West Overton is a historic village located approximately southeast of

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...

, in East Huntingdon Township, Westmoreland County,

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

, United States. It is on PA 819 between the towns of Mount Pleasant and Scottdale. Its latitude is 40.117N and its longitude is -79.564W. Known as the birthplace of industrialist and art collector

Henry Clay Frick Henry Clay Frick (December 19, 1849 – December 2, 1919) was an American industrialist, financier, and art patron. He founded the H. C. Frick & Company coke manufacturing company, was chairman of the Carnegie Steel Company and played a major ...

, it is also the original site of the distillery founded by his great-grandfather, Henry Overholt, and later operated by his grandfather, Abraham Overholt. This distillery is famous for producing Old Overholt rye whiskey.

History

West Overton Village was established in 1800 by

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

Mennonites Mennonites are a group of Anabaptism, Anabaptist Christianity, Christian communities tracing their roots to the epoch of the Radical Reformation. The name ''Mennonites'' is derived from the cleric Menno Simons (1496–1561) of Friesland, part of ...

from

Bucks County Bucks County is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the population was 646,538, making it the fourth-most populous county in Pennsylvania. Its county seat is Doylestown. The county is named after the English ...

, who were led by Henry Overholt. Initially, they operated as self-sufficient farmers, but in 1803, Henry's son, Abraham Overholt, established a

distillery Distillation, also classical distillation, is the process of separating the component substances of a liquid mixture of two or more chemically discrete substances; the separation process is realized by way of the selective boiling of the mixt ...

. The distillery quickly expanded, as Overholt's whiskey became popular locally and regionally. This was the origin of Old Overholt Whiskey, one of the country's oldest continuously produced

whiskey Whisky or whiskey is a type of liquor made from Fermentation in food processing, fermented grain mashing, mash. Various grains (which may be Malting, malted) are used for different varieties, including barley, Maize, corn, rye, and wheat. Whisky ...

brands, known for its

rye whiskey Rye whiskey can refer to two different, but related, types of whiskey: * American rye whiskey, which is similar to bourbon whiskey, but must be distilled from at least 51 percent rye grain * Canadian whisky, which is often referred to as (and of ...

. As the distillery flourished, he began expanding his industrial interests. By the 1830s, he constructed a

gristmill A gristmill (also: grist mill, corn mill, flour mill, feed mill or feedmill) grinds cereal grain into flour and Wheat middlings, middlings. The term can refer to either the grinding mechanism or the building that holds it. Grist is grain that h ...

, a

flour mill A gristmill (also: grist mill, corn mill, flour mill, feed mill or feedmill) grinds cereal grain into flour and middlings. The term can refer to either the grinding mechanism or the building that holds it. Grist is grain that has been separat ...

, and additional whiskey stills, making West Overton a thriving industrial hub in the early 19th century. Production at the distillery ceased during the

Prohibition era Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacturing, manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption ...

in the 1920s, when the production and sale of alcohol were banned nationwide. When prohibition laws were repealed in 1933 during the

Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

, federal farm subsidies were introduced, benefiting crops like corn but initially excluding rye. As a result, bourbon, which relies heavily on corn, became more economically viable to produce than rye whiskey. Consequently, rye whiskey never regained its former status locally. In 1927, the Overholt Company changed ownership, purchased by National Distillers, which was later acquired by

American Brands Fortune Brands was a holding company founded in 1969 as American Brands, renamed in 1997 and split apart in 2011. The corporate headquarters was in Deerfield, Illinois, in the United States. The company had diversified product lines. It announce ...

and its subsidiary, James B. Beam Distilling Co., in 1987. Today, Old Overholt rye whiskey is produced by Beam Suntory in Kentucky. One of Overholt's grandsons,

, who was born at West Overton in 1849, would go on to become one of America's most influential industrialists. Frick started his career at West Overton and later expanded into the coal and coke industries, which were vital to steel production. Frick eventually partnered with

Andrew Carnegie Andrew Carnegie ( , ; November 25, 1835August 11, 1919) was a Scottish-American industrialist and philanthropist. Carnegie led the expansion of the History of the iron and steel industry in the United States, American steel industry in the late ...

, playing a pivotal role in the development of the U.S. steel industry.

Present day and museum

Today the village operates as a museum complex and is an example of a 19th-century rural industrial village. It is the only pre-

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

village still intact in

. The museum has undergone a complete renovation and will focus on the Overholt industries of whiskey distillation, grist milling and coal and coke operations. The museum was scheduled to reopen for tours in August 2012 with the Overholt Homestead reopening in June 2013. Beginning with the re-opening of Overton stock farm in 2012, the barn has become a wedding venue, working in partnership with Scottdale's Carson's Catering business. On April 21, 2020, a vehicle crashed into the former Abraham Overholt homestead, resulting in the vehicle's four occupants being life-lighted to a nearby hospital and damaging the exterior of the structure. The home was repaired shortly after the incident. In October 2020, West Overton Distilling returned to its original form when production of Monongahela rye whiskey at West Overton's Educational Distillery restarted.

West Overton Historic District

West Overton Historic District is a national

historic district A historic district or heritage district is a section of a city which contains historic building, older buildings considered valuable for historical or architectural reasons. In some countries or jurisdictions, historic districts receive legal p ...

located at East Huntingdon Township,

Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania Westmoreland County is a county in the state of Pennsylvania, United States, in the Pittsburgh Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of the 2020 census the population was 354,663. The county seat is Greensburg and the most populous community is ...

. It encompasses 19 contributing buildings in the village of West Overton. They are a collection of mid-19th century buildings in a vernacular

Greek Revival Greek Revival architecture is a architectural style, style that began in the middle of the 18th century but which particularly flourished in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in northern Europe, the United States, and Canada, ...

style. It includes the Christian S. Overholt Store and House, Abraham Overholt Homestead (1838), and Overholt Mill (1859). The

springhouse A spring house, or springhouse, is a small building, usually of a single room, constructed over a spring. While the original purpose of a springhouse was to keep the spring water clean by excluding fallen leaves, animals, etc., the enclosing str ...

of the Abraham Overholt Homestead is the birthplace of

(1849–1919). ''Note:'' This includes It was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 1985.

References

External links

West Overton Museums websiteFrick Art & Historical Center website
All of the following

Historic American Buildings Survey The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

(HABS) records are filed under West Overton, Westmoreland County, PA: * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * {{authority control Historic American Buildings Survey in Pennsylvania Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Pennsylvania Greek Revival houses in Pennsylvania Buildings and structures in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania Museums in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania Ghost towns in Pennsylvania Open-air museums in Pennsylvania National Register of Historic Places in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania Populated places on the National Register of Historic Places in Pennsylvania