GETTYSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA - FOUNDED IN 1786

Gettysburg (estimated population of 7,800 ) is a town in Pennsylvania. Gettysburg is steeped in the history of the Civil War. The Borough was incorporated in 1806. In 1858 the Gettysburg Railroad completed construction of a railroad line from Gettysburg to Hanover. The Gettysburg Railroad Station opened in 1859. Passenger train service to the town ended in 1942. The station was restored in 2006. In 2011, Senator Robert Casey introduced S. 1897, which would include the railroad station within the boundary of Gettysburg National Military Park. 

By 1860, the borough had ~450 buildings which housed carriage manufacturing, shoemakers, and tanneries. In 1761, one of these early settlers, Samuel Gettys, established a tavern in the area. Twenty-five years later, his son James had laid out a town of 210 lots with a central town square on the land surrounding the tavern. Gettysburg is home to the largest battle in American history, the Battle Of Gettysburg.

Today Gettysburg is best known for Gettysburg National Battlefield, site of a turning point in the Civil War, now part of Gettysburg National Military Park. An estimated 51,000 union and Confederate soldiers died here in July 1863  during the three-day battle ( July 1-3, 1863 ) at Gettysburg, the bloodiest conflict of the Civil War. The park  has approximately 1,328 monuments, markers and memorials. It includes the Gettysburg Museum and Visitor Center, displaying Civil War artifacts, and Gettysburg National Cemetery, where a memorial marks the site of Abraham Lincoln’s 1863 Gettysburg Address. Gettysburg is one of USA's most iconic historic destinations. Smithsonian Magazine named Gettysburg "America's best small town to visit. US News And World Report also named Gettysburg as one of the top 25 "Best small towns to visit in the USA".