C:\web\beulah\history.htm

	Charles Beatty, the Presbyterian chaplain with General Forbes' army, preached a sermon of Thanksgiving on November 26, 1758, after the fall of Fort Duquesne. It was the first Presbyterian sermon preached at the renamed Fort Pitt He also preached the first service at Bedford "But, as most of them would not move, Revs. George Duffield and Charles Beatty were sent to Western Pennsylvania by the Synod of New York and Philadelphia, to preach to them and to try to found churches. Beatty had been a chaplain not only with Forbes' army but with Braddock's ill-fated troops as well, and was therefore well suited to minister to the spiritual wants of the pioneers. Their work was scattered over a wide range of territory, and further than that they busily sowed the seed which afterwards brought forth an abundant harvest, little is definitely known of their work." History of Westmoreland County
	A *board tent* to protect visiting preachers from the elements was erected by pioneer worshipers around 1760
Rev. Samuel Barr, Beulah's first pastor from 1787 - 1789	Rev James Graham Beulah's first full time pastor 1804 - 1845
	Second log chapel was built by Rev. Graham in 1813 when Beulah had 24 members
	The Chapel Built in by William McCrea in 1837 for a cost of $3000 from bricks baked on the site
	New Sanctuary Built in 1957 during the pastorate of Rev. Dale K. Milligan who served from 1955 - 1968. He founded the LOGOS ministry for children and youth.

Long ago, in the 1920’s, most of the children in this area went to Beulah. On Sunday mornings, a group of us would walk on the unpaved Brown Avenue extension-that’s what Beulah Road was called then-to go to church.
Sabbath Wagon

Quite often, Homer Staub would drive up the road. He always stopped and we would pile in. The dust would swirl up behind us, as we proceeded to church. There were a number of families here with children. Some of these were the Frees, Bayers, Leaxes, Inches, Schoepkes, Leibs, Burtons and Staubs. All these children also went to the one room Lincoln School on Brown Avenue.

Before Children’s Day arrived in June, we all studied hard, learning our speeches and songs. When our day arrived, we were ready to do our best. There were my brother Walter Leib and Bill Leax, standing up there reciting, and the Inches girls who lived on the Dundee Farm, built by one of our first settlers where Westinghouse Research is now located. All those children proudly recited their poems and sang their beautiful melodies.

Each June, children offered their speeches, songs and poems in Sunday worship on Children’s Day.

Just after 1800, the surveyors' original plans for Northern Turnpike would have had the route follow Chalfant Run westward -- maintaining an easier water grade heading west toward Pittsburgh. But historians say William McCrea, who owned property at the crest of Lime Hill (Churchill) and operated a lime kiln there, lobbied to have the route veer south to climb the hill toward his works. Thirty years later, the historic landmark Beulah Presbyterian Church was built along the old pike, across from McCrea's Dundee Farm (former Westinghouse R&D).
Pittsburgh Bridges

Robert McCrea purchased 354 acres of land in 1773. Possession of the land passed to his brother William McCrea in 1807. William built a spacious farmhouse called “Dundee Farm”. That land is the current address of Viacom. Farming, limestone and coal mining were the chief industries in this area, known as Pitt Township. The high ridge east of Wilkinsburg was named Lime Hill, because of the kilns that burned constantly.

During the Revolutionary Way, soldiers worshipped with local residents at Bullock Pens Church. The church, pulpit and benches were built of logs. Its name was changed to Beulah Church in 1804. The Chapel, designated a Historical Landmark, was built in 1837. The graves of thirty-five Revolutionary War soldiers and thirty-four Civil War soldiers are in the cemetery behind the Chapel. The large church was built in 1956.

The first subscription library west of the Allegheny Mountains was started at Beulah Church in 1814. Admission was by the purchase of one $2.50 share. The annual fee was $1.00.