In 1832, a governor's commission charged with establishing a centrally located, permanent seat for Perry County government accepted George Barnett's donation of eight acres in what became New Bloomfield. The county seat had relocated from Landisburg, the temporary seat after Perry County separated from Cumberland County in 1820, with the construction of a courthouse in 1827. Barnett, who inherited the property in 1804, refused to name the town after himself, and his wife proposed the name "Bloom Field," drawn from the land title chosen by his father, Thomas Barnett. Thomas Barnett had bought the more than 400-acre tract from David Mitchell about 1784, and Mitchell, a native of Scotland, had settled there in the 1750s. In 1825, the Post Office required the addition of "New" because another Bloomfield, Pennsylvania, already existed. Surveyor Robert Kelley laid out 64 lots on three east-west streets, Main, McClure, and High, and one north-south street, Carlisle, with a public square at Main and Carlisle. John Rice built the courthouse on two lots at the square. A continuous, high-volume spring on West Main Street figured prominently in choosing the county seat. By 1829, farm fields had become a village of more than 80 structures and 220 people, with a school, jail, distillery, and many churches added during rapid growth. The population later stabilized at about 700 from 1860 to 1940 and grew to more than 1,200 by 2020, while descendants of many founding families remained in the area.