Jost Hite and Winchester

German emigrant Jost Hite and about 16 other German and Scots-Irish families from Pennsylvania came to this region in 1732, creating one of the early permanent European settlements. They settled along the Opequon Creek watershed southwest of the present-day city of Winchester. Soon after their arrival, a number of other communities developed regionally, including Fredericktown, present-day Winchester. Winchester was chartered as a town in 1752. It began as a small farming community that developed into a thriving town and important trading center at the junction of several transportation arteries.