Historical Perspective

While many sections of the borough of Irwin have historical significance, it is the 500 block of Main Street that has an appeal all its own.

One first notices the neat lawns that adorn well-tended buildings. Then the eyes can't help but sweep to the buildings - structures that have grown old gracefully and harbor the history of a small town.

The highlight of south Main Street is the John Irwin house.

Located on the corner of Main Street and Pennsylvania Avenue, the John Irwin residence was built in 1836. Irwin constructed the house out of bricks hauled across the Allegheny Mountains, and the site included a wash house, smoke house, bake ovens and servants' quarters. He operated a stagecoach line from Stewartsville to Youngstown and used the building as an inn for stagecoach drivers and passengers.

Irwin had inherited land from his father and uncle and began laying out a plan of lots in 1853 that reached from Irwin Station to Fifth Street and east to Oak Street. A year later, there were 11 homes in town.

'The first house after the Irwin house was occupied by the Collier family,' said Bill Kunkle, a long-time resident of Irwin and a member of the Norwin Historical Society. 'Mr. Collier was an official with the Westmoreland Coal Co. The family may have built the house.'

John J. Collier came to Irwin in 1902 and worked for the Penn Gas Coal Co. Known for his 'gift of gab,' Collier was a member of the original board of the Irwin Public Library and spent 50 years in the coal mining industry before his retirement in 1952.

The large two-story white clapboard structure at 518 Main now houses Country Squire Real Estate and the law offices of William Caruthers II and J. David Caruthers. The building is owned by James Leach, owner of the real estate business.

'The stone step leading up to the front porch of that building has D. M. Wagoner etched in the stone,' Kunkle said. 'The woodwork inside is all original.

FAMILY HISTORY

The Caruthers brothers are the great-grandsons of William F. Caruthers, the second postmaster of Irwin. William Caruthers was born in 1814 and led a very successful life in the borough of Irwin.

'He was a lot of different things, a little bit of a farmer, a mine supervisor, a postmaster and he was on Irwin borough council,' said William F. Caruthers II. 'He had two wives. His first wife passed away and his second wife was many years younger than him. They had six boys. He had his last son when he was 82 years old.'

In the book, 'History of Westmoreland County,' William Caruthers is said to have arrived in Irwin in 1853.

'He was superintendent of the Westmoreland Coal Co. until his retirement in 1872. The company didn't want to lose him so they offered him the job of paymaster and he served for another five years,' the book noted.

After his retirement from the coal industry, William Caruthers became what was known as a 'gentleman farmer.' In 1855, he was appointed Irwin's second postmaster by President Franklin Pierce and served for five years.

William Caruthers' business successes were due, in part to his charming personality and perhaps, his politics.

'He is exceedingly pleasant,' said the Westmoreland history book, 'and a Jacksonian Democrat.'

'My grandfather, Carroll Caruthers became a practicing attorney in the county in 1914. My father, William F. Caruthers was also an attorney in Irwin,' said William F. Caruthers II, who has been an attorney in Greensburg and Irwin since 1980. J. David Caruthers has been a practicing attorney for 18 years.

The brothers have had their law office on Main Street for 10 years.

THE MILLER HOUSE

An elegant red brick mansion with a white pillared front veranda is the current locale of Klingensmith Carpet, 510 Main St.

'That building was formerly a double house,' said Kunkle. 'The family that lived there for many years was the Miller family. Dr. Sam Miller lived on one side and his father, Henry Miller, lived on the other side. Then the building was transformed into offices and eventually the Klingensmiths purchased it.'

Francis and Helen Klingensmith opened their carpet shop in 1971.

Other distinguished buildings on the 500 block of Main St. are the United Presbyterian Church of Irwin and the William Snyder Funeral Home.

Church members purchased the lot at the corner of Main and Pennsylvania Avenue from Eliza and C.P. Cheeseman and Lydia and R. Stacy Altman for their new congregation. Ground was broken on Sept. 20, 1915 and the new stone building was dedicated on April 17, 1917. Although the church is not the oldest in the borough of Irwin - that honor belongs to the First United Church of Christ on Main Street - the Presbyterian Church is the most prominent structure on the 500 block of Main Street.

The Snyder Funeral Home at 521 Main St. is the block's most contemporary structure. Featuring white brick with black wrought iron railing decorative trim, the structure was built in 1918. Four generations of Snyders have served the Irwin community for more than 100 years.

While buildings are important in showing the architectural history of a town, it is the people who have lived and worked in those buildings and continue to do so, that makes Irwin's past and present vibrant and unique.

'I've lived in Irwin and North Huntingdon all my life,' said William F. Caruthers II. 'Irwin is one of the few places that still has a nice hometown feel to it. A lot of the other small towns don't have the appeal that Irwin continues to have. I don't know what the secret is.'