Cherry Valley history a story of defiance, ingenuity
At the turn of the 20th century, the borough of Cherry Valley did not exist. It was simply a quiet region of Venango Township, home to farmers, miners and oil wells.
That is, until the election of 1908.
According to a Nov. 16, 1939 article in the Butler Eagle, titled “Cherry Valley Borough is unique place in this county,” the region lost its representation on the school board after elections in 1908.
When residents of the township petitioned the board to elect a particular teacher, they were then refused, according to the article.
“Angered by what they considered a deliberate disregard of their rights, certain influential residents of the district, with plans of secession from the rest of the township in their minds, came to Butler to consult an attorney,” the article read.
Attorney Levi M. Wise, cooling their tempers, recommended instead that the region incorporate as a borough.
And so, after petitioning the court on July 30, 1909, and giving legal notice “in the Butler Eagle, a weekly newspaper of Butler County, for a period of thirty days and more,” the final decree on the incorporation of Cherry Valley Borough was recorded on Sept. 6, 1909.
“I’ve always found this fascinating,” Mayor Michael Bagdes-Canning said.
Bagdes-Canning, who has lived in the borough since 1982, lamented the loss of the borough’s previous mayor, Ron Lockwood, in 2021 and longtime resident William “Bill” Foreback in 2014 — and with them, much of the borough’s history.
“Bill grew up, actually, in Cherry Valley; Ron came to Cherry Valley later,” Badges-Canning said. “They both had fascinating stories, and I always kick myself that I didn’t do a better job of getting all the information from them.”
Foreback was born in the 28-year-old borough in 1937; Lockwood became the borough’s mayor in 1971.
In a 2009 article titled “Cherry Valley set for 100th,” Lockwood said the name of the borough goes back to one of the its pioneers, Capt. Thomas Jolly.
A captain in the British Navy and a veteran of the American Revolution, Jolly supposedly deserted the British after the war, settling in the valley.
“He had gone to New England and brought back cherries and planted them here,” Lockwood said in the article.
The legend, then, goes that the borough took its name from the many cherry trees Jolly planted in the early 1800s.
In 1983, Lockwood highlighted the ingenious spirit of the borough, in a Pennsylvania Magazine article titled “A visit to Pennsylvania’s smallest incorporated towns.”
In the late 1900s, coal trucks began traveling over borough roads rather than taking the longer, designated state routes. Without local law enforcement to gather evidence, officials turned to more creative policing.
“An attractive resident agreed to sun herself in a swimsuit by the side of the road,” Lockwood said in the article. “Whenever a truck driver came by, she would wave at him. Invariably, he would slow down and wave back. While the truck slowed down, she jumped up and got a picture of the truck, license plate and registration number.”
From there, officials took their evidence to the coal company, which agreed to bond the roads and assume responsibility for any damages.
According to the 2020 census, Cherry Valley is home to a population of 60 residents and 34 homes, nearly half its population in 1910.
“One thing that’s interesting about Cherry Valley, I think, and it’s not in a good way, is that we’re pretty old,” Bagdes-Canning said, laughing.
The 2021 census lists Cherry Valley residents’ average age as 58½ years old.
“When you think about what the economy of Western Pennsylvania has gone through in the last several decades, bleeding jobs and, as a consequence, bleeding young people, especially in northern Butler County, it’s just a shame,” Bagdes-Canning said.
In spite of that, and in the borough’s spirit of defiance, Bagdes-Canning said he hopes it is still around “for another 100 years.”
“I love Cherry Valley,” he said.
