The story of why 60 young men from Allegheny, Westmoreland, Juniata and Cumberland counties first decided to settle in what is now Center Township may never be known.

But what they did once they arrived is the stuff of local legend.

Most had been born in Ireland. Some were still teenagers. Men by the name of McJunkin, McCandless, Thompson, St. Clair, Scott and Rudebaugh, among others.

A practical and fair-minded group, they identified 60 desirable plots of land throughout the township and erected cabins to which they assigned names such as Stony Hollow, Hickory, Eden, Hermitage, and The Glen. Each man then drew the name of a cabin from a hat, indicating which 400-acre plot of land — fertile or rocky, hilly or flat, muddy or dry — would now be his.

The men, legend tells us, were satisfied.

Not so satisfied, however, were the existing inhabitants: Native Americans. They arranged for the temporary departure of the newcomers through real or threatened attacks in 1797. Though some of the settlers would not return, others did venture back to their cleverly named cabins for a new life in the wilderness.

Center Township promised a healthy and prosperous existence for its early settlers, described as a “most thriving, industrious people” in the 1883 History of Butler County by Waterman, Watson & Co.

Farmers produced “generous crops of wheat, corn, oats, rye and potatoes” and heated their homes with bituminous coal, multiple seams of which were found throughout the township. Though the area didn’t produce the quantities of oil found elsewhere in the county, exploratory drilling on the farm of Alexander Brewster in 1893 revealed a “gasser” — a natural gas well — so powerful that it “(blew) the tools from the hole and otherwise [gave] proof of its power.”

Farming was labor-intensive. Land was tilled with wooden plows until the 1830s, when iron implements were available. The work required comfort. Men typically wore a “loose-fitting blouse … encircled at the waist with a belt, in which was sticking a knife in a most suspicious looking manner,” Waterman reported. With moccasins and a musket slung over the shoulder, Center Township farmers appeared more like “brigand(s) than a peaceful people engaged in agriculture.”

Although many lessons could be learned around the hearth and home, the children of Center Township received a more formal education beginning in 1803, when a “round-log” schoolhouse was constructed. Its simple architecture “was in strict conformity with the pioneer style and in keeping with the rugged, healthy teacher (William Wallace) and pupils.”

David McJunkin was recognized by subsequent generations as perhaps the most influential of the early settlers.

Born in Ireland in 1778, he was still a teenager when he arrived with that original crew. A man of “great physical strength and resolute will,” he single-handedly cleared and tilled his land, becoming one of the most successful farmers in the county.

Having established a working farm and home, McJunkin soon decided it was time to find a bride. His choice was Elizabeth Moore. Later, residents recalled how he strolled along a bridle path to the young lady's home where they were married, and then walked back home again with his new bride. In an effort to impress her, the groom prepared a marriage supper of “corn bread baked on a stone heated by the fire-place.”

Like other settlers, McJunkin learned the art of distilling whiskey from the produce of his fields. Unlike many other settlers, however, he determined that spirits did not complement his religious ideals and turned thereafter to other critical frontier trades, operating one of the earliest leather tanneries and saddleries in the county.

By 1895, historian Robert C. Brown concluded the work of the early settlers had “opened the way to teeming prosperity” for Center Township.

The population grew slowly but surely through the 19th century, topping 1,000 by 1890. Residents lived in almost-forgotten villages like Hermitage, Fleeger and Jamiesonville Station in the north, and Holyoke, Calvin Station, McGrath Mill, McGrath’s Crossing and Victoria/Cosco in the central and eastern parts of the township.

Unionville was established sometime between 1828 and 1830 when Samuel Thompson set up a small mercantile shop. Soon, a tavern and other stores joined him. Unionville had fewer than 50 residents in 1883, according to Waterman’s history. Nevertheless, Brown reported in 1895 that a Unionville Cemetery Association had been created in 1889 to “establish, improve and maintain a public place ‘for the burial of the human dead.’”

Nearby McCandless was larger, with about 75 residents in 1885. The villagers had their own post office, a physician, three blacksmiths and a hotel.

Lying just north of the intersection of William Flinn Highway and U.S. Route 422, Center Township draws visitors from across Butler County and elsewhere.

As families became more mobile during the 20th century, the Route 8 corridor just north of Route 422 became a popular and resilient commercial district.

A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held Wednesday, May 17, 1950, for the jazzy new Bon Aire Shopping Center, with merchants like Isaly’s Ice Cream and Boscov’s. After a successful day of shopping, visitors could unwind at the Bon Aire Bowling Lanes or enjoy a slice of peach pie at Morgan’s Drive-in.

One mile to the north, Clearview Mall opened in 1981 with JCPenney, Sears, Bon Ton and the sorely missed Hills as opening-day anchor stores. Boscov’s, growing out of its modest Bon Aire location, moved to the mall in 1999.

A place of “thriving, industrious people,” Center Township is today home to an estimated 7,800 residents.

Katrina Jesick Quinn is a faculty member at Slippery Rock University. She is an editor of “From the Arctic to the Orient: Adventure Journalism in the Gilded Age” (McFarland) and “The Civil War Soldier and the Press” (Routledge).