A brief history of the Red House area, on the Seneca-Allegany Territory
Source: Seneca-Iroquois National Museum
Joë‛ hesta‛ (“it stops there”, or depot) (Red House)
The Red House, or Joë‛ hesta‛, area along the Ohi:yo’ has been settled by the Seneca and their ancestors for thousands of years. The river serving as a highway for travelers permitted the area to maintain a long-term point of interest for Indigenous Peoples.
Additionally, Red House resides along the famous Cattaraugus Path, and easily connected to the Catawba, Sinnemahoning, and the Forbidden Paths (all heavily used foot highways), which linked the community to large network of Native communities. After European settlers moved further inland into Pennsylvania, the Lenni Lenape asked the Seneca for new lands to settle. As a result, the community moved to the area. During the American Revolution the area was purportedly reported to be part of the American Colonel Broadhead’s march to cripple the Seneca and force the nation out of the war. There are unsubstantiated reports that a skirmish took place in the vicinity between Seneca and American troops. Colonel Brodhead did not march beyond this area.
After the war, some of the Lenni Lenape community married into the Seneca community moving into the region, others went up to Cattaraugus Territory, and the remainder joined their brethren in Ohio Country.
Red House, and its name is considered a newer settlement along the Ohi:yo‛. Some say the name Red House comes from an old trading and lumber settlement that was named for a red house that stood on the west bank of the river, below the present bridge and above the mouth of the creek that bears its name.
The Allegany River became a public highway in 1807 and rafts were run down the river with lumber destined for Pittsburgh and Cincinnati. River pilots and raftsmen would stay in Red House overnight. The Atlantic and Great Western Railroad passed through Red House and a depot station as well as side tracks were built here for stops and shipping purposes after 1859.
A bridge was erected over the Allegany River in this area in 1860. Although some families cultivated small farms at Red House, by the early 1900s a majority of Seneca men living here made a living working for the railroad and for the chemical factory.
