MacDonald Illig history

1899 The Erie Public Library was dedicated on February 16, 1899 in a building at 27 South Park Row that also housed the Erie School District’s administrative offices, the Public Museum, and the Art Club of Erie.

1907 Judge Frank Gunnison, a former president judge of the Court of Common Pleas of Erie County, joined the partnership.

1910 Gunnison, Rilling, and Fish became the first tenant to occupy part of the top floor of the new Masonic Building at West 8th Street & Peach Street.

1915 Known as “Erie’s Blackest Day,” August 3, 1915 saw Mill Creek flood downtown Erie resulting in 36 fatalities and the destruction of 225 houses.

1920's Shortly after the move to the Masonic Building, John S. Rilling was appointed to the Pennsylvania Public Service Commission and moved to Harrisburg.

Presque Isle State Park was established in 1921 and remains a popular tourist destination to this day.

Erie Insurance was founded in 1925, and it has since become a Fortune 500 company and one of Erie’s largest employers.

Prohibition ended when the Twenty-first Amendment was adopted in 1933.

1940's Henry MacDonald, Orson Graham, his younger brother Mortimer Graham, Frederick Jones, and William Illig joined the firm.

1948 John Britton joined the firm.

1949 WICU-TV began broadcasting as Erie’s first local television station.

1950's Irving Olds Murphy and Peter G. Schaaf joined the firm, filling up the offices on the sixth floor of the Masonic Building.The Interstate Highway System was created, improving Erie’s land access to the rest of the country with the completion of I-79, I-86, and I-90.

1956 On Thanksgiving Day of November 22, 1956, Erie was paralyzed by a record 20 inches of snow.

Erie reached its peak population in this decade when the 1960 census recorded 138,440 residents.

1970's The firm continued to grow with the economy and the expansion of legal services that nearly doubled during this decade.

Also in 1972, Erie proudly won the All-America City Award which recognizes communities “whose citizens work together to identifyand tackle community-wide challenges and achieve uncommon results.” The city has been a finalist on four other occasions.

1996 The Bicentennial Tower was completed at the end of State Street on Dobbins Landing to commemorate Erie’s bicentennial year and provide fantastic views of Lake Erie, Presque Isle State Park, and downtown Erie.