An event here in September 1880 helped bring about the end of racial segregation in Pennsylvania's public schools. At the South Ward schools, Elias Allen unsuccessfully tried to enroll his two children. He appealed to the Crawford County Court of Common Pleas, and Judge Pearson Church declared unconstitutional the 1854 state law requiring separate schools for Negro children. The law was amended, effective July 4, 1881, to prohibit such segregation.