In 1843, Simon Truby of Warren purchased 156 acres of land that encompassed the northern end of present-day Apollo borough, beginning around N. 6th Street and extending up to what is now 16^th Street in North Apollo, and including Pegtown.

At its peak, Truby’s thriving farm produced 400 pounds of butter; 60 pounds of honey; 100 pounds of wool; and hundreds of bushels of corn, oats, potatoes and buckwheat. His children included oldest son Henry Hill Truby, who managed the farm from about 1880 to 1983, and C.H. Truby, who became a prominent Apollo businessman. After Simon’s death in 1886, the Truby farm was divided into hundreds of lots, where many Apollo and North Apollo residents now live today.

The photo shows Simon Truby’s family and farmhouse circa 1890, a few years after Simon’s death. Simon’s son Henry Hill Truby is standing at right, along with his mother Elizabeth Hill Truby (Simon’s widow, seated in front) and Henry’s wife Sarah Belle Whitlinger Truby (far right). Simon’s grandchildren are at left. Photo courtesy Barb Aitchison, Simon Truby’s great-great granddaughter.

The brick house, built circa 1844, still stands at 708 Terrace Avenue in Apollo, although the front of the home was covered by an addition of a brick pantry and garage in the 1940s, and the back of the home now faces Terrace Ave.