Village of Rummel’s Original name Greenland

Taken from The Windber Era

In the early 1700s a family named Rummel left its home in Rummelsburg, Germany, near the town of Berlin, and came to America. More than a century and a half later a village situated in the far northern end of Somerset County in the state of Pennsylvania was named for a descendant of this immigrant family.

The Village of Rummel, east of Windber Borough, was named for the area’s first postmaster, John M. Rummel. The Somerset County Outline, written in 1922 by John C. Cassady, gives the establishment date for the village as 1875 and the date of the naming of the Village of Rummel as 1881. The rural community nestled in the hills of Paint Township is a close-knit hamlet with the residents, for the most part, being direct descendents of the original landowners.

In the early 1800s the land was called Greenland and the history books tell us that a York County farmer named David Shaffer came into the region in 1812. When the 1850 Federal Census was taken it recorded David Shaffer as an 80-year-old retired gentleman, in other words, a retired farmer with vast land holdings. Shaffer remained on his Greenland settlement until his death in 1854 and was buried in the old Andy Shaffer farm burial plot with only a fieldstone to mark his final resting-place. The burial ground is known today as the Lutheran Church Cemetery in Rummel.

Few settlers came into the territory that bordered up against the Bedford County line on top of the mountain. The earliest land warrants were issued in 1794 to land speculators in Philadelphia. These men owned the land that now comprises Ogletown, New Ashtola, Hagevo and the state forestlands.

The land that now constitutes the Village of Rummel remained unwarranted until 1854 when Daniel Shaffer, youngest son of David, surveyed 397 acres of the land and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania issued him the warrant on June 6, 1854. Samuel Murphy had come into the area and in that same year had 306 acres of improved land warranted in his name and in 1859 Melchoir Seese Jr. had 173 acres warranted in his name.

Until the time of the 1854 surveys the land was settled by the same families. As the sons and daughters married they each took a portion of the home farm and made it their own. Most transactions were done with a simple handshake and recorded deeds were not necessary between family members.

On June 14, 1855, Daniel Shaffer and his wife Elizabeth Seese, sold a portion of their land to Daniel Border from Schellsburg in Bedford County. This tract was called Shaffer’s Meadows. When the 1876 Atlas was drawn up Paint Township was divided into nine districts. The Rummel area was then called the Border District. Samuel Murphy’s land fell closer to the end of the village near the current Middletown section and the eastern end of Windber Borough. Melchoir Seese’s land was located in what became known as the Old Ashtola District.

Daniel Shaffer, Civil War soldier, died in 1865 and was buried in Arlington National Cemetery. Melchoir Seese died in 1868 and was buried on his farm in Old Ashtola.

Jacob Rose, who purchased land from Shaffer and Murphy, died in 1876 at his sawmill after being hit on the head J. Seese with a four-foot piece of lath.

From this time forth the land along the old Pike Road, now Graham Avenue, situated in the heart of the Village of Rummel was sold off or divided by the Shaffer, Seese, and Rose heirs. When the 1876 Atlas was printed there were only 13 landholders in the Border District with a school and a church. There was also a school in the Old Ashtola district.

John M. Rummel was the seventh child born to Joseph and Maria Meyer-Blough Rummel in 1853 in the Mouningland district of Paint Township. He grew to manhood in this area and married Hannah Oaks, the daughter of Joseph and Margaret Custer Oaks. To this union there was one child born, Elizabeth, who died when she was 11 years of age.

John and Hannah Rummel purchased land from Andrew and Noah Shaffer, sons of Daniel, on Nov. 3, 1884, which was situated at a post at the public road leading to Ashtola where the state road and the Ashtola Road fork. The land extended to the Jacob Rose estate. The Rummel post office was established on this parcel of land directly across from the German Baptist church. The post office became a major pickup place for the mail, which was housed in the small grocery store operated by John M. Rummel, who became the postmaster. The store also became on e of the busiest business places when the farmers came into town for supplies and mail long before e Windber Borough existed with its many newer stores. John and Hannah remained as residents of the Village of Rummel until their deaths in 1933 and were buried in the Lutheran Church cemetery in Scalp Level.

About 1930 the old store and post office burned down. Being a type of department store, it had stocked a variety of items, including shotgun shells. When the store caught fire the shells exploded and could be heard in the distance as the flames consumed the old building.

In 1933 a new brick building was erected on the same spot. From 1933 to 1940 several different storekeepers operated a business in the building. Harry Shaffer, Dewey Shaffer, Crisswells, Stares, and Daniel Shaffer were among the owners until 1940.

Within the Village of Rummel remain the two churches of the past. The German Baptist Church, now the Church of the Brethren, was first in 1874. On Oct. 28, 1903, with Calvin W. Ripple as the contractor, a new brick building was erected on the same spot. The church was made larger in the following years with additions, as the congregation grew larger, but on May 23, 1971, this church building was destroyed by fire when an explosion caused an estimated $80,000 damage. In July 1972 ground was broken for a new structure, and on Oct. 21, 1973, the new church was dedicated.

The Lutheran church at Rummel is a sister church of the Mt. Zion on the Hill Lutheran Church of Scalp Level. This old congregation was organized in 1856 and a building completed in 1858. The history-making members met first in the house of Jacob Seese and Jacob Custer as early as 1844. The new structure was erected outside Scalp Level where the Lutheran cemetery is located at the fork of the Seanor (or Faustwell) and Horn roads.

The Lutherans at Rummel decided to erect a church building in their vicinity and on Feb. 23, 1903, a charter was signed for the Mt. Zion Lutheran Church by John P. Statler, John M. Rummel, Simon P. Naugle, Lewis Weaver, William Weaver and Isaac Ream. On March 29, 1903, the cornerstone was laid for the building and John M. Rummel donated the bell, which was thought to be the finest in Somerset County. On May 14, 1913, the Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church was organized as a congregation. This old church building, located across from the Lutheran Cemetery in Rummel on Graham Avenue and the corner of Spruce Street was damaged by fire in l964 and in 1965 a new building was erected between Shady Lane and Debra Drive.

The Fairview Dairy, located just within the boundary of the Village of Rummel on Graham Avenue, is one of the oldest, if not the oldest, business establishments in the community today.

Visions of ice cream cones, sundaes, sodas, and banana splits dance in the heads of the young and old when "the Dairy" is mentioned. This old business has served the vicinity for 60 years and has provided jobs for the youngsters of several generations who have helped to make the ice cream treats by the millions. It began when Elmer Hayes and his wife Ella Thomas, took over the operation of his father’s farm.

Published in The Windber Era

On February 24, 1987

Courtesy of the Windber-Johnstown Genealogical Society as contributed by Patricia Shaffer