The Waynesburg Republican Archive

Known as the cornerstone of the Keystone State for its location in the southwestern corner of Pennsylvania, Greene County borders its parent county, Washington; Fayette County; and West Virginia. As part of Washington County, Greene Township was formed in 1782 and named for General Nathanael Greene, a brilliant Revolutionary War strategist. The name was adopted for the new county formed in 1796, land was quickly purchased for a county seat, and a town laid out that same year.

The county seat, initially known as Waynesburgh, at least by the Post Office Department, was named after another Revolutionary War general, Anthony Wayne. As the army commander-in-chief in 1792, Wayne prepared to do battle with the natives on the nation’s outskirts. The Battle of Fallen Timbers in August 1794 was the final conflict of the Northwest Indian War, after which Wayne negotiated a treaty that essentially enabled the colonization of the frontiers. Samuel P. Bates wrote in his 1888 history that, “Nowhere were the happy effects of this triumph more felt than in this territory” that became Greene County, so the new town’s name was a fitting choice.

Renamed Waynesborough in 1800, the town became Waynesburg in 1816, Waynesburgh in 1892, and Waynesburg again from 1892 to the present. County historian William Hanna described Waynesburg admiringly in 1882: “Its situation is pleasant and somewhat romantic, being near the centre of the county in a rich valley on the north bank of the south branch of Tenmile creek, surrounded by towering hills and fertile valleys, well adapted to raising stock, the climate being mild. All the grains and fruits of the temperate zone flourish and yield abundantly in this immediate vicinity.” That said, early Waynesburg was very isolated, with but one main road for travelers, a situation not improved by the 1818 opening of the east-west National Turnpike through neighboring towns. The arrival of the Waynesburg and Washington Railroad in 1875 was a great relief. The town was also home to Waynesburg College (now university), founded in 1849 as one of the first educational institutions in the United States open to both males and females.  The Waynesburg Republican of September 25, 1878, advertised the college’s “Female Department,” with its full collegiate course of study “open to young ladies who may have the time and inclination to pursue it.”

Founded in the 1850s, the Greene County Republican may have origins in the Greene County Whig and the Waynesburg Eagle. Some historians credit editor James E. Sayers with changing the name of the newspaper to the Republican on July 17, 1867, and then one day later to the Waynesburg Republican. In 1868 it may have become the Waynesburg Repository and did become the Waynesburg Republican again in 1870 under its new editor/proprietor, William G.W. Day. The newspaper was the official organ of the county Republican Party, and its slogan, “A Friend of the Whole Human Race,” did not apply to Democrats in general and the Democratic Waynesburg Messenger in particular. Day’s spirited, relentless attacks on the latter throughout his editorship make for lively reading. Following the 1880 election of James A. Garfield, Day introduced a new slogan, “God Reigns and the Government at Washington Still Lives.”