Manns Choice: An Accidental Name

The Bedford County village of Manns Choice got its name entirely by accident. In eighteen forty-eight, Congressman Job Mann lobbied the Post Office Department to establish a post office at a small, unnamed settlement in the Raystown Branch valley. The Department approved the request, but since the village had no name, the temporary postal maps were labeled simply Mann's Choice, meaning the post office was the congressman's selection.

Before Mann could assign a permanent name, the maps were printed and distributed. The designation stuck. The railroad later reached the valley, and the town was laid out. The borough was formally incorporated in eighteen eighty-six. Later the Post Office dropped the apostrophe, and Manns Choice became official. It remains one of the more unusual place names in Pennsylvania, a bureaucratic placeholder that outlasted any intention.