[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 150 (Monday, September 18, 2023)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E854]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]





                CELEBRATING 240 YEARS OF FAYETTE COUNTY

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. GUY RESCHENTHALER

                            of pennsylvania

                    in the house of representatives

                       Monday, September 18, 2023

  Mr. RESCHENTHALER. Mr. Speaker, I rise to celebrate Fayette County, 
Pennsylvania, on its 240th anniversary and its place as an integral 
part of our community.
  Fayette County was founded on September 26, 1783, and named after 
Marquis de Lafayette, a Revolutionary War hero who served alongside 
President George Washington. The county was carved out of southern 
Westmoreland County on land with an already rich and storied heritage. 
Fayette County represented a new frontier for Pennsylvania and America 
in its early days. Its people persevered through the hardships of early 
frontier life to build a better life for themselves and their families. 
The county would also become a crucial point along the newly created 
National Road.
  The story of Fayette County and its people is an important and unique 
part of our region's history. The county served as an early steamboat 
manufacturing hub. The area quickly became one of the earliest 
industrial areas in America. After building the Pittsburgh Railroad, 
the local industry shifted from steamboat manufacturing and glass 
production to coal mining.
  Today, Fayette County is a regional agriculture hub, with over 23 
percent of the county devoted to farmland. Additionally, attractions 
such as Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater House, Fort Necessity 
National Battlefield, and Ohiopyle State Park make Fayette County one 
of the best places to visit and live in Pennsylvania.
  Mr. Speaker, the story of Fayette County, is distinctively American 
and important to Pennsylvania. On behalf of the people of 
Pennsylvania's 14th Congressional District, I congratulate its citizens 
on this remarkable milestone and look forward to building on this 
storied history over the next 240 years.

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