Where did that PA town name come from?
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Can someone 'splain why West Sunbury (Butler County) is a couple hundred miles away from Sunbury (Northumberland County, and named after a city in England)?
Okay, I'll tell you about it. But first you have to go through Blue Ball and afterwards you'll be in Paradise.
Tarentum and local legend on how it got its name:
Before there were any buildings of any kind in Tarentum the only thing that ran through that area was the railroad. One day a fellow who had some money started constructing large buildings near the railroad that ran through the area. Upon hearing about this the citizens of the region came out to witness these large buildings being built. They for the life of themselves couldn’t figure out why buildings were being built in a region where no one lived. So one day someone went up to the well-to-do fellow and said, “What are you building?” The man replied, “Apartment buildings.” Which brought up the following question, “Why are you constructing apartment buildings in an area that no lives?” The well-to-do fellow responded, “To rent them.”
Before there were any buildings of any kind in Tarentum the only thing that ran through that area was the railroad. One day a fellow who had some money started constructing large buildings near the railroad that ran through the area. Upon hearing about this the citizens of the region came out to witness these large buildings being built. They for the life of themselves couldn’t figure out why buildings were being built in a region where no one lived. So one day someone went up to the well-to-do fellow and said, “What are you building?” The man replied, “Apartment buildings.” Which brought up the following question, “Why are you constructing apartment buildings in an area that no lives?” The well-to-do fellow responded, “To rent them.”
Now seriously, my hometown of Natrona (home of Big Mo and Little Mo Ed and Dick Modzelewski) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ed_Modzelewski
and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dick_Modzelewski, growing up I was told was an Indian word meaning rock salt.
The original village of Natrona – then known as East Tarentum – was built as a company town by the Pennsylvania Salt Manufacturing Company in the 1850s.[3][4][5][6][7] The company began with two salt wells in 1850, and continued operations until 1959. You may remember from your PA history that Samuel Kier operated salt and oil wells in the 19th century at Natrona.
Oil wells in NATRONA!!! Before Titusville and Colonel Drake discovered in 1859! We were told as kids that the oil had too high a salt content.
From: https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/education/whatischemistry/landmarks/pennsylvaniaoilindustry.html
Samuel Kier Experiments with Pennsylvania Oil
Others tried using petroleum — originally marketed as a medicine — as an illuminant. Seeping petroleum plagued salt well operators as it frequently came to the surface with salt brine. At Tarentum, Pennsylvania, twenty miles north of Pittsburgh, Samuel Kier and his father owned salt wells which produced an annoying quantity of oil along with the desired brine.
Kier thought the oil contaminating his wells was similar to the “American Medicinal Oil” his wife took for a serious illness. Chemical analysis proved the two oils identical, and in 1852 Kier started marketing the oil from his wells as “Kier’s Petroleum, or Rock Oil.” Kier claimed his “medicine” (sold in 8 oz. jars for 50 cents) cured burns, ulcers, cholera, asthma, indigestion, rheumatism, and blindness.
Kier’s salt wells produced more petroleum than he could sell, so he began looking for other uses for it.
Drake found William Smith, a blacksmith who had made tools for Samuel Kier and who had done some drilling.
and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dick_Modzelewski, growing up I was told was an Indian word meaning rock salt.
The original village of Natrona – then known as East Tarentum – was built as a company town by the Pennsylvania Salt Manufacturing Company in the 1850s.[3][4][5][6][7] The company began with two salt wells in 1850, and continued operations until 1959. You may remember from your PA history that Samuel Kier operated salt and oil wells in the 19th century at Natrona.
Oil wells in NATRONA!!! Before Titusville and Colonel Drake discovered in 1859! We were told as kids that the oil had too high a salt content.
From: https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/education/whatischemistry/landmarks/pennsylvaniaoilindustry.html
Samuel Kier Experiments with Pennsylvania Oil
Others tried using petroleum — originally marketed as a medicine — as an illuminant. Seeping petroleum plagued salt well operators as it frequently came to the surface with salt brine. At Tarentum, Pennsylvania, twenty miles north of Pittsburgh, Samuel Kier and his father owned salt wells which produced an annoying quantity of oil along with the desired brine.
Kier thought the oil contaminating his wells was similar to the “American Medicinal Oil” his wife took for a serious illness. Chemical analysis proved the two oils identical, and in 1852 Kier started marketing the oil from his wells as “Kier’s Petroleum, or Rock Oil.” Kier claimed his “medicine” (sold in 8 oz. jars for 50 cents) cured burns, ulcers, cholera, asthma, indigestion, rheumatism, and blindness.
Kier’s salt wells produced more petroleum than he could sell, so he began looking for other uses for it.
Drake found William Smith, a blacksmith who had made tools for Samuel Kier and who had done some drilling.
Gov. Mifflin must have been something else. We have a Mifflin Co., municipalities named Mifflin, Mifflintown (directly across the river from each other, no less) Mifflinburg, Mifflinville, and West Mifflin just that I can think of off the top of my head. Maybe more. A Governor Mifflin school dist., a dorm at PSU named Mifflin, etc.
While I can't speak for West Sunbury, other than the fact that it is indeed west of the Sunbury where I grew up. Sunbury, PA was named for Sunbury-on-Thames because when it was founded, Pennsylvania was still a colony. Sames goes for Berwick, PA that was named after Berwick-upon-Tweed and both the boro & county of Northumberland, PA were named for Northumberland County, England.
The original Shamokin was the name of one of the largest indigenous settlements in PA and it was l at the location of Sunbury, NOT current day Shamokin which is @15mi east of Sunbury. Several different tribes lived at the original Shamokin (Delaware, Senaca, Shawnee, etc.) often at the same time. Shikellamy School District in the Sunbury/Norry area was named after a prominent Oneida emissary that was stationed at Shamokin.
The Moravians had a mission for about 10years at the original Shamokin until they were chased out of the area. There was also a British fort, Ft. Augusta that was built on the site of as settlers moved further west.
Sunbury was incorporated in 1772 and now includes what was originally East Sunbury and Caketown. Caketown was named for a guy by the name of Cake who owned and developed that section of town. He named Amy, Alice, Julia & Joseph Streets after his children, and those street names remain today.
He was the first Governor of the Commonwealth. Mifflinburg was originally two separate towns, one was Greeneville, can't remember the name of the other. When they merged, they named it in honor of Mifflin.
Shikellamy...
As a kid in junior high school back in the day, there was a little story passed around that told the origin of that name. It went something like:
"There was a young Indian couple standing on a high bluff overlooking the river (The Susquehanna didn't have to be named, it was just assumed). The brave didn't know that the girl had eyes on another brave as they were betrothed. The only way she could get out of marrying the first brave to be with the one she wanted was to get rid of the former. So...while standing on the high bluff, she gave the brave a push.
As he was tumbling down to his demise, in broken English he yelled, " She killa a me! She killa a me!"
One of my classmates in my Chem program was from there. She ended up being a classmate at tOSU too in grad school, though we were in different tracks (org chem vs inorg).
That's like a local sign on our beltway: East to Westerville (which is on the NE side of town).
From Wikipedia about Shikellamy- it was named after an Oneida chief who oversaw the Shawnee and Lenape tribes in central Pennsylvania along the Susquehanna protecting the southern border of the Iroquois Confederacy. He was the go between for the Colonial government in Philly and the Iroquois Chiefs in Onondaga. He also served as Conrad Weiser's guide into the territory of the PA/ NY border region.
It's interesting to hear some of the history behind these town names that we pretty much hear all the time and take for granted.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shikellamy
I may have worked with some of her family. You never know. When I was in school, PSU had a starting pitcher on the baseball team, Bill Micsky. He was from Vestaburg. We graduated together in the same major. I then got to know his dad when I worked for J&L. I lost track of Bill years ago when I left Pa.
There's a number of towns with interesting names in the area where Schuylkill, Dauphin and Northumberland Counties meet: Rough and Ready, Hebe, Pillow, Fearnot, Leck Kill...
from Wikipedia-
SHIPPENSBURG-
-1730. Named for Edwin Shippen a resident of a Lancaster and former mayor of Philadelphia. Ed Shippen's granddaughter was the wife of Benedict Arnold.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shippensburg,_Pennsylvania
WALLENPAUPACK-
-Lenape Indian term for 'the stream of swift and slow water'.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Wallenpaupack
KISHACOQUILLAS-
-1759. Named after a friendly Shawnee chief (name means 'the snakes are already in their dens').
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kishacoquillas_Valley
SHIPPENSBURG-
-1730. Named for Edwin Shippen a resident of a Lancaster and former mayor of Philadelphia. Ed Shippen's granddaughter was the wife of Benedict Arnold.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shippensburg,_Pennsylvania
WALLENPAUPACK-
-Lenape Indian term for 'the stream of swift and slow water'.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Wallenpaupack
KISHACOQUILLAS-
-1759. Named after a friendly Shawnee chief (name means 'the snakes are already in their dens').
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kishacoquillas_Valley
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I recall once hearing about a movie called Attack of the Man - Eating Monkeys from West Mifflin PA.
Yes, this is a real place.
And there is Upper Turkeyfoot Township and Lower Turkeyfoot Township in Somerset County.
From what I found Loyalsock derives from a local Indian name for the creek Lawi-sahquick meaning 'middle creek' (between the Lycoming and Muncy creeks). That eventually became Loyalsock.
Before today I just knew it as a school with some pretty good basketball teams that we occasionally played in states.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loyalsock_Creek
My grandfather had a farm near Leck Kill and there used to be a Post Office/bar/gas station/bar/grocery/hardware store all in one building and all operations were run by the same family. Rebuck, which was a few miles down the road, also had a bar/post office.r
How come we don't have Paterno County, Paterno, Paternotown, Paternoburg, West Paterno, Paterno School District, or a dorm named Paterno?
We had Paternoville, but they renamed it Nittanyville. The whole thing is surprising given that Paterno was the MOST. POWERFUL. PERSON. EVER.
When I was working in Altoona for a few days, I asked an Altoona native, "Who is the most famous person from Altoona?"
He thought about it for a while and responded, "Mike Reid."
Climax Molybdenum company used to operate out here in Colorado. They were affectionately referred to as "Climax Molly"
It's amazing how much the mining industry has contibuted to community development. The coal industry throughout Pa and out here the metal mining leading to the development of towns like Aspen, Breckenridge, Telluride, Silverthorne, Ouray. The list is endless, as it is in Pa. Yet now the entire industry is despised. People seem to forget that if you dont farm it, or hunt and fish for it, you have to mine it. That's my rant, sorry.
