Single Patron, Multiple Questions

Often patrons have more than one question when they visit the library. One individual asked “What were the boundaries of the Connecticut Western Reserve?” and “What was the flight number of the plane which hit the Pentagon on 9/11?” The Newton Falls Public Library staff was familiar with Trumbull County being part of the Connecticut Western Reserve, but did not know how far it extended.

A Heritage to Share The Bicentennial History of Youngstown and Mahoning County,Ohio: Youngstown and Mahoning County, Ohio, from Prehistoric times to the National Bicentennial Year by Howard Charles Aley had a great deal of information about the area, the survey process and the boundaries. “The base line from which the surveyors . . . operated was the western border of Pennsylvania between the 41^st degree and the 42^nd degree plus 2 minutes, from whence it was to extend westward for distance of 120 miles [p. 16]”. The Official Ohio Lands Book by George W.Knepper is available from the library and is also online. Here we learned that the Connecticut Western Reserve was one of the seven federally surveyed ranges in Ohio. The maps in this book show the southernmost border running along the 41^st longitude, which divides, in our area, Mahoning and Columbiana Counties [p.25].

Online at Books.Google.com, we found, Images of America Austintown by Joyce Hunsinger Pogany. In the Introduction on page 7, it is written that the borders extended south from Lake Erie to what is now known as Western Reserve Road in Mahoning County.

There are numerous resources for answering our patron’s second question. One Nation America Remembers September 11, 2001 is primarily a photographic timeline of that day’s events. American Airlines Flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon at 9:41 am.