New Galilee Borough was incorporated in 1868. It began as a village at a rail junction and became a stop on the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne and Chicago Railroad. Most of the land in the borough was part of the James Nicholson farm located on the Little Beaver Creek in the western part of Big Beaver Township.
Fun facts about New Galilee:
-The Nicholsons, who had come from the South, willed their farm to their three former slaves. In 1840, Betty Mathers, the only remaining heir, married Henry Jordan. Jordan’s Run flowed through the farm.
-The railroad arrived in 1851. A connecting line to Cannelton, Pittsburgh, Lisbon and Western was built in 1852.
-The town was unnamed through 1854. Someone then suggested that since Galilee in the Bible land was beyond Jordan then the village could be named New Galilee.
-There was a grist mill. Manufacturing plants produced coal, oil and kegs.
-The Union Hotel used to be located at the railroad crossing.