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Where did that PA town name come from?

psu00

psu00

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Jan 4, 2010
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Saw this on Pennlive-

Part 1-

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Armagh
This oldest town in Indiana County is named after the Irish city and county of Armagh, which is where many of the town’s settlers came from. “Armagh” comes from the Irish “ard,” meaning “height,” and “Macha.” Macha was mentioned in The Book of the Taking of Ireland and could refer to the hill site of Emain Macha, which was the capital of the Ulaid kings.

Stephanie Sadowski | ssadowski@pennlive.com
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Blue Ball
The name comes from the Blue Ball Hotel, which stood on the southeast corner of the Route 32/U.S. Route 322 intersection and was razed in 1997. Nearly 200 years ago, the owner John Wallace built the inn in "Earl Town" and hung a blue ball fro a post, calling it "The Sign of the Blue Ball." The name caught on, and in 1833, the town changed its name.

Stephanie Sadowski | ssadowski@pennlive.com
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Cocalico
The name comes from an Indian word, "Koch-Hale-Kung," meaning den of snakes.

Stephanie Sadowski | ssadowski@pennlive.com
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Conewago
Conewago comes from an Indian word, conewaugha, meaning "at the place of rapids." There's a Conewago in Dauphin County and Adams County.

Stephanie Sadowski | ssadowski@pennlive.com

Part 2-


How did that place get its name?
Welcome to Part 2 of "Where Did That Pennsylvania Town Name Come From?" You can find the previous incarnation here. Some of our readers have offered suggestions on places to look up -- we're working on them! Thanks for the suggestions, and keep them coming.

Stephanie Sadowski | ssadowski@pennlive.com

Mars
The short answer is that we don't know.

Our research shows the town now known as Mars was originally Overbrook and dates back to Samuel Parks constructing a water-powered gristmill along Breakneck Creek in 1873. He decided to put a post office in his home, and his friend Samuel Marshall helped build it. When the Pittsburgh, New Castle and Lake Erie Railroad put in a station at Overbrook in 1877, the town name was changed, because an Overbrook station already existed along the line.

Why Mars, though?

Maybe it was a shortened version of Marshall's name. Maybe it's an ode to Parks' wife, who some say was really into astronomy. But on March 6, 1895, Mars became a borough in Pennsylvania.

Stephanie Sadowski | ssadowski@pennlive.com
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Line crews repair downed power lines in Cumru Township, Pa., Friday, Dec. 27, 2002. (AP Photo/The Reading Eagle, Tim Leedy)

Cumru
The Berks County town's name dates to its Welsh settlers.

Cumru comes from Cymru, which means Wales in the Welsh language. The modern Welsh name for themselves is Cymry. The pronunciation of both of those is "kəm-rɨ," and both come from the Brythonic word combrogi, meaning "fellow-countrymen."

Stephanie Sadowski | ssadowski@pennlive.com
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Nesquehoning
The Carbon County town's name is Native American in origin, but research shows a split on the meaning. The common story is that it means "narrow valley," but native language scholars say the name is translated to "at the black lick" or "at the dirty lick," which would refer to mineral licks frequented by animals.

Before its incorporation as a borough in 1974, Nesquehoning was part of Mauch Chunk Township.

Stephanie Sadowski | ssadowski@pennlive.com

Part 3-


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How did that place get its name?
Welcome to Part 3 of "Where Did That Pennsylvania Place Name Come From?" Click to read Part 1 and Part 2, which covered a few dozen towns like Blue Ball, Intercourse, Conodoguinet, Conewago, Cocalico, Swatara, Lititz, Lemoyne, Union Deposit and more. Keep your suggestions coming!

Mahanoy City
Mahanoy City, originally a part of Mahanoy Township, was settled in 1859 and incorporated as a borough in 1863. The Schuylkill County town's name, "Mahanoy," is believed to come from the Native American word "Maghonioy," or "the salt deposits."

Stephanie Sadowski | ssadowski@pennlive.com
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Monongahela River
Buckle up -- this entry reads like a tongue twister.

Monongahela is a Native American word meaning "failing banks." David Zeisberger, a Moravian missionary who lived from 1721 to 1808, wrote that "In the Indian tongue the name of this river was Mechmenawungihilla (alternatively spelled Menawngihella), which signifies a high bank, which is ever washed out and therefore collapses."

And the Lenape Language Project gets a little more complicated, saying the name comes from Mënaonkihëla (pronounced [m@naoNGgih@la]), which means "where banks cave in or erode," from the verbs mënaonkihële, "the dirt caves off," and mënaonke , "it has a loose bank".

Mount Joy
This Lancaster County borough was named after the ship that carried its early Irish settlers to America, the Mount Joy, according to an article in the Reading Eagle.


California
Founded in 1849, this borough on the Monongahela River in Washington County took its name from the California Gold Rush.



Main Street Ono is slightly different than Main Street Norristown.

A photo posted by Robb Faller (@robbfaller) on Apr 5, 2016 at 7:30pm PDT

Ono
This one could be an old wives' tale, but bear with me.

Ono is an unincorporated community in East Hanover Twp., Lebanon. Tradition has it that the name was selected after all other ideas were rejected by a town elder with, "O! No."

Stephanie Sadowski | ssadowski@pennlive.com
Red Lion
This York County borough was settled in 1852 and named after one of the first taverns in town, the Red Lion Tavern. It was incorporated in 1880.

Stephanie Sadowski | ssadowski@pennlive.com
Aliquippa
Aliquippa comes from the Lenape word alukwepi for "hat," a reference to the Seneca Queen Aliquippa, who wore a large hat. The Beaver County town was named a city in 1987, after formerly existing as a borough, and was founded by the merger of three towns: Aliquippa, Woodlawn and New Sheffield. Its name was selected arbitrarily by the Pittsburgh and Lake Erie Railroad in 1878.

Stephanie Sadowski | ssadowski@pennlive.com

In the field the king will be

A photo posted by Esther Levana Edelkopf (@moooonstruck) on Sep 6, 2016 at 8:54am PDT

Dushore
Home to Sullivan County's only traffic light, the first permanent settler was John Mosier, who arrived in 1825. The town, however, takes its name from its founder, French navy captain Aristide Aubert Dupetit-Thouars (pronounced Du-Peti-Twor and often shortened to Du Twor). It eventually morphed into Dushore. The town was incorporated from Cherry Township in 1859.



Stephanie Sadowski | ssadowski@pennlive.com
Caernarvon, Berks and Lancaster counties
There are two Caernarvons in central Pennsylvania -- one in Lancaster County and one in neighboring Berks County. There appears to be confusion about the origin of the two. Berk's Caernarvon dates to 1752, the year Berks County was established. Lancaster's dates to 1729. So it's possible that the two were originally one township that split when the counties were delineated.

At any rate, the name comes from the town of Caernarfon in North Wales. Welsh settlers carried the name here.

Stephanie Sadowski | ssadowski@pennlive.com
Latrobe
It often seems like most places in Pennsylvania got their names from 1. Native American names, 2. British and Emerald isles origins, or 3. railroad connections.

Latrobe is the latter.

Oliver Barnes, a civil engineer for the Pennsylvania Railroad, laid out plans for the borough that was incorporated in 1854 as Latrobe. The inspiration for its name came from Barnes' best friend and college classmate, Benjamin Latrobe, who was a civil engineer for the B&O Railroad. The borough's spot along the Pennsylvania Railroad route helped it become an industrial hub.

Stephanie Sadowski | ssadowski@pennlive.com
Kittanning
Kittanning, the Armstrong County seat, comes from the Delaware Indian name "Kithanink," which means "on the main river." "The main river" is said to be a Lenape reference to the Allegheny and Ohio rivers, which were considered all one river. Kittanning is situated on the Allegheny.

Stephanie Sadowski | ssadowski@pennlive.com
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Here's how a bunch of other places got their names
This is our third installment in our series.

You can find Part 1 here, which covered Shickshinny, Cocalico, Conewago, Conodoguinet, Lackawanna, Blue Ball, Intercourse, Mocanaqua, Pequea, Armagh, Ephrata, Lititz and many others.

In Part 2, learn about Union Deposit, Jersey Shore, Mars, Bird-in-Hand, Swatara and Nesquehoning, plus others.

There have been some requests for town name origins. Don't worry -- some towns are easier to decipher than others, and we're researching and reaching out to historical societies. Keep your ideas coming!

Stephanie Sadowski | ssadowski@pennlive.com
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http://www.pennlive.com/life/2016/09/how_did_that_pennsylvania_town_1.html
 
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Mahanoy City
Mahanoy City, originally a part of Mahanoy Township, was settled in 1859 and incorporated as a borough in 1863. The Schuylkill County town's name, "Mahanoy," is believed to come from the SpongeBob Squarepants episode entitled "Doodle Bob." "Ahoy, Mahanoy."

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A 1790 map of PA hangs in my office. A lot of names of Indian origin populate that map. Most are now gone or bastardized.
 
Originally from the town of "Tunkhannock". Iroquois for "where the waters meet". (or so I have told)
 
OldTiredLion said:
I dunno but somehow while driving to the beach I ended up in a Pennsylvania town named "Jersey Shore." I got out of the car and thought Rod Serling was messing with me.
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I thought of that one when I was first reading. Since she didn't answer it, here is the answer.

Jersey Shore was originally named Waynesburg by the two brothers, Reuben and Jeremiah Manning, who laid out the town circa 1785. Around the time that this was happening, a settlement arose on the eastern side of the West Branch Susquehanna River (Nippenose Township), opposite Waynesburg. A rivalry developed between the two settlements, and those on the eastern shore began referring to the settlement on the western shore as the "Jersey Shore," because the Manning family had relocated from New Jersey. The nickname became so fixed that in 1826 the original name of Waynesburg was officially abandoned and changed to Jersey Shore.
 
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Bobtown was founded by Shannopin Coal Co in the 1920's to house the miners who worked in their mine.It was named after Bob Mapel who also founded Mapletown in Greene County.
 
83wuzme said:
A 1790 map of PA hangs in my office. A lot of names of Indian origin populate that map. Most are now gone or bastardized.
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Where did you get that map? I'd love to find one like it.
 
Bobtown Bart said:
Bobtown was founded by Shannopin Coal Co in the 1920's to house the miners who worked in their mine.It was named after Bob Mapel who also founded Mapletown in Greene County.
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As an ex J&Ler, I knew that!! I worked at the Vesta Shannppin Coal Division (Labelle)
 
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psu00 said:
Where did you get that map? I'd love to find one like it.
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It used to hang in The Tavern in State College. My wife gave it to me as a birthday present. They were actually going to get rid of it when she asked them if they were willing to sell it and she got it for nothing and put it in a nice frame.
I was told it was a copy. I would post a picture of it, but I don't think much of the detail would show,
 
83wuzme said:
It used to hang in The Tavern in State College. My wife gave it to me as a birthday present. They were actually going to get rid of it when she asked them if they were willing to sell it and she got it for nothing and put it in a nice frame.
I was told it was a copy. I would post a picture of it, but I don't think much of the detail would show,
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Thanks.
 
Cambria County, Cambria Township

"Colver"is on one side of the mountain and "Revloc" is on the other side.

Also Columbia Borough is not in Columbia County and the City of Chester is not in Chester County.
 
Nice to see that the picture of the Monongahela River/ Pittsburgh was taken during a Pitt home football game...Okay, admit it, how many are gonna go back to see what I mean?
 
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psu00 said:
Where did you get that map? I'd love to find one like it.
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Try e-bay. Or an antiques show. I have a map of Centre County before State College was State College (but not before Penn State was there). It's in my dining room as a tip of the hat to The Tavern. Got it at a Scott Antiques Show at the Ohio State Fiergrounds (they have one every other month or so and are national, as I recall). If you live near Adamstown, betcha they'll be at least one booth selling this kind of thing. Often they are reproductions, however. Still fun.
 
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My mom was from Manayunk, which supposedly means "where the people come to drink". Manayunk was known for having the highest number of bars and taverns per capita (it was a mill town, so that makes sense).

Some of my other favorites in central PA are Burnt Cabins and Scalp Level. And in Ohio, we have Knockemstiff.
 
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I have always heard that Shickshinny is an Indian name meaning 5 mountains. We pushed them off the land but kept their town and land names.
 
Shavertown is named for an early settler, Philip Shaver.
In 1813, Philip purchased the land that would become Shavertown from William Trucks, the namesake of Trucksville. Trucks sold Bedford, lot 3, a 1,400-acre plot to Philip.
In the genealogy and family history of Lackawanna and Wyoming Valleys, it was noted that a “cardinal principle with Philip Shaver was that a man was not really running into debt when he bought and owed for real estate at a reasonable price.”
That same year, 1813, Philip sold the northwest portion of his land to John McClellon. Upon Philip’s former land, McClellonsville was constructed, a small village which was later named Dallas.
In 1818 Philip still owned nearly thousand acres of land in the Back Mountain area.
Philip was born in 1762 along the Danube River Valley in Vienna, Austria. He migrated to the U.S. in between 1765-1769 with his parents and brothers.
Philip Shaver married Mary Ann Wickizer at St. James Lutheran Church, Greenwich, Warren County, New Jersey, on December 12, 1786. They had 7 children: John Philip, Peter, William G., Elizabeth, James Henry, George, and Asa W. Shaver.
Circa 1804, Philip and his family arrived in Forty Fort, where they resided until 1810.
Philip came to the “Back of the Mountain” in search of a gigantic species of legendary evergreen trees. He was forced to carve out a path from a rugged foot trail and among heavily forested lands, now Route 309.
Philip and his sons constructed a sawmill in 1815. The first mill was on the north branch of Toby Creek and located near the Prince of Peace Church on Main Street in Dallas.
As late as 1886, a few of these trees still existed. In William Penn Ryman’s book on the history of Dallas Township, he quotes one account of the forest around Dallas:
"There was a growth of very large pine trees, many of them 150 to 200 feet high. There were also oak, maple, chestnut and hemlock in abundance. There were many other kinds of wood, but these predominated."
“A great number of large pine stumps can still be seen in the fields and numerous stump fences about Dallas, there was at one time a species of very tall pine trees covering that country. A very few of them can still be seen (1886) towering far above the other highest trees in the woods below Dallas, near the Ryman and Shaver steam saw-mill, but they are the last of their race. For some reason they do not reproduce and will soon be an extinct species. Many of them grew to a height of 175 to 200 feet, and often the trunk, would be limbless for 150 feet from the ground, with a diameter of from five to six feet at the ground."
Philip cut the wood for the first Market Street Bridge in Wilkes-Barre, 1820.
He had the constant desire to improve and he wished those around him to have similar opportunities. It is said that after years of watching children labor on farms, Philip wished that the farm girls and boys should learn to read and write. In 1816, he donated the land for the first school in the Back Mountain. The school was a one-room log cabin on the site of the current Back Mountain Memorial Library on Huntsville Road.
Philip set aside lands for a public burying ground “on the hill near the pine grove just south of Dallas Village, on the road to Huntsville.” Philip also designated a plot of land for his family’s graves, visible from Overbrook Road.
In 1826, Philip died after a fatal accident. His left hand was crushed in the cider press that he and his sons were operating in November 1826. Philip was forced to amputate his own hand and died of blood poisoning a few days later on November 7, 1826. A relative, Bayard Taylor Shaver of Lake Minnetonka, Minnesota, told of using that same cider press on a visit to the Shaver farm in 1876.
Philip’s headstone rests at the end of the Shaver Cemetery, commanding a view of generations the deceased’s relatives. Inscribed upon his footstone reads a testament to Philip’s vast travels, miraculously visible over two centuries later; it reads, “Here lies my weary feet.”

Not a serious man, however, Philip is often noted as possessing a tone of humor.
 
I grew up in Tamaqua too. My Mother still lives there along with many friends and relatives. I can tell you that it is nothing like what I remember growing up. When I was growing up, the people may not have had a lot of money, but they had a lot of pride. There were jobs in the area too - not so much anymore.
 
Ha! This is great! Growing up in Beaver County I always thought the names were either Native American inspired (Monaca, Aliquippa, Chippewa, etc.) or more, well, obvious (Industry, Midland, Center, Economy, Freedom, Ohioville, Ohioview, etc.). Then there is 'all things Beaver' with Beaver, Beaver Falls, and Big Beaver and of course, New Galilee. Thanks for sharing!
 
Ducky_80&82g said:
When I was growing up, the people may not have had a lot of money, but they had a lot of pride.
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Yeah, communities were much closer back then. I grew up in Levittown, were everyone seemed to be the same age and we were in and out of our friends's houses all the time. If you misbehaved in front of your friend's mother, your mom would hear of it and there'd be consequences.

We'd get home from school and play until the sun set.
 
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