October Program 2026

LAKE ERIE: A Geological, Political, Transportation, Industrial, and Recreational History

6:30 p.m

Monday, October 19 

Admiral Room at the Blasco Library

Our October program highlights the biggest and arguably best part of our region, Lake Erie itself. The familiar body of water, which forms our northern border, has a stunningly rich, multifaceted history. Beginning with its geological birth as two separate lakes and continuing through Pennsylvania's struggle to claim the corner of land where the city of Erie developed as a port, its impact on the region has been nothing short of astonishing. Lake Erie became the transportation gateway to the Northwest Territories, housed a local Naval Base, served as a testing ground for Great Lakes lighthouses, spawned an enormous commercial fishing industry, and became a testing ground for the welding and shipbuilding that led to boiler-making and pipefitting. In recent years, one of its five succession-sandspits, Presque Isle, has evolved into a state park that hosts more than four million annual guests. Lake Erie's story continues into the next century with the arrival of modern artificial intelligence (AI) data centers threaten its health.

David Frew, a retired university professor, consultant and author, is an organizational psychologist who began his career as an engineer. He served as faculty member and administrator at Gannon University for 35 years and retired as emeritus professor. At Gannon he became full-professor and dean of the graduate school. After leaving Gannon, he served as executive director of Erie County Historical Society and as visiting professor at Mercyhurst University. He is currently a scholar in residence at the Jefferson Educational Society. He has operated his own consulting company, Frew Associates, since 1976 and numbers among clients GE Crotonville, NASA, AMSCO/ Steris, GE Medical, Hammermill, Lord Manufacturing, FMC, and Lockheed Martin. In addition to more than one hundred journal articles and technical papers in applied psychology, he has authored or coauthored 45 books, including fifteen that deal with the Great Lakes and shipping. Growing up on Erie's lower west side as a proud "Bay Rat," Frew was known to join neighborhood kids playing and marauding along the west bayfront. He has written for years about his beloved Presque Isle and his adventures on the Great Lakes. In the "On the Waterfront Series" for the Jefferson Educational Society, the Scholar-inResidence takes note of life in and around the water.