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Pennsylvania County
Columbia County, Pennsylvania
Bloomsburg - Pennsylvania's only incorporated town - and one of the East's largest county fairs - from Bloomsburg's unique legal distinction as the only incorporated town in Pennsylvania (all other municipalities are boroughs, townships, or cities) to the Bloomsburg Fair (one of the largest county fairs in the eastern United States, drawing 400,000+ visitors over nine days each September) and Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania's 8,000-student campus.
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Office: Columbia County Emergency Management Agency – 26 West First Street, Bloomsburg, PA 17815 | (570) 389-5720 | Fax: (570) 784-2975
Services: The principal emergency management coordinating entity for the county’s 33 municipalities, following the mitigation/preparedness/response/recovery cycle rooted in the post-WWII Civil Defense program
Roads & Utilities
ROADS & TRANSPORTATION
Roads: PA-42 and US-11 serve Bloomsburg, the county seat, on the Susquehanna River in central Pennsylvania
Transit: Limited; primarily auto-dependent – confirm current regional options directly with the county.
Business & Permits
BUILDING & PERMITS
Office: No single countywide building department – permits are issued at the MUNICIPAL level
Services: Bloomsburg Town Hall – 301 East 2nd Street, Bloomsburg, PA 17815, (570) 784-7703; Berwick City Hall – 1800 North Market Street, Unit B, Berwick, PA 18603, (570) 752-2723
Notes: Confirm the correct jurisdiction for your specific municipality.
Veterans Services
VETERANS SERVICES
County VSO: Columbia County Veterans Affairs Office – Bloomsburg, PA
Services: Holds roughly 39,000 volumes and circulates over 130,000 items annually, serving a population of roughly 22,000; offers children’s/family programming, internet access, movie nights, and cross-borrowing with other regional libraries
Parks & Recreation
PARKS & RECREATION
Key Assets: Columbia County’s county seat, Bloomsburg, holds a genuinely unique legal distinction: it is the ONLY incorporated “town” in the entire Commonwealth of Pennsylvania – every other one of Pennsylvania’s roughly 2,560 municipalities is legally classified as a city (57), borough (956), or township (96); the settlement, first noted with European settlement in 1772, was traditionally founded by Ludwig Eyer in 1802 (initially known as Eyersburg and Eyertown) before merging with the surrounding Bloom Township under a special act of incorporation passed by the Pennsylvania General Assembly on March 4, 1870; community leaders at the time wanted to establish a distinct municipal government but found it difficult to cleanly separate the built-up area from the rest of Bloom Township without leaving the remainder too sparsely populated to sustain its own government – the “town” designation was the practical compromise; the resulting government structure remains genuinely unusual for Pennsylvania: in Bloomsburg, unlike a standard borough, the mayor chairs council meetings and also votes, and the original 1870 charter even included a distinctive cumulative-voting provision allowing each resident to cast multiple votes for council candidates however they wished; the town operates in practice much like a typical borough today, with its own council, mayor, fire department, and police department, and takes evident local pride in its unique status – visitors can photograph the welcome sign reading “Welcome to Bloomsburg – The only TOWN in Pennsylvania”; Bloomsburg is also home to Commonwealth University of Pennsylvania (formerly Bloomsburg University, founded 1839) and hosts the Bloomsburg Fair, an agricultural fair dating back to 1855
Notes: Bloomsburg’s genuine, well-documented status as Pennsylvania’s only legally incorporated “town” – with its distinctive 1870 governmental structure – is a delightful and accurate piece of only-in-Pennsylvania municipal trivia.
GIS & Maps
GIS & MAPS
GIS Portal: Columbia County GIS – accessible via columbiapa.org
Parcel Search: Columbia County Assessment Office
Addressing/911: Coordinated through Columbia County Emergency Management Agency
Animal Services
ANIMAL SERVICES
Facility: Animal Resource Center (ARC) – Millville, PA (near Bloomsburg)
Services: A no-kill, nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization founded in 1999 by Al Gregorowicz, providing temporary shelter for homeless, abused, and neglected dogs and cats on 20 acres of donated land; promotes spay/neuter to reduce homelessness and euthanasia, and offers public education and advocacy
Notes: For animal abuse/neglect reports, residents may also contact the PSPCA hotline, which dispatches a humane officer based on priority level.
Environmental & Waste
ENVIRONMENTAL / WASTE MANAGEMENT
Environmental Complaints: PA Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) – dep.pa.gov
Notes: Contact your specific municipality directly for current refuse collection and recycling program details.
NOTES
Columbia County’s seat, Bloomsburg, is genuinely the only incorporated “town” in all of Pennsylvania – every other municipality in the state is a city, borough, or township – a distinction dating to a special 1870 act of the state legislature. All contact information above was sourced from official county, city, library, and shelter pages as of this writing; phone numbers and hours should be reconfirmed directly with the relevant office before a visit.
About Columbia County
Columbia County is east-central Pennsylvania’s university and fair county – a Susquehanna River community with a unique municipal distinction and one of the largest county fairs in the eastern United States.
Bloomsburg (the county seat, population ~14,000 including students) is Pennsylvania’s only incorporated town – a legal distinction from its 1870 incorporation preserved through legislative history. The Bloomsburg Fair’s nine days draw an estimated 400,000 visitors annually.
Berwick (population ~10,000) is the county’s industrial community on the Susquehanna.
All Services
Browse every category and topic available for this county.
Columbia County Assessment Office at 11 W. Main Street, Bloomsburg, PA 17815, phone 570-389-5642. Appeal to Board of Assessment Appeals.
Courts & Legal
Columbia County Register of Wills at 35 W. Main Street, Bloomsburg, PA 17815, phone 570-389-5615, handles probate.
Genealogy
County-level record sources
Columbia County Register of Wills, Bloomsburg (probate/estate case files – see Probate section above).
Local societies
No dedicated Columbia County genealogical society was confirmed in available directories.
Probate & Estate
Losing someone and having to deal with courts and paperwork at the same time is hard. This section won’t make that easier, but it should tell you what to expect, what it costs, and where to go – so at least you’re not walking in blind.
Where to go
Register of Wills, Columbia County 35 West Main Street, Bloomsburg, PA 17815 (570) 389-5632 Columbia County is in northeastern Pennsylvania, seated in Bloomsburg.
Step 1: figure out which path applies
Pennsylvania has NOT adopted the Uniform Probate Code. Probate runs through its own statute, the Probate, Estates and Fiduciaries (PEF) Code, Title 20 of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes. Probate begins at the Register of Wills – an elected county official – in the county where the decedent lived. Routine, uncontested probate happens entirely at the Register of Wills; only disputes escalate to the Orphans’ Court Division of the Court of Common Pleas.
Small Estate Petition (20 Pa.C.S. § 3102) – available when the estate’s personal property (excluding real estate) totals $50,000 or less. This lets an interested party petition the Orphans’ Court directly for approval of a proposed distribution, skipping the need to formally open a full probate estate. Real property is never covered by this simplified process.
Formal Probate – required for estates exceeding $50,000 in personal property, or for any estate involving real property that needs to pass through probate. The Register of Wills validates the will (if any) and issues Letters Testamentary or Letters of Administration.
Step 2: filing for administration
The personal representative files with the Register of Wills in Columbia County, along with the original will if one exists.
The Register of Wills reviews and, if in order, issues Letters Testamentary or Letters of Administration.
The personal representative gathers assets, notifies heirs and known creditors, and begins settling the estate.
Pennsylvania has a one-year creditor period running from the date of death, not from any published notice.
A Pennsylvania Inheritance Tax Return (REV-1500) must be filed with the Register of Wills, regardless of estate size.
Once debts, taxes, and expenses are settled, remaining assets are distributed according to the will or Pennsylvania’s intestacy laws, and the estate is closed.
What it costs
Filing fees vary; check with Columbia County directly for current fees.
Pennsylvania has NO separate state estate tax, but its INHERITANCE TAX applies to virtually every estate: 0% to a surviving spouse (and to a parent inheriting from a child 21 or younger), 4.5% to children and other lineal descendants, 12% to siblings, and 15% to everyone else. No dollar exemption.
A 5% early-payment discount applies if paid within 3 months of death; the return and payment are otherwise due within 9 months.
Probate filings, estate administration, and guardianship matters are handled by the following office(s):
REGISTER OF WILLS
35 West Main St, Bloomsburg, PA 17815
(570) 389-5644
Public Safety & Arrests
Arrest records, inmate search, and law enforcement services are handled by the following office(s):
SHERIFF
35 West Main St, Bloomsburg, PA 17815
(570) 389-5622
Elections & Voting
Voter registration, polling locations, and elections information are handled by the following office(s):
BOARD OF ELECTIONS
35 West Main St, Bloomsburg, PA 17815
(570) 389-5638
Health & Human Services
Offices & Contacts
Health services, social services, and assistance programs are handled by the following office(s):
Human Services
700 Sawmill Rd, Bloomsburg, PA 17815
(570) 389-5600
Assistance Office (DHS)
6046 Columbia Blvd, Bloomsburg, PA 17815
(570) 387-4400
Public Health Information
PUBLIC HEALTH
Office: Columbia County Public Health / PA Department of Health regional office – Bloomsburg, PA
Services: Immunizations, WIC, environmental health, vital records
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Last verified June 2026
County Facts
County Seat: Bloomsburg
Population: 65,000
Established: 1813
Tier: 3
Public Records
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