Murrysville's history includes the Haymaker Well, the founding of the town, the early life of Thomas Mellon, the Murrysville tree sign, George Washington's passage through the area during the Forbes campaign, the development of local schools, and the Turtle Creek Valley Railroad. Michael and Obediah Haymaker, brothers from Newlonsburg, sought oil but struck gas along Turtle Creek on November 3rd 1878 after more than a year of drilling to a depth of 1400 feet. The well blew violently, its roar heard 15 miles away, and gas escaped at over 30 million cubic feet per day. In September 1881 a lantern ignited the gas, creating a flame seen in Pittsburgh that burned for 18 months before being controlled. The brothers did not profit from the discovery, and after a failed sale to Milton Weston, they sold the well to Joseph Pew and Edward Emerson. On November 26, 1883, about 50 armed men sent by Weston tried to seize the well; Obediah Haymaker was bayoneted and shot and died later that day. Weston and the gang leader later served brief prison sentences for his murder. The well helped reveal the value of natural gas, and Pew and Emerson formed Peoples Natural Gas Company, while George Westinghouse was inspired to invest in gas development, helping fuel Pittsburgh's industries. The area was first organized as Franklin Township sometime between 1785 and 1788, within Westmoreland County, which had been formed in 1773. Earlier settlers included William Meanor and Robert Hays, and Jeremiah Murry, who arrived from Ireland in 1781, obtained land, built mills and a store along Turtle Creek, and later became Justice of the Peace. After the Northern Pike was built in 1819, Murry laid out and founded Murrysville in 1820, eventually holding 13 land patents totaling more than 3,800 acres. Thomas Mellon came to Franklin Township from Ireland with his family in 1819, grew up on a farm, pursued education, studied law, and later founded T. Mellon and Sons' Bank in 1869 with his sons. Through banking and investment, the Mellon family helped finance major Pittsburgh industries, and at his death in 1908 Thomas Mellon was considered one of America's wealthiest men. In 1933 Frank Morse Sloan directed the planting of 850 pine trees to spell MURRYSVILLE on a hillside near the Haymaker Well, creating an arboreal sign that for many years was the largest in the world and later became part of the municipal park system. During the Forbes campaign against Fort Duquesne in 1758, George Washington led an advance force from Loyal Hannon and on November 21st crossed Turtle Creek near this area as the British pushed toward the fort, which the French abandoned and destroyed before Forbes's army occupied it and renamed it Fort Pitt. Education in Franklin Township began in one-room schoolhouses, then expanded with the Murrysville Grade School in 1915, the first Franklin Township High School graduating class in 1921, a larger high school in Newlonsburg in 1929, and later consolidation into the Franklin Regional School District. The Turtle Creek Valley Railroad, chartered by George Westinghouse in 1886, first served the Haymaker gas fields and then became an important coal and passenger line through Murrysville, Export, and beyond. Passenger traffic declined in the 1930's and ended in 1936, freight traffic later fell with the closing of mines, and after industrial use continued under Dura-Bond, flood damage in 2009 led to discontinuation of service. The corridor was then preserved and converted into the Westmoreland Heritage Trail, which opened from Trafford to Murrysville in 2017.