In 1846 Blair County was formed from Huntingdon and Bedford Counties. It was named for the Honorable John Blair, of Blair’s Gap, and is the only county in the State named for a purely local celebrity. His father, Captain Thomas Blair, a native of Scotland, was instrumental during the Revolutionary period in clearing the upper Juniata valley of Indians and Tories. After the war Captain Blair settled in Blair’s Gap, built the old Blair homestead, which is still standing, and became a man of considerable property and influence. Here John Blair was born and lived all his life.
John Blair was elected to the Legislature, where he showed himself a warm friend of internal improvement. He was president of the Hollidaysburg and Pittsburgh Turnpike Company, which built the macadamized road through the gap in 1820, and ten years later he was active in promoting the Pennsylvania Canal and the Portage Railroad, which carried the canal-boats across the mountains. In his day he was known as one of the most prominent and public-spirited citizens in central Pennsylvania. Blair Township, in Blair County, and the borough of Blairsville, in Indiana County, also were named for him.
Blair died fourteen years before Blair County was created. The Scotch surname, Blair, is the Gaelic equivalent of the English name, Field.
From Pennsylvania Place Names by A. Howry Espenshade.
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