Goshen was once inhabited by Indian tribes such as the Cherokee and Shawnee, but in the 18th century, European settler, Alexander Dunlop and his Scottish wife, Anna MacFarlane moved to the Calfpasture.   A few of the first settlers include, Bratton, Lockridge, Graham, Carter, and Davis.  Land was bountiful and sold for 33 1/3 cent per acre.   The first Goshen council was instructed in 1744 by James Patton and John Lewis.  Goshen was based on farms, much like today, raising mainly corn.  While Goshen was mere farmland, in the 1800’s, Goshen Pass and Panther’s Gap was a bustling community with a school, hotel, Post Office, and foundaries, the record salary reached was $60.00/yr, earned by Mr. Charles Knight, schoolmaster. 

The Alleghany Hotel, built to serve as a hotel by “the Goshen Improvement company; the company which in the boom period of 1890 selected Goshen station as a site for laying of and the founding of a new city.”  The hotel was known as the “house of entertainment,” but a few years before the fire, Alleghany Hotel was renamed the Alleghany Sanitarium, housing Tuberculosis patients.  On Thanksgiving day, 1922, the Alleghany Hotel smoldered in flames and ash for 2 1/2 hours before the building was completely destroyed.  During this time, Goshen was without a fire department to combat the flames.