National history will be recognized in Delmont this month with the dedication of plaques honoring a gunsmith who helped cement the rifle’s place in American history and one of the borough’s enduring landmarks.
“The National Register of Historic Places designation officially happened back in the ‘80s, but there was never a sign put up,” said Vicki Walters, president of the Delmont Historical Preservation Society.
The ceremony will take place at Rose Wigfield Parklet on Greensburg Street, which was the site of gunsmith Jacob Earnest’s shop.
Earnest was a woodcarver in addition to being a gunsmith.
One of his Pennsylvania long rifles has a place in the State Museum of Pennsylvania in Harrisburg. Another one of his rifles was auctioned for thousands of dollars through Maine-based Poulin Auctions in 2021.
He settled in the Delmont area in the 1830s, when it was still known as Salem Crossroads, where he was a prominent businessman and served as a town councilman.
Walters said the Earnest family was among several donors who contributed to help secure the bronze plaques that will be dedicated May 17.
“We received support from the Murrysville Historic Preservation Society, the Murrysville-Export-Delmont Foundation, the Apple’n Arts Festival and the Kentucky Rifle Foundation,” she said. “We’re happy to be able to preserve the history about Salem Crossroads, and we added a whole paragraph to the sign about exactly what it was and how it came to be Delmont.”
Current-day Delmont developed around what was once known as Northern Pike, a well-traveled stagecoach route between Pittsburgh and Philadelphia. Travelers who stopped in the area, which came to be known as Salem Crossroads, could water their horses at the watering trough or spend the night at the Central Hotel, built in 1814.
Plaques also were made for the the trough — although today it is a replica of the original and is due for replacement — and the hotel building, which still exists nearby at the intersection of Greensburg, East Pittsburgh and Freeport streets.
Walters said members of the Earnest family will be on hand for the dedication.
“Jim Earnest said he’s so excited just at the idea of being able to hold another one of his great-great-grandfather’s rifles,” she said.
Walters added that having three National Register of Historic Places plaques in the borough will make it easier to apply for grants to help maintain its history.
“We’re looking forward to the dedication,” she said. “We worked on this for the better part of two years, on and off.”
The dedication will be at 11 a.m. A separate dedication ceremony will take place for the watering trough plaque once the trough has been refurbished, Walters said.
For more, see Facebook.com/DHPSDelmont.