Eighty Four, Pennsylvania

Eighty Four is a small community in Washington County, Pennsylvania that carries one of the most unusual place names in the state, and nobody is entirely sure why. The settlement was originally called Smithville, but in eighteen eighty-four the post office needed a new name to avoid confusion with other Smithvilles in Pennsylvania. One theory is that the community took the year the post office was built, eighteen eighty-four.

Another says it came from the town's mile marker on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. A Grover Cleveland connection is often suggested, but his election came after the name was chosen. Whatever the true origin, the name stuck, and today Eighty Four is best known as the home of Eighty Four Lumber, one of the largest building materials companies in the United States, founded here in nineteen fifty-six.