Schellsburg, Pennsylvania
| Schellsburg, Pennsylvania | |
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| Borough | |
Pitt Street on the borough's east side
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 Schellsburg
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| Coordinates: 40°02′55″N 78°38′38″W / 40.04861°N 78.64389°WCoordinates: 40°02′55″N 78°38′38″W / 40.04861°N 78.64389°W | |
| Country | United States |
| State | Pennsylvania |
| County | Bedford |
| Settled | 1808 |
| Incorporated | 1838 |
| Government | |
| • Type | Borough Council |
| Area | |
| • Total | 0.25 sq mi (0.66 km2) |
| • Land | 0.25 sq mi (0.66 km2) |
| • Water | 0.0 sq mi (0.0 km2) |
| Elevation | 1,168 ft (356 m) |
| Population (2010) | |
| • Total | 338 |
| • Density | 1,332/sq mi (514.3/km2) |
| Time zone | Eastern (EST) (UTC-5) |
| • Summer (DST) | EDT (UTC-4) |
| Zip code | 15559 |
| Area code(s) | 814 |
Schellsburg is a borough in Bedford County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 338 at the 2010 census.
Schellsburg was so named after John Schell who settled and founded the community. John Schell's grandfather Michael Schell first arrived in Philadelphia from the Palatinate by way of Rotterdam in 1727, after which more family members arrived in 1732 and again in 1738. In 1732 when he returned with other members of his family, Michael Schell purchased a substantial tract of land where he settled with his family in the Perkiomen Valley northwest of Philadelphia, an area in Upper Hanover Township later known as East Greenville, in what was then Philadelphia County and became Montgomery County in 1760. The adjoining community of Hillegassville was named after its founder Johann Frederick Hillegass. His granddaughter Elizabeth Barbara Hillegass married John Schell, Jr., who was born in 1725 at the family homestead granted to his father John Schell, Sr., the youngest son of Michael Schell who died in 1770.
At an early age, John Schell, Jr. became possessed of considerable means after his patriotic service in the Revolutionary War and his father's death in 1777. For many years he traveled extensively on business through Bedford County, western Pennsylvania and Kentucky, which was admitted as a state in 1792. He was impressed by the climate and fertile soil in Kentucky, decided to remove there and select land to establish his own community for his family and friends. In the spring of 1800, John Schell and his family, consisting of his wife, eight young children and his widowed mother, left their home in Montgomery County and traveled west. When they arrived at the Ohio River, he realized that it would be unsafe for his family to traverse the river by boat due to the Indians. He returned through Napier Township in Bedford County and decided instead to settle in what is the present location of Schellsburg.
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