Connellsville City Hall is located at 110 North Arch Street, Connellsville PA 15425.
Phone: 724‑628‑2020.
Beginnings [1]
Note: In 1911 the former boroughs of Connellsville and New Haven merged to form the City of Connellsville.
The borough of Connellsville, the largest town in population in the county of Fayette, is situated opposite the borough of New Haven, on the right or eastern bank of the Youghiogheny; its territory, however, extending across the river to low-water mark on the western side, which low-water mark forms its western boundary. On the north, east, and south it is bounded by Connellsville township. Connellsville borough is not only the centre of the vast coke and coal interests of this region, but is also the most important railway point in Fayette County, having connection with Pittsburgh and Uniontown by two lines, the Southwest Pennsylvania and the Baltimore and Ohio, and eastward by the same lines, over the Baltimore and Ohio to Cumberland and Baltimore, and over the Southwest and Pennsylvania roads to Greensburg, Altoona, Harrisburg, and Philadelphia. Both the Southwest Pennsylvania and the Uniontown Branch of the Baltimore and Ohio road cross the Youghiogheny at this point. The population of the borough by the census of 1880 was: in the East Ward, 1926; in the West Ward, 1689; total, 3615.
The first settler within the limits of the present borough of Connellsville was William McCormick, who came here from near Winchester, Va., about the year 1770. He had a number of pack-horses, and with them was engaged in the transportation of salt, iron, and other goods from Cumberland, Md., to the Youghiogheny and Monongahela Rivers. His wife was Effie Crawford, a daughter of Col. William Crawford, who had settled on the left bank of the Youghiogheny near the northern boundary of the present borough of New Haven. McCormick settled on the other side of the river, directly opposite the house of his father-in-law. His first residence there was a log house, which he built on the river-bank. It is still standing on land owned by the Pittsburgh and Connellsville Railroad Company. In this he lived many years, and then removed to a double cabin which he built on the site below the stone house on the Davidson farm. Afterwards he built a large log house. Two tracts of land, one called "Stafford," and the other "Rich Plain," located where McCormick settled, were warranted to William Crawford, but soon afterwards became the property of William McCormick, and were patented to him May 28, 1795. A saw-mill was erected by him on these premises. An agreement was made by McCormick (April 10, 1794) to sell a part of these tracts to John Gibson for £252, and on the 7th of December, 1796, the property was deeded by McCormick to Gilson.