Bedford County Timeline
1730 - (Approximate) A few settlers move into the area, disturbing what had been only hunting grounds for native Indians and, recently, a few whites.
1738 - First known house built in Bedford County, by trader John Patton. The house still stands in present day Everett.
1750 - Robert MacRay establishes a trading post along the river. It becomes known as Raystown, now Bedford.
1752 - Garrett Pendergass buys a tract of land at the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers from Chief Anonguit (present site of Pittsburgh). Pendergass is a trader based in the Bedford area.
1754 - Settlers west of Carlisle ordered back east. Some obeyed the order, and some stayed.
1757 - British clear a trail from Carlisle west to Rays Town (presently Bedford).
1758 - Fort Bedford built by the British army, commanded by General Edward Forbes.
1759 - William Fraser born, the first white child born in Bedford County.
1762 - Jean Bonnett Tavern built at the forks of the Great Road and Glade Pike (today's Routes 30 and 31. Not known as Jean Bonnett until he bought it in 1793.
1766 - The site of the town of Bedford surveyed by John Lukens.
1766 - The Presbyterian Cemetery, now Memorial Park of Bedford County, deeded to the church.
1769 - Captain James Smith and his "Black Boys" captured Ft. Bedford, the first British fort captured by colonials.
1771 - Bedford County officially formed.
1772 - Glade Pike opened from Bedford to Confluence, on the Youghiogheny River.
1773 - Public road opened from Bedford to Cumberland, Maryland.
1773 - First courthouse and jail built on the Public Square in Bedford.
1774 - Public road opened from Standing Stone (now Huntingdon) to Bloody Run (now Everett). This road is now Route 26.
1777 - Tull's Hill Massacre. The Tull family, consisting of 10 children and their parents, were killed in an Indian raid about 6 miles west of Ft. Bedford.
1781 - Thomas Coulter built a fort and storehouse in Cumberland Valley (now Bedford Valley).
1782 - The Peck family of Rays Cove was massacred, the last such incident of the Revolutionary War period.
1787 - Michael Barndollar of Frederick County, Maryland, was given a deed from John Musser of Lancaster, PA, for 400 acres of land, the present site of Everett.
1791 - Public road opened from Shippensburg to Pittsburgh. It followed the route of Forbes' Road west of Bedford.
1794 - The end of the Whiskey Rebellion asserts the power of the new Federal government.
1795 - Michael Barndollar lays out the town first called Waynesboro, but the post office was called Bloody Run. (Presently Everett) 1796 - Nicholas Schouffler discovers mineral springs south of Bedford. They are thought to have medicinal properties.
1801 - First iron production in Bedford County begins at Hopewell Furnace, with iron ore from Warrior Ridge near present day Everett.
1802 - Michael Barndollar built tavern and store at present day Everett.
1803 - Dr. John Anderson begins development of Bedford Springs.
1805 - Charles McDowell begins publication of the Bedford Gazette newspaper. Today it is the oldest newspaper in continuous publication in Pennsylvania.
1807 - Everett glass plant begins production.
1810 - John Schell lays out "Nine-Mile Town", present day Schellsburg
1814 - Post Office established at Bloody Run (Everett) with Philip Compher as postmaster.
1817 - Davey Lewis escaped from Bedford County jail. He won the public's admiration as the "Robin Hood of Bedford County" after robbing a sheriff of a poor widow's tax payment and returning the money to her.
1818 - Smallpox epidemic hits the county. Especially hard hit is a small negro settlement in Juniata Township.
1820 - County population listed as 20,248.
1820 - Henry Beckley laid out present day St. Clairsville, named for Revolutionary War General Arthur St. Clair.
1824 - First house at the site of present day Pleasantville is built by William Hancock. About the same time, Benjamin Bowen also builds one.
1829 - Solomon Filler completes work on the County Courthouse and the Presbyterian Church.
1830 - County population listed as 24,502.
1835 - Underground Railroad begins operating in the county.
1835 - First volunteer fire company in the county organized at Bedford.
1840 - County population listed as 29,335.
1840 - Samuel Waters forms the village of Bridgeport, present day Hyndman.
1844 - James Patton buys the town of Loysburg and changes its name to Pattonville. The name was changed back less than 20 years later.
1847 - Village of New Buena Vista laid out, named for a battle of the Mexican War.
1848 - Congressman Job Mann pressures to have a post office at an unnamed village in Harrison Township. This village became Mann's Choice.
1850 - Fulton County created from eastern portions of Bedford County.
1850 - County population listed as 23,052. (The population of the newly-created Fulton County are not included.)
1853 - J. Simpson Africa lays out Hopewell for the Hopewell Coal and Iron Co., although a village had existed there since 1771.
1854 - Providence Township divided into East Providence and West Providence Townships.
1856 - Rainsburg becomes the third organized borough in the county.
1856 - The Huntingdon and Broad Top Railroad built from Huntingdon to Hopewell, for commercial coal shipments.
1858 - President James Buchanan uses the Bedford Springs Hotel as his summer White House. The U.S. Supreme Court also meets there, the only time they have met outside of Washington.
1860 - County population listed as 26,736.
1860 - The Borough of Bloody Run is incorporated. (Present day Everett)
1866 - Saxton is incorporated as a borough, named for an early pioneer.
1868 - Bedford County Press published at Bloody Run (now Everett) by J. C. Long. Later named the Everett Press, then the Bedford County Press again, then the Bedford County Shopper's Guide.
1870 - The Bedford County Bank in Everett was founded.
1873 - Bloody Run officially changed its name to Everett, in honor of statesman and orator Edward Everett.
1880 -County population listed as 34,929.
1880 - Everett Volunteer Fire Company established, with Gen. D.S. Elliot as chief engineer, and assistants D.V. Ott and John A. Gump.
1884 - A blast furnace for iron-making began in Everett with ore from Black Valley.
1885 - The Everett Bank is founded. (Now a branch of Mid-State Bank.)
1889 - Bedford Electric Light Company is organized, one of the first municipalities in Pennsylvania to light streets by electricity.
1890 - County population listed as 38,644.
1894 -J. C. Chamberlain begins publishing the Everett Republican. The weekly newspaper stopped publishing in 1951.
1894 - White Sulpher Springs Hotel near Manns Choice opens.
1901 - Major blaze destroys a section of downtown Bedford.
1902 - First National Bank of Everett is founded.
1903 - Hoblitzell National Bank opens in Hyndman.
1905 - First automobile built in the county by A.M. and W.C. Karns of Everett. They petitioned the federal government for money to build an auto plant in Everett at the same time Henry Ford did. Ford won.
1908 - Fire destroys the Tecumseh Tannery, a major industry in Everett.
1911 - George Biser opens "Dreamland", first motion picture theater in Bedford.
1913 - Everett Cash Mutual Insurance Company is founded.
1919 - 400 county residents die in influenza epidemic.
1919 - The Saxton Bottling Company founded in Saxton.
1924 - J. E. Thropp Co., a major blast furnace and foundry, stunned Everett by declaring bankrupcy.
1927 - The first hospitals in the county were opened. Dr. N.A. Timmins opened one on his own in Bedford, and Dr. D.R. Sipes opened one in Everett.
1930 - Fire destroys a block of downtown Everett.
1930 -County population listed as 40,000.
1931 - Fire destroys the business district of Hopewell, plus a large number of residences. More than 300 buildings are totally destroyed.
1932 - Famous tourist landmark - "S.S. Grand View Ship" - opens on Route 30, at the top of a hill west of Schellsburg. The building, shaped like a ship, offered a view of 7 counties and 3 states.
1933 - Philip Hughes opens Wonderland Caverns (now Coral Caverns) at Manns Choice. They are the only coral reef caverns in the world.
1935 - Fire destroys a large portion of downtown Saxton.
1936 - St. Patrick's Day Flood, the worst disaster in Bedford County history. Hardest hit was Everett, with much of the town flooded by the waters of the Juniata River and Bloody Run.
1939 - H. L. Cline is the first president of the Bedford Rural Electric Cooperative, as it begins to bring electricity to rural areas.
1940 - Pennsylvania Turnpike opens on October 1. The "father of modern highways" has interchanges in Bedford and Breezewood.
1948 - Legislature approves construction of Shawnee State Park, dam, and lake near Schellsburg.
1949 - Hyndman hit by Thanksgiving Day fire. Central business district as well as many residences are destroyed.
1951 - Memorial Hospital of Bedford County opens on Route 30 between Bedford and Everett.
1952 - Kennemetal, Inc. builds a new plant near Bedford.
1955 - WBFD, the first county radio station, begins operation in Bedford.
1960 - County population listed as 42,451.
1961 - Industrial development groups formed to attact industry.
1962 - Fairfoot Shoe Co. erects new plant in Bedford Township.
1963 - Blue Knob Ski Resort opens.
1964 - Standard Register Co. builds printing plant near Bedford.
1965 - Trucking industry begins decline as three large firms leave the county.
1966 - Hedstrom Co. opens a plant and headquarters near Bedford.
1970 - Westinghouse Elecric Co. opens a plastics extrusions plant in Napier Township.
1970 - County population listed as 42,353.
1973 - Creative Pultrusions, Inc., begun in Alum Bank.
1976 - Old Bedford Village, a recreation of an early village using original log cabins and other buildings from around the county, opens as a tourist attraction.
1977 - Cannondale, world-reknown manufacturer of mountain and racing bikes, opens a plant in Bedford County.
By 1983, all of its bicycles will be produced in the county.1981 - Blue Triangle Hardwoods, Inc., begun in Everett by Rossi Corp.
1990 - Allegany College of Maryland opens a branch campus at Everett.
1998 - Bedford County Memorial Hospital merges into the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center System (UPMC).
1998 - Cannondale announces a consolidation and expansion of its product line into a new facility in the new Bedford County Business Park.
Return to Bedford County History Page
Return to Bedford County Genealogy Project