| |
Blair County, PA
|
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. |
|
|
|
|
