The New International Encyclopædia/Washington (Pennsylvania)

WASHINGTON. The county-seat of Washington County, Pa., 25 miles southwest of Pittsburg, on the Pittsburg, Cincinnati, Chicago and Saint Louis, the Baltimore and Ohio, and other railroads (Map: Pennsylvania, A 3). It is the seat of Washington and Jefferson College (q.v.) and of Washington Female Seminary and Trinity Hall. The Citizens' Library has 6000 volumes. There are also the Washington County Law Library and that of the Young Men's Christian Association. Washington is of considerable commercial and industrial importance, being situated in a section known for its oil wells and deposits of coal and limestone. The leading manufactures are flour, carriages, tin, brick, steel, car springs, foundry and machine-shop products, and glass. Originally called Bassettown, Washington received its present name in 1784. It was incorporated as a township in 1810, and was chartered as a borough in 1852. Population, in 1890, 7063; in 1900, 7670.