History & local legend
The Edward G. Acheson House at 908 West Main Street in Monongahela is remembered for both an important invention and a much quieter visitor. Acheson lived here when his 1891 experiments produced carborundum, a hard material useful as an abrasive. The brick house later became one of the stops on the town’s candlelight ghost walk.
One tour story describes a visiting child encountering a girl dressed in Victorian clothing in the hallway. The girl gestured for the child to join her and play.
A separate story came from ghost-walk guide Susan Bowers, who discussed the property with a television crew in 2016. A tour participant had taken a photograph that appeared to show a creature looking out of a window.
Sources
- Pennsylvania Haunts & History, Acheson House, preserving the hall story credited to The Valley Independent, September 22, 2005
- KDKA-TV, interview with guide and author Susan Bowers, October 31, 2016, tour member’s photograph at the Acheson house
- National Park Service, Acheson House National Historic Landmark nomination, address, residence dates, 1891 experiment and the particles that scratched glass
- Historical Marker Database, landmark plaque identified at 908 West Main Street
- Esri World Geocoding, 908 West Main point address
