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Pennsylvania Counties

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Pennsylvania Counties

There are sixty-seven counties of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in the United States of America. The city of Philadelphia is coterminous with Philadelphia County, and governmental functions have been consolidated since 1854.

Blair County, Pennsylvania

Blair County History, Geography, Demographics, Cities and Towns, and Education

County Seat: Hollidaysburg
Year Organized: 1846
Square Miles: 526

Court House:

423 Allegheny Street
County Courthouse
Hollidaysburg, PA 16648-2022

Etymology - Origin of County Name

Named for John Blair, a prominent citizen.

Demographics:

County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick Facts

County History

Created on February 26, 1846 from parts of Huntingdon and Bedford Counties, and named for John Blair, a prominent citizen. Hollidaysburg, the county seat, was incorporated as a borough on August 10, 1836, and named for Adam and William Holliday, early settlers.

Before the county's formation the area was located on the Frankstown Path and was dangerous to settle because of threats from Indians. It was visited by the Catholic priest Prince Demetrius Gallitzin. The Blair family appeared after the Revolution and led the movement to form the county. In 1831 Hollidaysburg became the terminal of the Portage Railroad that carried canal boats over the mountains to Johnstown. Altoona arose because of the Pennsylvania Railroad's yards founded there in 1846; this was the main employer in the county until the 1970s. Iron production diminished after 1865, but Blair has produced much bituminous coal, paper, and printing products, as well as the lumber used by the canal and the railroad. Its mountainous terrain is unfavorable for cultivation, but Blair ranks twenty-fourth among Pennsylvania's sixty-seven counties in income from livestock. One-fourth of the land is held in farms. Originally settled by German and Scotch-Irish groups, Altoona's railroad employment brought about a much wider ethnic mix.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 527 square miles (1,365 km²), of which, 526 square miles (1,362 km²) of it is land and 1 square miles (3 km²) of it (0.25%) is water.

Neighboring Counties:

Centre County (north)
Huntingdon County (east)
Bedford County (south)
Cambria County (west)
Clearfield County (northwest)

Cities and Towns:

- Altoona	city	Incorporated Area
- Antis	township
- Bellwood	borough	Incorporated Area
- Blair	township
- Catharine	township
- Duncansville	borough	Incorporated Area
- Frankstown	township
- Greenfield	township
- Hollidaysburg (County Seat)	borough	Incorporated Area
- Huston	township
- Juniata	township
- Logan	township
- Martinsburg	borough	Incorporated Area
- Newry	borough	Incorporated Area
- North Woodbury	township
- Roaring Spring	borough	Incorporated Area
- Snyder	township
- Tyrone	borough	Incorporated Area
- Williamsburg	borough	Incorporated Area

County Resources:

Enter County Resources and Information Here

County Resources

The history of our nation was a prolonged struggle to define the relative roles and powers of our governments: federal, state, and local. And the names given the counties, our most locally based jurisdictions, reflects the "characteristic features of this country!"

But age, size and colorful names of our counties isn't the only reason to explore counties' role in American history, or the history of county government itself. In fact, the story of county government reflects the larger meanings of American history.

Today's counties are the most flexible, locally responsive and creative governments in the US. They are the most diverse, varying in size, population, geography, and governmental structure. In their politics and policies, they express a 1990's political slogan "Think globally, act locally."