Template:Wp-Newry, Pennsylvania-History

the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

During the late 18th century, Patrick Cassidy, a native of Newry, Ireland and an American soldier in the American Revolutionary War, purchased three hundred acres of land in Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania. This is now known as Blair County. C. 1793, where he constructed a small town on the land, which he named for his home.

A half-century later, Newry flourished as the Allegheny Portage Railroad began to carry passengers from Hollidaysburg across the Alleghenies to Johnstown. Newry's location made it a suitable stop for the railroad and this new influx of visitors stimulated the economy of the town. This prosperity lasted from the 1830s to the 1850s, when the railroad closed.

During the following century, the town decreased in population and quietly shifted from an urban to a rural center until the 1950s, when migration of Altoonans from the north began to increase the size of Newry and gave it a more suburban character.