The northwestern territory of Pa. was opened to settlement in 1792.  Thomas Rees, land agent and surveyor, came no farther than Buffalo that year due to Indian threats.  In 1795, he returned and coming farther, set up his tent at the mouth of Mill Creek.  He was the first  American citizen to reside in Erie County.  In 1796, Reese took a large tract of land in Harborcreek township which was known as Rees Reserve.

 

Mr. Rees gave to two of his three Negro slaves (when they were freed by the Emancipation Act), 50 acre parcels of land near Gospel Hill.  A small stream that crosses Station Rd a little south of Gospel Hill and runs into Four-Mile Creek is still known as McConnell's Run, after one of the slaves.

 

A number of mills were to be found on Four-Mile Creek.  Perhaps one of the largest was Cooper Grist, Saw and Cider Mill.

 

Religious services were frequently held in the school house at Gospel Hill, on the Station Road.  This place received its name because most of the early citizens were Methodists, who were very devoted to their religion.  The graveyard on Gospel Hill has been in use for 170 years.  The first bodies interred there were of two girls who drowned in Six Mile Creek in 1823.