Historical Marker in North Strabane Denotes Contributions of Rev. John McMillan

Many churches throughout southwestern Pennsylvania are named for the Rev. John McMillan and many more can credit him for their founding.

McMillan was instrumental in bringing Presbyterianism to this area prior to and after the Revolutionary War and also made significant contributions to the development of post secondary education in this area.

The Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission designated a historical marker in his honor in 1949 and it is located on state Route 19 at its intersection at state Route 519 in .

The commission has been placing historical markers near significant sites to capture the memory of people, places and events that have affected the lives of Pennsylvanians over the centuries. Adding a few each year, there are more than 2,000 markers today.

A few feet away from the marker is a plaque posted on a large rock, also placed by the Pennsylvania Historical Commission in 1921 before the marker program was started.

Across the street is the Chartiers Hill United Presbyterian Church, or Hill Church, as it was called when it was first founded by John McMillan in 1775.

Before coming to the area, McMillan attended Princeton and several “log colleges” to absorb the teachings of leaders in the Presbyterian church. He was ordained in 1774 at the age of 22 and traveled the area as a missionary in Maryland, Pennsylvania and western Virginia.

In 1775, he preached at the home of John McDowell not far from the site of Hill Church and laid the foundation for later organizing the churches of Pigeon Creek and Chartiers. He was called as pastor of both churches in 1776 and served as the pastor of Chartiers Hill United Presbyterian Church for 50 years. It is still in operation today.

In 1785, McMillan founded his own log cabin school, where young men learned mathematics, grammar, rhetoric, history, Greek, and Latin required by the Presbyterian Church for its educated ministers. This log school developed into Canonsburg Academy and later Jefferson College, now merged with Washington College as W&J (Washington & Jefferson College) in the City of Washington. 

McMillan’s log school was possibly the first institution of higher learning in Western Pennsylvania and has roots in the founding of the Western Theological Seminary in Pittsburgh as well as Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia.

The original log cabin school has stayed intact and was moved to the campus of Jefferson College in 1895. It still sits as a marker of history on East College Street directly in front of .

McMillan died in 1833 and is buried in the Chartiers Hill Cemetery along with many generations of his family. His legacy in both the church and education will live on through the institutions in which he founded and the principles upon which they are based.