I’m looking at a map of the State of Pennsylvania. I see the state line with New York at Erie County’s eastern border. It extends from the Wattsburg area all the way north to the lakeshore. It gives Pennsylvania that smokestack piece of land between New York and Ohio. I wonder how Pennsylvania got that land. Why didn’t New York extend its border all the way to Ohio?
Who wouldn’t want that land? In the late 1700s, the area known as the Erie Triangle was a marvel to explorers and surveyors. They described its beauty with the green trees and the blue lake waters. They described its value. They reported that this piece of land includes a bay that could provide shelter to lake vessels.
I ask Adam Macrino, Director of Programming and Visitor Experience at the Hagen History Center, if there was ever any controversy about which state would own that valuable piece of real estate. He tells me that several states claimed ownership…