Blair+County

=Blair County =  When settlers first came here they were mainly in search of farming land. They found main resources that helped them with their agricultural needs such as coal {found in the mountains}, iron ore {found in the valleys}, and timber. This made the first manufactories saw and grist mills. In the beginning Blair county had a population of about 16,000, had eleven townships, and three small boroughs with a surface of 594 square miles. Now, without its bounds being enlarged, it has 15 townships, one large city {Altoona}, ten boroughs, and numorous small villages with a population exceeding 80,000. Blair County was a part of Bedford county from March 1771 to September 1787. This is when all counties except North Woodbury and Greenfield townships became part of Huntingdon county. June 1st 1846 marked when Blair county was separated from Huntingdon and became an independant county. It was formed from a part of Huntingdon and two townships of Bedford. All before which it was named after John Blair, a state legislator that lobbied for the establishment of the county in 1846.

Blair county has considerable mineral wealth with many fertile and well watered valleys. ** Horse shoe curve. **

 Lakemont Park, located in Altoona,  opened in 1894 as a trolley park and is America's 8th oldest operating amusement park  .     It <span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"> is home to the world's oldest operating roller coaster, the 1902  <span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive">Leap-the-Dips,    <span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive"> which is a National  Historic Landmark. The small park's other attractions include go carts, miniature golf, and <span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"> The island waterworld. <span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive">

<span style="COLOR: #000000; FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #02d9e8">**Leap-the-Dip roller coaster <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive"> **