Aaronsburg

A post village situated in Haines township, Center county, Pennsylvania, founded by Aaron Levy in 1786, and named for him. In June, 1779, Aaron Levy bought of a Mr. Wetzel a tract in Center county known as the Alexander Grant warranty. Upon this he laid out and planned the town of Aaronsburg, the town plan being recorded at Sunbury on October 4, 1786. A plot of ground known as Aaron's Square was reserved by the founder for public uses, and one of the streets was named Rachel's Way in honor of his wife. On November 16, 1789, Levy gave to the trustees of the Salem Evangelical Church a lot upon which to erect a church and schoolhouse. Aaronsburg is the first town in Pennsylvania (and probably in the United States) that was laid out by and named after a Jew.

Bibliography:

  * Aaron Levy, by Isabella H. Rosenbach and Abraham S. Wolf Rosenbach, in Publ. Am. Jew. Hist. Soc. No. 2, 1894, pp. 157-163.



A. S. W.-R.