There
were settlers in the area of what is now
Stewartstown as early as 1750. That part
of southern York County was claimed by both
Maryland and Pennsylvania, and the boundary
dispute was not settled until the surveying
of the Mason-Dixon Line in 1767.
By 1777, a road was well established between
York and Baltimore, and Stewartstown’s
main street of today lies along a part of
that road. About 1812, a group of prosperous
farmers set out to establish a community
in south central Hopewell Township. The
earliest buildings were several houses,
a workshop for producing furniture and spinning
wheels, a store, and a tavern. Anthony Stewart,
owner of the workshop, served as the village
clerk and his shop became the meeting place.
The village was first known as Meadstown,
after Benedict Meads, owner of the tavern
and store. Later it became known as Mechanicsburg
because of the number of carpenters, shoemakers,
blacksmiths, wheelwrights, tinsmiths, and
other tradesmen who lived in the community.
By 1828, the town was large enough to have
its own post office, and Anthony Stewart
was appointed the first postmaster. There
was already another Pennsylvania town named
Mechanicsburg, so postal officials assigned
the name “Guilford” to the community.
Through the efforts of Anthony Stewart,
with the aid of Judge Adam Ebaugh, the Post
Office Department changed the town’s
postmark to “Stewartstown” on
March 24, 1832.
Supplied by the
Stewartstown
Historical Society
Main
Street
Shanbarger's
Canning House
Methodist
Episcopal Church
West
Pennsylvania Avenue - Circa 1911
Engine
#1 
