NORTHUMBERLAND COUNTY, Pa. — Semiquincentennial is a word you don't hear too often because 250th anniversaries are rare. But that's what Northumberland County is celebrating on this day. On March 21, 1772, Northumberland County was formed.
"As settlers moved in, they needed a place to record their deeds, they needed legal services. Prior to that, they had to go all the way down to Lancaster, which was a long way to go. So the Penns decided to establish Northumberland County with Sunbury as the county seat," said Jody Ocker, a historian in Sunbury.
Ocker says Northumberland is known as the "Mother of all Counties" because 27 other counties derived from the original Northumberland.
"Sometimes people have their roots in one of these counties, and they want to look way back into the 1700s. They have to come to Northumberland County Courthouse for those records," Ocker said.
"We thought it would be nice to have the county commissioners come and celebrate the county today in our videos that we're doing on the webpage for the 250th," Slade Shreck said.
The city of Sunbury is also turning 250 this year. There are quite a few events planned to celebrate that.
Ocker and Slade Shreck are co-chairs of Sunbury's 250th Anniversary Celebration.
"We're kicking it off with a big 4th of July parade, and then we'll have a ceremony in the park. We'll honor our hometown heroes and hear about our history," Ocker said.
"We have some history, a lot of fun things to do. We have some tribute bands coming," Shreck said.
The committee says the semiquincentennial will be a week of celebrations in Sunbury later this year.
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