Saltsburg will celebrate its founding more than two centuries ago with a ceremony Wednesday afternoon at the Saltsburg Area Historical Society’s Rebecca B. Hadden Stone House Museum.

Karen Cumberledge, the borough mayor, will proclaim the first Andrew Boggs Day, honoring the man who established the town on his property. The museum, located at 105 Point St., will open specially from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. for the event.

Borough council and the society intend to make the day a new annual tradition, society trustee Linda Maguire said.

According to the historical society, Boggs laid out Saltsburg’s first lots and streets in 1817, and the town was incorporated as a borough in 1838.

As noted on a state historical marker, the town derived its name from a thriving early salt industry. The first salt wells were drilled there in 1813, and the area became a leading producer of salt by the 1830s.

Saltsburg experienced a boom period from 1829 to 1864, when it was a major stop on the Pennsylvania Canal’s Western Division.

The town’s modern visitors include kayakers paddling along the Conemaugh and Kiskiminetas rivers and those who hike and bike on the West Penn Trail.

Saltsburg boasts a number of historic buildings, including the museum. It was built in 1830 as the home of Robert McIlwain, the town’s first blacksmith and one of two brothers who are credited with much of the town’s early development.

In 1993, the museum was dedicated to Hadden, the founder of the historical society.

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