| John McMillan's Log School | |
|---|---|
 The log school in 2010 | |
 | |
| General information | |
| Type | Log building |
| Architectural style | Vernacular architecture |
| Location | Outside the Canonsburg Middle School |
| Address | 25 East College Street Canonsburg, Pennsylvania |
| Town or city | Canonsburg, Pennsylvania |
| Country | United States |
| Coordinates | 40°15′38″N80°11′11″W / 40.26053°N 80.18632°W |
John McMillan's Log School is a landmark [1] log building in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania that was the site of John McMillan's frontier Latin school during the 1780s. [2] It is a symbol of Canonsburg and Canonsburg's educational tradition. [2] In 1930, The Pittsburgh Press said that the building was "viewed by the pioneers with even more reverence than Pittsburgh now view the towering Cathedral of Learning in Oakland." [3] It is one of the oldest buildings in Western Pennsylvania. [4] It is the "oldest educational building west of the Allegheny Mountains." [1]
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The school grew into Canonsburg Academy, which eventually developed into Washington & Jefferson College. [5]
The building is rectangular in shape and is 14 feet long. [4]
It was originally located in a field a mile south of Canonsburg. [2] McMillan based the school on the William Tennent's Log College in eastern Pennsylvania. [4] The building doubled as a stable when McMillan was not teaching classes. [4] After only a year, the original building was destroyed by fire and rebuilt. [4] The curriculum was a generalized classical education, including mathematics, grammar, rhetoric, natural history, Greek, and Latin, with a focus on preparing young men for Presbyterian ministry. [4] It was moved to its current location in front of the Canonsburg Middle School, which stood of the location of Jefferson College, in 1895. [2]
After McMillan died in 1833, his family continued to operate his farm and used the building as a workshop space. [6] Jefferson College students often made the pilgrimage from Canonsburg to the building. [6] In 1894, the building was offered to Jefferson Academy, which then occupied the former Jefferson College campus. [6] Jefferson Academy closed in 1910 and the maintenance of the building fell to Phi Gamma Delta and Phi Kappa Psi, two fraternities that were founded at Jefferson College. [6] In 1930, the building was adopted by the national officers of Phi Gamma Delta. [3] The original preservation plan called for the college to be protected by a steel and glass canopy. [3] The fraternity agreed to fund the restoration of the building. [3]
In 1940, Phi Gamma Delta attempted to move the building to the campus of Washington & Jefferson College in Washington, Pennsylvania, a plan that caused an uproar from the Canonsburg community. [6] In response, Phi Gamma Delta let the town retake control over the building, which was then placed under the care of a "Log Cabin Association." [6]
In 2004, the Jefferson College Historical Society's Log Cabin Preservation Project Committee decided to restore the building. [6] The renovation project was jointly funded by Phi Gamma Delta, Phi Kappa Psi, and the historical society's Log Cabin Fund. [6] [7]
