McKeansburg [1] has the honor of being the oldest town in Schuylkill County. The greater part of the town was laid out in 1803, and the remainder in 1809. The town was named after Governor Thomas McKean. Warrants for tracts of land were issued to the first settlers as early as 1750, the Webb family, who afterward sold their interest to Peter Orwig in 1790, being the original owners. Others followed, and a strong fight was waged to make this town the county seat. When Schuylkill was partitioned from Berks to Northampton, Orwigsburg had one of its citizens in the Legislature and succeeded in getting the Court House plum. Judge Daniel Yost, a native of Montgomery County, was made a Justice by Geo. Snyder in 1809. He became one of the first Judges of the Court of Common Pleas in 1811. He lived and died in McKeansburg, where he is buried. The grandfather of the late Judge D. B. Green lived there. The ancestors of Judge R. H. Koch, the father of Banker Jacob Huntzinger, Joshua Boyer and Dr. J. F. Treichler, one of the first physicians prominently known in the County, who was engaged in active practice for more than fifty years, were among the early settlers of McKeansburg. It is related that when the commissioners appointed by the Governor to examine the rival towns, Orwigsburg and McKeansburg, arrived at the former place a ruse was employed to gain the advantage. Peter Frailey, Daniel Graeff, John Kobb, John Drehr, Phillip Hoy and others induced the nearby owners of saw mills along the creek that ran along the Borough to dam up the water supply for a period. At a signal from the men, the blowing of a horn, the flood gates were hoisted and the Manhannan had such a supply of water that the commissioners concluded that it would be an excellent town for manufacturing purposes and Orwigsburg became the County seat.
Nearby Neighborhoods
Street Names
Arch Street • Catawissa Street • Chestnut Street • Market Street North • Market Street South • Race Street • Vine Street