In the year 1783, a settler by the name of Adolph Oliver Busch traveled through the valley between the Thomaston Mountains and the Gap Rocks.

At this junction, several mountain streams converged where this settler built a log cabin and a sawmill on the west Branch of the Schuylkill River, just below the mouth of Wolf Creek.

[5] Shortly thereafter, he built a tavern on the South Side of the Sunbury Trail on the present site of the Saint Michael the Archangel Church.

The early settlers engaged in timbering as their first livelihood, but experienced difficulty in transporting the heavy logs out of the valley.

[7] The completion of the Schuylkill Haven and Mine Hill Railroad provided the means to transport the coal produced in the region.

The first president of the town council was Daniel R. Bennet; first treasurer, Thomas J. Harman, Clerk, and Milligan G. Gable, High Constable.

[8] This case dealt with a family whose children would not salute the flag or recite the Pledge of Allegiance because of their religious beliefs (they were Jehovah's Witnesses).

The final verdict was that the school district could, in fact, make students stand, salute, and recite the Pledge of Allegiance.

This decision came under much scrutiny and would not stay long, as it would be overturned shortly thereafter by West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette.

[9] According to the United States Census Bureau, the borough has a total area of 0.7 square miles (1.8 km2), all land.