Scottish Highlander who was an active land speculator and provincial government official in the area that would become Westmoreland County. He served as a Major-General in the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War. Most notably, St. Clair was elected as the first President of the United States Continental Congress in 1787, as the Constitution was being drafted. In that role he actually preceded George Washington as the first elected executive head of the new American government.
Few people called Ligonier home until the opening of the Philadelphia-Pittsburgh Turnpike in 1817, a year before St. Clair died. The Turnpike brought steady growth to Ligonier, and paved the way for summer resorts and getaway destinations for Pittsburghers profiting during the industrial revolution.
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