the son of David Hoge, the founder of Washington. In 1869, citizens of Washington offered a $50,000 donation to the college in a successful attempt to lure the trustees to select Washington over nearby Canonsburg as the consolidated location of the college. Conflicts over expansion into East Washington The college's 1968 campus master plan called for the expansion of the campus eastward towards Wade Avenue in East Washington Borough, a plan that placed them in conflict with the residents of that area. For the next 30 years, the college maintained a policy of purchasing any homes in that area as they became available. In 1984, the Washington County History and Landmarks Foundation was able to get the East Washington Historic District, a collection of 120 Victorian homes in that area, added to the National Register of Historic Places. The college opposed the designation but did not object in time to prevent it. According to President Howard J. Burnett, the district "was structured to prevent expansion of the college." In the 1990s, the hard feelings between some residents and the College came to a head, with residents trying to have the Borough enact anti-demolition laws to block expansion and a meeting of the Washington County History and Landmarks Foundation deteriorated into a shouting match between residents and college officials. Burnett maintained that the expansion was beneficial to the community and that the opposition came from a small and non-representative group on Wade Avenue. He also questioned the historic value of many of the designated homes, pointing out that many of them were in very poor shape and others were vacant. As of 1995, the college owned about 30 properties listed in the historic district. In the end, efforts to block the demolition of these buildings, including several which were part of the historic district, were unsuccessful. Notably, one 140-year-old farm house at 137 South Wade Street, which the college had acquired in 1977 after being vacant for several years, was moved to a new location outside of town. Safety and construction conflicts During the planning stages of the Rossin Campus Center in 1991, the college asked the City of Washington to close South Lincoln Street between East Maiden and East Chestnut Street and reroute the traffic through College Street, which would have been made into a two-way street. The college was concerned about the increasing frequency of accidents between pedestrians and