Aug 2, 2025 By Brad Hundt 6 min read

The sun was a few hours from setting in Pennsylvania and had already been up for a couple of hours in Japan when the Enola Gay moved rapidly in the sky over Hiroshima and dropped a single bomb on the city on Aug. 6, 1945.

What happened that day was one of the pivotal events of the 20th century. And it preoccupied residents of this region just as much as it did Americans elsewhere and around the world.

The unleashing of an atomic bomb on Hiroshima and, three days later, on the Japanese city of Nagasaki, hastened the end of World War II for the United States and its allies, and forestalled a land invasion of Japan which could have cost thousands of lives on both sides of the conflict. But using atomic weapons on those two cities ended up killing between 100,000 and 200,000 people, and ripped open a Pandora’s box of fear and anxiety about nuclear proliferation that continues 80 years later.

In a statement that Monday, President Harry Truman stated that the bomb dropped on Hiroshima “is a harnessing of the basic power of the universe, the force from which the sun draws its power has been loosed against those who brought war to the Far East.”

“Whole Japanese City Hit By Yanks” was the headline blaring atop that day’s edition of Canonsburg’s Daily Notes newspaper, above a United Press story reporting that the bomb was “2,000 times more powerful than the blockbusters ever used in warfare.”

The next day’s Morning Herald in Uniontown gave it similar play: “Atom Bomb Is Used to Knock Out Japs,” while Monongahela’s Daily Republican was more sedate: “Japanese Concede Heavy Damage from New American Atomic Bomb.” A wire story carried on the Daily Republican’s front page also recognized the gravity of what had happened with its headline, “For Good or Ill, Man Unlocks the Incalculable Power of the Atom and Enters Upon the Atomic Age.”

A subhead presciently noted, “Atomic Power Could Remake World – It Could Also Destroy It.”

Two days after the destruction of Hiroshima, the Daily Republican carried a small dispatch on its front page stating that six graduates of Washington & Jefferson College in Washington were part of the development of the atomic bomb.

“Dr. Raymond E. Bell, acting head of the college physics department, said the new weapon could be traced rather accurately through the textbook he has been using for the past three years in teaching a course in nuclear physics,” the story said.

It continued, “Envisioning a tremendous peacetime use of the discovery, Dr. Bell said it could replace many of the fuel uses of coal and oil.”

The days that followed were filled with other momentous headlines, including the Soviet Union’s invasion of Japanese-controlled Manchuria, and the bombing of Nagasaki – Connellsville’s Daily Courier informed its readers about the latter development with the headline, “Jap City Blown Off Map By Bomb.” The newspapers also reported on plans being made to mark what appeared to be Japan’s inevitable surrender.

The Daily Republican outlined how a celebration would be handled on the front page of its Monday, Aug. 13, 1945, edition, one week after the attack on Hiroshima. If the official announcement happened before noon on a business day, readers were told, all businesses would close immediately and reopen the next day.

However, if the announcement was made at noon or later, businesses would shutter for the remainder of the day and all of the following day. A communitywide church service was planned at Monongahela’s First Presbyterian Church, and, under the orders of Pennsylvania Gov. Edward Martin, state liquor stores and bars were ordered to close once Japan surrendered.

“The day, long awaited, will be thus celebrated with solemnity, the joy and happiness in the community tempered by remembrance of the sadness brought upon the many homes in the country by the terrible conflict of races and nations,” the newspaper reported.

But once the announcement was made the next day, at 7 p.m., according to the Daily Republican, a “noisy celebration” broke out that lasted well into the night.

“For hours, automobiles cruised almost bumper-to-bumper up and down Main Street, their blaring horns creating a din that had first been started when the air horn and sirens at city hall blasted out the news of victory to those who did not have their radios turned on.”

In Canonsburg, car horns blared and “impromptu parades were started and noise producing instruments and devices came from secreted places…” The Daily Notes also reported that “bathrooms were raided” for toilet paper, and newspapers were cut up to create confetti.

“From the topmost floors of the Citizens Trust Company building came streams of Scotch Tissue – and other brands – and from side to side, length to length, the streets were literally filled,” according to The Daily Notes. “If there has been any shortage of toilet paper, it can now be understood it was being stored up for Victory Day.”

It was much the same scene in Uniontown. The Morning Herald reported that “men, women and children, on a tension for several days with news of the end of the war expected momentarily, at once filled the streets shouting, laughing and crying as they greeted friends and rejoiced together.”

Meanwhile, 11 miles away in Connellsville, the mood was so euphoric that two parades were planned the following day, one at 3 p.m. and another at 7 p.m.

“Those who recalled the end of the first world war said the burst of enthusiasm last night completely overshadowed the other great day,” according to the Daily Courier. “No one seemed to want to go home. It was 11 o’clock before any noticeable thinning in numbers on the street could be noticed. They were still giving vent to their feelings long after midnight.”

There were a few mishaps that occurred during the revelry, however. Robert Clifford, the 61-year-old clerk of courts for Fayette County, collapsed during the merrymaking in Uniontown. He was taken to a hospital where he was paralyzed on his left side, according to a news report. Also, in Greensburg, a 9-year-old girl was struck and killed by a vehicle during the celebration.

And there was indeed some solemnity. Over 1,000 people made their way to a thanksgiving service at the First Methodist Church in Washington. It was sponsored by the Washington Ministerial Association, and during the service, the Rev. Leonard Hoover of Jefferson Avenue Methodist Church noted “the great burden lifted from our hearts” and the hope that “the sacrifices we have made were not in vain.”

According to the Washington Observer, Hoover also hoped that the end of the war would bring “a growing understanding among nations of the world, that we have gained an insight which permits us to celebrate with proper reverence and humility and that the day of victory is reached with high resolution.”