Boroughs & Towns, Somerset County

Glencoe is a small town on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad in the southeastern part of the township. The first settler on the tract now occupied by the town was Benjamin Critchfield who came from Maryland prior to 1793. At the latter date he obtained a warrant for one hundred and nineteen and one-half acres … Read more

Gebhartsburg (Gebhart’s postoffice) is a small collection of houses, one-half mile east of New Centreville. Village lots were laid out in this place on November 22, 1834, at the same time with New Centreville. George Gebhart was the founder of the place, and Simon Gebhart, his son, did the surveying. Until 1881, Gebhartsburg was the … Read more

Garrett borough, four miles west of Meyersdale, was laid out in 1869, by John Jacob Schell, Isaac Hugus, John D. Roddy and George D. Wolf, on land that was at one time owned by Peter P. H. Walker. This was before the completion of the railroad. The town did not build up very rapidly for … Read more

Fair Hope is a small railroad station on the Baltimore & Ohio. The village was laid out about the close of the late war, and received its name from the fact that the citizens had then a speedy prospect of a railroad through the place. The village has not improved much during the last fifteen … Read more

Draketown is a small village in Lower Turkeyfoot township, containing two small stores, a blacksmith-shop and a small number of houses. Oliver Drake settled at this place, probably about the time of the revolutionary war. About 1787 he erected a small gristmill. A mill erected by his son Jonathan, on the same site, in 1812, … Read more

Deal is a small village in the southern part of the township. It was founded by Daniel Lepley who erected the first grist mill in Larimer Township at this place in 1850. Two years later this grist mill was destroyed by fire. It was rebuilt by Edwin Deal for whom the village was named. Deal … Read more

Davidsville, a small town in the eastern part of the township, was laid out by David Stutzman in the year 1831, with Thomas Gahagan as the surveyor. As Stutzman was not considered harmonious enough, its name was taken from the first name of its founder. The first house was erected by Joseph Schell and Peter … Read more

Confluence takes its name from its location, which is at the junction of three streams— the Youghiogheny and Casselman rivers and Laurel Hill creek. It is a growing, prosperous town, and its commerce is constantly increasing in extent and importance. It is the largest shipping point on the Pittsburgh division of the Baltimore & Ohio … Read more

Central City was founded by Anthony Weichtenheiser in 1847 near the center of Shade township. For many years the family of his son, John Weichtenheiser, and the family of Obediah B. Lohr were the only two families in this vicinity. Garrish, Whitehead and Lease opened the first coal mine here in 1900. The town was … Read more

Casselman borough was laid out in 1869 by L. L. Wolfersberger and David J. Phillippi, who owned the site of the town. The town was platted on a large scale, there being 385 lots, besides twenty-eight large outlots between the railroad and the river, intended for manufacturing sites. A public sale of lots was held, … Read more