: a podcast where two siblings bring to light the lesser-known histories and humans that literally made their PA small town into a big deal.
a partnership podcast with Allegheny College and The Meadville Community Revitalization Corporation
Publisher
Mattocks Bookends, Allegheny College, Meadville Community Revitalization Corp
The Bousson Sisters. How two sisters built a Broadway shirt-making fortune serving New York's high society, then brought that wealth home to Crawford County — canaries released in the halls, imported tile, a female postmaster, all built from nothing but ambition and a sewing machine. But their real legacy isn't the guilded mansion. It's what happened after the money started slipping away, and how one family's slow unraveling in Frenchtown led, one generation later, to a doctor whose work in Cleveland saved lives during a smallpox epidemic. This rural legend has fortune, fraud, and a family determined to keep up appearances until the very end. Let's just say: the Boussons were our very own Guilded Age characters.. Today we’re Bousson on up to the East Mead side.
16 Jul 2026
13. The Tinker Sisters: Hook, Line and Tinker
Nationally known as the Star Sisters, this music making family of 3 daughters went on to directly make Meadville an artistic and cultural epicenter of musical notoriety for the region. Backed by supportive spouses, their individual and collective commitment to music appreciation for all extended far past their own incredible careers as performers, reaching thousands through both education and empowerment. It’s very clear: these women weren’t just tinkering around.
references:
https://crawfordhistorical.org
ancestry.com
newspapers.com
https://meadvillecrc.org
meadvilletribune.com
7 May 2026
12. A&GW Railroad: Crazy Train
(A&GW): How William Reynold’s determination to put Meadville on the railway map would bring Meadville to the world by transporting the products and goods we are still known for today. In turn the A&GW would bring the world to Meadville via immigrant laborers who left their cultural imprint on the community. Get that ticket to ride. We’re going off the rails on this crazy train.
https://fcvrrhs.org
newpapers.com
https://meadvillecrc.org
28 Mar 2026
11. Keystone View Company: Scoping Mechanism
Keystone View Company: where one local salesman’s vision to expand the use of stereoscopes lead not only to leisure and entertainment for its consumers, but also to major medical, educational and military advancements worldwide. Spanning 85 years in Meadville, the Keystone View Company brought far off worlds to Meadville while simultaneously promoting Meadville to the world.
References:
https://crawfordhistorical.org
https://www.johnsonshawmuseum.org
newspapers.com
meadvilletribune.com
ancestry.com
6 Mar 2026
10. A. C. Huidekoper: Fence and Sensibility
Mixing gilded age money with frontier moxie, Arthur Clarke Huidekoper was considered too western for Meadville and too eastern for the Dakota Badlands. Born into one of the wealthiest founding families of Meadville, his individual legacy is that as a creator of infrastructure through railroads, electric plants, public utilities and agriculture. The tangible imprint he left through his business and philanthropy is still experienced today in our town and region.
newspapers.com
ancestry.com
meadvilletribune.com
My Cussewago Home by Mabelle Wiard Willmarth
20 Feb 2026
9. Amara Geffen (Part 2): What's Amara You?
Part 2 of our sit-down conversation with local place-maker, Amara Geffen. Be sure to listen first to Episode 8: Are You Geffen Kidding?
https://www.amarageffenstudios.com
www.newspapers.com
www.meadvilletribune.com
13 Feb 2026
8. Amara Geffen: Are You Geffen Kidding Me?
Part 1 of 2:
If you’re even remotely familiar with the Meadville area you’ve probably witnessed not just one or two, but multiple public art works of this local artist. Her private studio work is part of a permanent collection of the Met in New York but it is small town connection and conversation that drives this passionate maker to create both figurative and literal public art pathways. Today we host our first living legend episode featuring Amara Geffen. She makes Meadville her home while simultaneously making Meadville beautiful for all who spend time here.
https://www.amarageffenstudios.com
28 Jan 2026
7. The Market House : She's a Brick House
Considered to be the gem of our town, her facets hide stories of corruption, crime, romance, violence, the unbelievable, the remarkable and the downright charming. On today’s episode we travel through a timeline of our beloved Meadville Market House: where the legacy of making has been passed down for generations despite constant threats to turn her into a parking lot since her creation. To market to market we go!
Sources/References:
meadvilletribune.com
https://meadvillemarkethouse.org
newspapers.com
https://www.facebook.com/Tinystreasurechest/
History of Crawford County, Pennsylvania, Volume 1 Containing a History of the County; Its Townships, Towns, Villages, Schools, Churches, Industries, Etc; Portraits of Early Settlers and Prominent Men; Biographies; History of Pennsylvania; Statistical and Miscellaneous Matter, Et, Etc. Warner, Beers & Co, Chicago, 1885.
8 Jan 2026
6. Clarence Underwood: Draw Me Like One of Your Palmolive Girls
In this episode, we dive into the life of Clarence Frederick Underwood, a Meadville-raised artist who became one of the most celebrated illustrators of the Golden Age of Illustration in early 1900s. From his parents' drug store along Chestnut Street, to the elite art academies of Paris, to his Manhattan studio, Underwood’s journey reflects the "creative-maker" spirit of Meadville that still exists today. We explore how he shaped the visual identity of 20th-century America, revolutionized advertising, and championed a more active, modern portrayal of women
Episode References:
https://clarenceunderwoodart.com/ (https://clarenceunderwoodart.com/)
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/runaway-wrecking-ball-goes-on-pa-rampage/ (https://www.cbsnews.com/news/runaway-wrecking-ball-goes-on-pa-rampage/)
https://www.meadvilletribune.com/news/local_news/runaway-wrecking-ball-injures-three/article_cd86e1ac-0949-5bee-b163-97fbe91e3a29.html (https://www.meadvilletribune.com/news/local_news/runaway-wrecking-ball-injures-three/article_cd86e1ac-0949-5bee-b163-97fbe91e3a29.html)
https://www.meadvilletribune.com/archives/top-2007-story-roll-heard-round-the-world/article_070549ad-eb77-5cfa-946f-6 (https://www.meadvilletribune.com/archives/top-2007-story-roll-heard-round-the-world/article_070549ad-eb77-5cfa-946f-6d717ab89577.html)
d717ab89577.html (https://www.meadvilletribune.com/archives/top-2007-story-roll-heard-round-the-world/article_070549ad-eb77-5cfa-946f-6d717ab89577.html)
Forward to Girls of Today, NYC, 1909
Cleveland Sunday Leader - October, 1903
Erie Dispatch 1902
16 Dec 2025
5. Frederic C Howe: Dewey, Cheatum and Howe
On today’s episode of Meadville in the Making we look at how a boy made in Meadville grew into a reformer who then carried the lessons of our hometown with him as he helped reshape cities, immigration, and democratic life across the nation.
Ashley also really tries to make a case for the stage revival of Hello, Meadville a 1988 musical by Dr. William Holland Jr.
Evil Geniuses: The Unmaking of America - by Kurt Andersen
From Progressive to New Dealer: Frederic C. Howe and American Liberalism by Kenneth Miller
The Confessions of a Reformer by Frederic C Howe
3 Dec 2025
4. Marie Jenney Howe: Howe It's Done
The story of one turn-of-the-century female minister - trained right here in Meadville - whose passion for social change, votes for women and female solidarity made her not just one half of a national powercouple but a change-maker in her own right.
References:
Miller, Kenneth. From Progressive to New Dealer: Frederic C. Howe and American Liberalism. The Pennsylvania State University Press, 2010.
Newspapers.com (http://newspapers.com/) : Marie Jenney Howe
Courtesy Meadville Lombard Theological School:
“Fifty Years of Unity Church: The Story of the First Unitarian Church of Sioux City, Iowa.” UUA Congregational Records Collection, MLTS.US.3014.15.B003 (Iowa).
Jenney, Marie. “Women in the Ministry.” The Meadville Portfolio, Volume 1, No 2 (September 1894): 21-23.
Howe, Frederic C. The Confessions of a Reformer. The Kent State University Press, 1988.
Scutts, Joanna. Hotbed: Bohemian Greenwich village and the Secret Club that Sparked Modern Feminism. Seal Press, 2022.
Howe, Marie Jenney. An Anti-Suffrage Monologue. National Woman Suffrage Association, [1912]. Nineteenth Century Collections
link.gale.com%2Fapps%2Fdoc%2FAYVTNI611575865%2FN
CCO%3Fu%3Dalleg_main%26sid%3Dgale_marc. Accessed 22 Oct.2025
Original music written and recorded by Jeff Rose of Gin & Sonic studio.
1 Dec 2025
3. Trowbridge Chocolate Chip Co: Wake Me Up Before You Cocoa
How one Meadville man created a chocolate chip empire, sold it, then started all over again that very same year in the same town with the same name, setting legal precedence along the way and sparking the unionization of local female factory workers. It’s a sweet ride full of chips and dips.
Autumn in Pennsylvania by Gertrude M. Laley courtesy of Crawford County Historical Society.
Newspapers.com (http://newspapers.com/) Trowbridge Chocolate Chip Company, William Sherman Trowbridge
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/122376890/william-sherman-trowbridge (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/122376890/william-sherman-trowbridge)
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/122376887/ellen-trowbridge (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/122376887/ellen-trowbridge)
ancestry.com (http://ancestry.com/) William S. Trowbridge, Ella McLaughlin
https://libraries.psu.edu/about/collections/sanborn-fire-insurance-maps (https://libraries.psu.edu/about/collections/sanborn-fire-insurance-maps)
https://www.meadvilletribune.com/ (https://www.meadvilletribune.com/)
Original music written and recorded by Jeff Rose of Gin & Sonic studio.
24 Nov 2025
2. Meadville Distilling: Whiskey Business
Meadville Distilling: Another iconic Meadville company, the makers of Meadville Rye Whiskey. If you don't know: Pennsylvanian Rye Whiskey is kind of a BIG deal both in the past and present. This is their story.
References:
Bates, Samuel P. Our County and its People.Boston: W.A.Fergusson, 1899.
Evening Echo research courtesy newspapers.com
Fields, Laura. History of the Meadville Distilling Company. Courtesy Delaware Valley Fields Foundation. 2015.
“Meadville Illustrated 1912” Meadville…Its Past and Present: Sesquicentennial Edition of the Tribune-Republican, May 12, 1938.
“Soundoff” courtesy https://www.meadvilletribune.com (https://www.meadvilletribune.com/)
Stewart, Anne. "Race Street Lumber Profile" Exec Dir of CCHS, 1985.
Willoughby, Malcolm F. Commander USCSR (T). Rum Wars at Sea. Washington: United States Government Printing Office, 1964.
“Soundoff” courtesy https://www.meadvilletribune.com (https://www.meadvilletribune.com/)
Original music written and recorded by Jeff Rose of Gin & Sonic studio.
24 Nov 2025
1. Spirella: Of Corset Will
The Spirella Corset Company: How a Meadville-created and based innovation revolutionized a physically restrictive garment industry while simultaneously empowering women in the workforce worldwide.
Research Sources:
Christie, Francis A. The Makers of the Meadville Theological School: 1844-1894. Boston: The Beacon Press, Inc, 1927.
“Former Meadville Company Sold to Connecticut Firm.” Meadville Tribune, September 20, 1960.
Historical and Industrial Review of Meadville Pa: Portrayal of Leading Industries Educational, Financial and Commercial Interests. Meadville, Pa: Tribune Publishing Company, 1912.
“Meadville Loses Corset Factory.” Warren Times Mirror, December 28, 1916.
“Spirella Had Fine History In This City.” Meadville…Its Past and Present: Sesquicentennial Edition of the Tribune-Republican, May 12, 1938.
https://www.meadvilletribune.com
newspapers.com
Original Music written and recorded by Jeff Rose of Gin & Sonic studio.
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