Slippery Rock Township has a history at least as old as its host, Butler County, and steeped in the influences of both Native Americans and settlers.

The township is one of four original jurisdictions formed when, on March 12, 1800, Butler County was created from a portion of Allegheny County. Besides Slippery Rock, Connoquenessing, Middlesex and Buffalo were Butler County’s first townships. Slippery Rock was the largest, covering the northwestern quarter of the county.

Slippery Rock derived its name from Slippery Rock Creek, which flows west throughout the township’s territory and which was called Wescha-cha-cha-chapoka by the Delaware Indians, who traveled its length in Butler and Lawrence counties. The name translated into English as “slippery rocks.”

Although the identity of the township’s first settlers are unknown, an 1895 history of Butler County reports that temporary settlements were made as early as 1796. The first schoolhouse was erected on the Wolford clearing, about one mile and a half northeast of Centreville, now Slippery Rock Borough.

Some of Slippery Rock Township’s early villages remain, but others disappeared over time. Mount Etna, the township’s pioneer village that was established in 1822 on Slippery Rock Creek, is gone but had a vibrant role in the county, growing up around Mount Etna Furnace and hosting a post office, established in 1824. The post office was moved to Centreville in 1826.

Another now-disappeared village was Kiester, formerly Hickory Mills. Situated on Slippery Rock Creek, southeast of Centreville, Kiester hosted a station on the Pittsburgh, Shenango and Lake Erie railroad (now the Bessemer and Lake Erie and owned by Canadian National Railway) and a post office named in honor of the Kiester family.

Railroads, in fact, figured in the importance of several of Slippery Rock Township’s villages, some of which still exist in spots where depots were built. Branchton is one.

It is located at the junction of the Hilliard branch of the same railroad that passed through Kiester. Around 1895, Branchton had a depot, eight cottages and boasted the W.J. Hindman general store. Today, Branchton is still home to residences, a church and Mercer Lime & Stone Co.

Also still in existence from Slippery Rock’s early years is Wick, situated in the northeast corner of the township on the same railroad line as Branchton and Kiester. According to the 1895 Butler County history, Wick had a depot building, a few cottages, the Critchlow lumber yard, a post office, and store operated by Ephriam Adams.

Its depot was named for H. E. Wick, the village’s first postmaster. The village had a deposit of blue limestone used for burning lime and making plaster, and a bottling plant producing soda pop made with water from a spring nearby.

As Slippery Rock Township continued to grow and nurture its residents, it also became the unfortunate site of an infamous event, the Wigton Massacre, in 1843.

Most accounts of the massacre begin with the story of Sam Mohawk, of Seneca Nation, boarding a stagecoach in Butler, presumably to return home in western New York. At the Old Stone House, a stagecoach stop, Mohawk, who reportedly had been drinking, was involved in several confrontations with local residents and was forced to leave by stop’s innkeeper, John Sill.

After spending the night in the area surrounding the Old Stone House, on the morning of July 1, 1843, Mohawk came across the home of James Wigton, near the current Kiester House Rock and close to Slippery Rock Borough. Wigton was not home, having gone to his father’s house to get a horse.

Historic accounts, drawing on reports by witnesses to the massacre’s aftermath (reports later confirmed by Mohawk), say that Sam Mohawk encountered Margaret Wigton on her way to the springhouse. For reasons unknown, Mohawk mortally wounded the woman, then murdered her five children, aged 8, 7, 5, 3, and 10 months, in the Wigton home. While fleeing, he came upon a young neighbor boy and hit him with a rock. Mohawk eventually hid in the second floor of the Philip Kiester house.

A crowd that gathered at the house took off a front door and used it as a shield against rocks Mohawk threw and captured him. Fortunately, the sheriff and others arrived and saved Mohawk from being hanged on the spot. He was transported to the Butler County Jail, where he was held on murder charges for several months. Eventually, Mohawk was tried and found guilty of first-degree murder. He was hanged on March 22, 1844.

While Slippery Rock Township’s villages were developing, the larger jurisdiction of Centreville — later Slippery Rock Borough — was also formulating. Settlers moved into the Centreville area in the late 1700s and early 1800s. Some found reasons to move on but two, William Hill and Stephen Cooper, stayed.

Although Cooper is generally given credit for founding Centreville, Hill first surveyed and sold lots on his farm in 1820.

William B. Bard, who arrived in Centreville in 1823, chronicled the town’s early existence, saying it contained four houses, all log buildings and all uncompleted. Besides Hill, they were owned by John Reynolds, a tavern keeper; William Cross, who also later became a tavern keeper, and Isaac S. Pearson, a merchant. A few years later, more lots were laid out on the Cooper Farm. The plat map of the town was recorded in 1825.

Cooper kept a tavern and served plenty of ginger along with the whiskey he sold. (It’s said he sold ginger and gave away the whiskey). The town was unofficially referred to as Ginger Hill, possibly because of this practice. It was incorporated as Centreville borough in 1841, feasibly because of its central location between Butler and Mercer. The name was changed to Slippery Rock in 1896.

Some have guessed there was pressure to have Slippery Rock Borough bear the same name as the township post office, which had been moved to Centreville from Mount Etna in 1826. (Legend has it that the post office contents were moved in the middle of the night in a wheelbarrow).

Slippery Rock Borough is probably best known as the home of Slippery Rock University, which began as the Slippery Rock State Normal School. It opened on March 26, 1889, mostly through the efforts of the town’s citizens and other parties concerned with higher education. In 1926, the school was purchased by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and became a four-year teachers college. The name was changed to Slippery Rock State Teachers College in 1927 and to Slippery Rock State College in 1960. In 1983 it became Slippery Rock University.

There have been many businesses that have come and gone in Slippery Rock Borough, but one of the most loved was the Roxy Theater, located in a building that, in 1870, housed a store owned by the Bard family. By 1880, John H. Welsh and Son used it for a livery stable and later operated a large fleet of motor buses from the site. Later, O. J. and J. Ray Hilgar had a motor garage there.

Eventually, Edgar Shaffer bought the garage and, after extensive remodeling, opened it on April 10, 1939 as the Roxy Theater, showing “My Lucky Star” starring Sonya Henie and Richard Greene. Shaffer called it “Butler County’s Finest Suburban Theater” — a slogan that the Roxy used for some time. Shaffer sold the tickets and was the projectionist, sometime helped out by Joe Ligo, the local undertaker, when he wasn’t busy.

Shaffer also patrolled the theater’s aisles with a flashlight. He was known not to tolerate misbehavior and took seriously the morality of the community. His wife, Twila Shaffer, sold popcorn and other treats.

In 1966, the Shaffers sold their theater to Chester and Eleanor DeMarsh. Downtown movies continued at the Roxy for more than 10 years.

When the theater burned on April 27, 1978, it had been under lease to the Cinemette chain, which had announced plans for a complete renovation. Ron Steele and Tom “Tiny” Davis, volunteer firefighters, discovered the fire upon leaving the firehall after an event. It took all night to control the fire and save the buildings that flanked the Roxy. “Saturday Night Fever” was the last movie shown there.

According to the 2020 census, the population of Slippery Rock is 3,081 people who share this town with nearly 9,000 SRU students. It is a beautiful, friendly little town — a nice place to visit and a great place to live!

Sue Barkley is president of the Slippery Rock Heritage Association. She is a lifelong resident of the area and retired from banking in 2013.