Become a Part of History in Charleroi!

There are many opportunities available for those who want to invest in our heritage-tourism and our town! All you have to do is use your imagination and become a part of the Charleroi Area heritage-tourism enterprise.

Charleroi was the hometown of Governor John Kinley Tener, who served 1911-1915. He was one of the only three governors that Washington County produced. He was the only foreign born (Ireland) Governor in Pennsylvania also. He stands out among many other noteworthy people who played a viable place in our local, county and state history.

His becoming Governor was a vital part of a booming industrial town situated on a curve on the banks of the magnificent Monongahela River near the old navigation Lock #4, US Boat Yard, Carnegie's Charleroi Mine, trolley and train lines, glass, iron, and affiliated industries as well as being the booming mercantile hub of the valley.
We are sad to say that the Governor's house was torn down decades ago to make way for more worker housing - leaving only a bricked entrance to what once was - along with many other important historic homes and buildings, but we still have many, many buildings that can be utilized for a variety of mercantile, specialty, Bed & Breakfasts, hotels, museums, cottages, and whatever the imagination can come up with to tie in to the part of the Monongahela River Heritage Corridor that exists here.

The majority of the buildings of Charleroi were created between the years 1890 and 1920 with some before and some after - all making up the near 1800 continguously connected, significant buildings and residences that make up Charleroi's National Registered Historic District that lies along our beautiful navigatable river. We look at the Goaziou museum noted below as just one of the "rooms" available to visit in our National Register of Historic Places Architectural Museum, showcasing that time period, and there is much, much more that can be created and enhanced with creative, entrepreneurial thinking that will link up into a vital walking & driving tour of our school district area!

Noted Franco-American Socialist Anarchist, Louis Goaziou, whose writings spurred on and instigated many foreign and American unionists in the late 1800s and very early 1900s, and whose efforts created the Co-Masonry organization that opened a closed door to women to become Masons, counted Charleroi as his hometown in amongst all his travelings to and from France and throughout America. The Charleroi Area Historical Society, Inc. has purchased the Goaziou building and are in process of working toward a Grande Opening in the near future, becoming the first of many mini-museums that run the gamut in our museum quality town!

Charleroi is also home to one of the oldest moving picture theaters in the country, the Electric (Palace) Theater as well as our oldest running theater, The Coyle, which is in process of being restored also.

Our area also has many other interesting historic places to see and visit including the current day Charleroi-Monessen Lock 4 and Dam, 3 National Registered bridges - made with American made steel and iron, the old Lock 4, the early frontier and agriculturally oriented artifacts still existing out in our Fallowfield Township, one of the state's oldest still operating transit agencies (originally trolley), our other historic school district river and inland towns and villages, and all their varied and novel shops.

Come, and become a part of the historic Charleroi area family, and invest in a future that promises to be exciting and rewarding for all involved!

Let's begin NOW!