West Middletown Historic District

West Middletown is a small rural commercial community along a high ridge in Washington County, Pennsylvania, with its earliest known building dating to 1798. Its 49 buildings, most built between about 1800 and 1900, are set close to the sidewalk on long, narrow lots. Most are plain vernacular frame or brick structures that served as combined homes and businesses, many with two entrances, one for the trade and one for private quarters. The district also keeps nineteenth-century details such as sandstone curbs, flagstone sidewalks, hand-cut stone gutters, and stone upping-blocks. The community was a stopover between Washington, Pennsylvania and the Ohio River town of Wellsburg, West Virginia. The Ralston Thrasher was invented nearby and manufactured here until a June 1859 frost left large shipments unused and led to the company's bankruptcy. Its nineteenth-century character and integrity are the basis for its recognition.