West Alexander Historic District

West Alexander is a small rural borough at the western edge of Washington County, Pennsylvania, where a historic district follows one winding street of brick and frame buildings laid out along the National Pike. Most structures date from about 1790 to 1880. Brick vernacular Greek Revival houses from the early nineteenth century stand near two-story, wood-frame Italianate commercial buildings of the 1860s and 1870s, which form a dense row facing a graveyard flanked by two churches. The first plan of lots was drawn in 1796 by Robert Humphreys, and Charles DeHass later promoted the town as "West Alexandria." The Pike reached the town in 1820, and a fire in 1831 destroyed most earlier buildings. The district is regarded as important for its intact nineteenth-century vernacular architecture and its meandering plan, which reflects piecemeal growth around the Pike. A one-story frame house that survived the fire is considered the oldest building in town. Its occupant, Squire Joseph Mayes, performed many marriages there, which gave the town its wedding reputation. Since the last decade the commercial row has been restored into a center of crafts and gift shops.