The Borough of Frankfort Springs, rich in the history of Beaver County, was included within the tract settled by Beaver County's early settlers, Levi and Mary Davis Dungan, in 1772. The Dungans built, according to Bausman, "a large log structure" over "an excellent spring," the house being designed "for the double purpose of a dwelling and for a fort," with its position over the spring having been chosen to ensure water supply in case the settlers were besieged by Indians. With the outbreak of the Revolution, the Dungans moved to safety on Chartiers Creek in present Washington County, with Levi serving in a local patriot militia unit. But with the coming of peace, they returned to their home, and, in 1789, Mary Dungan made the long journey to Philadelphia to acquire the actual patents for their tract.
When Beaver County was formed in 1800, the Borough area was included in Hanover Township. By 1837, Harris's DIRECTORY described the "flourishing village" which would become the Borough, near which were located "the Frankfort Springs, which are now very much resorted to by the western people, on account of their medicinal qualities and delightful retreat for the cares and drudgeries of Pittsburgh, in the months of July and August, every summer." Harris listed James Dungan as proprietor of the "Frankfort Hotel . . . at Frankfort Mineral Springs." Dungan's establishment was a three-story brick building which Bausman says often housed as many as 200 guests at a time. Most of them came to the "small village," as Day's 1843 guidebook called it, to visit the "mineral spring . . . situated in a cool romantic glen, thickly studded with forest trees."
The health-seekers would come for years. The Borough of Frankfort Springs was established in 1844. Its peak years as a spa were 1810-1860, but James Patterson in 1876 still described the place as "a thriving country town . . . near which is the Frankfort Springs, a favorite resort for health and recreation during the summer months. "
Perhaps more important to the history of Pennsylvania medicine than the fabled springs themselves was Dr. Alexander G. McCandless, who lived and practiced in Frankfort Springs from 1839 to 1849. His improper treatment of a badly fractured leg in 1847 involved him in a malpractice suit which required three appearances before the Pennsylvania Supreme Court before its conclusion in 1855. That court's decision as to what standard is required of a doctor when he treats a patient made the case a "landmark" in Pennsylvania medical malpractice law; the court's language is still quoted today.
The Borough's population in 1870 was 155. In the following year, 1871, the Frankfort Academy was reestablished. It had been originally founded in either 1839 or 1841 under the supervision of Thomas Nicholson and Reverend James Sloan. Its curriculum, according to Warren Dungan, was such as to enable the graduate to enter the junior class at Jefferson College, but it closed in 1848. Of the later academy, Bausman reported in 1904 that "a flourishing school is still in existence here." He listed the Borough's 1900 population as 128.
The population has grown but little since. The Borough stands today at the intersection of Routes 168 and 18. A nearby golf course attracts some visitors. But others still come to sample the mineral waters at the Springs-now within Raccoon State Park-as they have come for over 150 years.