In this blog installment of WarrenCountyPA.com, we’ll be looking at the legacies and leaders that make Warren County, PA what it is today.

When I decided I wanted to move to Warren, in 2020, it was first the river, woods and outdoor recreation that I fell in love with, and then it was the lovely Downtown Warren, with its quaint storefronts, all locally-owned, and historic architecture. It’s in downtown Warren where the river meets the woods and welcomes the community. It’s in Downtown Warren that I made my first connections with local leaders, and made my first friends.

Yard sales and estate sales are practically culture and tradition around here, and that is where I met my first “Warren Friend” – Ruby Wiles, local business owner and leader in literacy outreach.

Ruby Wiles (Left)

If you’ve been to any of the locally-owned businesses in Warren, like Shur-Fine or Bough & Bend Floral, it’s likely you’ve seen one of the donation boxes for Free Books for Kids Town, which is a non-profit organization that seeks to end the cycle of poverty through literacy and education. It was started by local Warren resident Ruby Wiles in 2011 and has since given away thousands of books every year. Ruby is just one of the leaders of Warren County making a difference in the community, and there are many more, which come from a long history of strong leadership and innovation.

Historically, Warren County was built on oil and lumber, making it one of the wealthiest areas of the United States in the late 1800s and early 1900s, which is still evident today when you drive through the City of Warren and see the historical buildings and grand homes on display. Names like Beatty, Rouse, Struthers, and Crary pop up on parks and buildings, honoring the people who helped build Warren, PA into what it is today, so many years ago. The historic legacy is strong and proud in Warren County.

I had the opportunity to interview a historian of the area, Ellen Putnam Paquette – an artist and 7th-generation Warren resident whose family was instrumental in the agricultural development in the area, and I was fascinated by the rich history of the community – how residents came together to build the town center, how the surrounding areas developed through homesteading and how it’s all being preserved today. You can learn more about the history of the area from Ellen HERE.

Leadership today in Warren County comes in many forms. One of the things I’m most excited about is the abundance of women-owned businesses and the strong female leadership I see throughout the County, from Three PillarZ Farm owned and run by Julie Zajak, to Twig & Vine owned & run by Wendy McCain, to Karen Austin at Struther Library Theater to Danielle Flasher in City Council. There are women in leadership roles throughout Warren County and I hope we will continue to see that grow.

The history of Warren County is rich and strong and still alive today. We are a part of that history and have the ability to help shape the future of Warren County, especially if we come together as a community, like the original founders of the area did, to build everyone up and benefit everyone.