Sue Stanny and Judy Tutino want to get the word out about the Depreciation Lands Museum in Hampton.

They certainly went to the right place last week when they visited the Shaler Historical Society at the Glenshaw Public Library to explain how the land in the region was first acquired.

"Depreciation lands evolved from the Revolutionary War," said Tutino, president of the museum. "We were a fledgling country breaking away from Great Britain."

During the war, the United States initially had plenty of money to support the efforts of the troops. But as the war went on, money started to depreciate in value, so it became harder to hold onto the soldiers and pay them for their services.

"Soldiers were leaving with IOUs signed by their commanders," Tutino said.

In order to retain the soldiers, Benjamin Franklin had the idea to give them land instead of money. In 1780, a three-person council was formed to give out a depreciation certificate to each soldier with a certain amount of land, depending on rank and years of service.

The only problem was the land wasn't necessarily available to give out. In 1783, the council decided that all the land west of the Alleghenies would be depreciation land, even though they didn't own it.

It wasn't until 1784, when the Treaty of Stanwick was signed, that they actually bought the land from the Iroquois Indians in the area. Of course, there were still obstacles because much of the Indian nation disagreed that the Iroquois even had a right to sell it.

Nine surveyors were sent to the areas, starting at the Allegheny and Ohio rivers confluence, heading east as far as Bradford, north to the top of Butler County and west to Ohio.

It was their job to sort out parcels of land for the soldiers to take over, but there were a lot of problems.

Some of the surveyors were chased out by Indians. Others were influenced by company owners who wanted the land. To top it off, some of the soldiers weren't able to use the land within the two-year period set forth by the certificate, voiding their claim. It wasn't until the 1790s that people actually started living on those lands.

The Depreciation Lands Museum documents all of that and more for all the communities in Allegheny County.

"This is where you live," Stanny said. "It's what your ancestors started."

This summer, the museum will celebrate its 35th birthday with a variety of events, including a weekend bash on July 19 and 20.

For more information on the museum, call 412-486-0563, or go online at www.depreciationlandsmuseum.org.