![]() James Anderson of Donegal, Pennsylvania, became the first regular preacher. Built in 1740, the church is the oldest Presbyterian Church building in continuous use in Pennsylvania, and the second oldest in the United States. Paxtang is home to the Old Paxton Church, one of the earliest in the area. The Paxton Boys marched on Philadelphia in February 1764 with a few hundred followers, however, dispersed after meeting with a delegation headed by Benjamin Franklin. A month earlier, 140 Moravian Lenape and Mohican living peacefully in eastern Pennsylvania had been moved to Philadelphia for their protection. Pennsylvania authorities placed the remaining fourteen Susquehannock in protective custody in Lancaster, but the Paxton Boys broke in and slaughtered all fourteen on December 27, 1763. On December 14, 1763, more than 50 Paxton Boys rode to the settlement near Millersville, Pennsylvania, murdered six, and burned their cabins. Paxtang is the site where Presbyterian Scotch-Irish frontiersmen organized the Paxton Boys, a vigilante group that murdered twenty Susquehannock in the Conestoga Massacre. In October 1714, French fur trader Peter Bisaillon was granted 250 acres of land "at Peshtang or any other Indian Town or Place on Sasquehannah within this Province," with permission to build any necessary buildings "during his Trade there or till further." In 1700, William Penn, founder of the Pennsylvania Colony, obtained from the Susquehannock a deed for their lands in the Susquehanna Valley. Several important trails and routes developed in the area as the Susquehanna River was easily forded here, making Paxtang an ideal location for the movement of people and trade goods across the river. The Lenape called the village Peshtank meaning "where the waters stand" which in English became Paxtang or Paxton. ![]() Paxtang dates to the 18th century when Euro-Americans settled at the site of the Shawnee-Lenape village of Peshtank. The borough is a suburb of Harrisburg and is one of the earliest colonial settlements in South Central Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census it had a population of 1,640. ![]() Paxtang is a borough in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, United States. ![]()
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