Hollywood is known for producing musical artists. We’re not talking about *that* Hollywood. There’s a tiny village in Clearfield County called Hollywood – it’s officially Huston (pronounced Houston) Township, sits along State Route 255. But that Hollywood did produce a famous musical artist.
Philip P. Bliss was a composer, gospel singer, and evangelist born there in 1838. He’s remembered for the many hymns he wrote, but likely best known for one he didn’t. Bliss had a friend named Horatio Spafford, who was grieving the death of his daughters in a shipwreck. Spafford wrote lyrics and gave them to Bliss to set to music. That became a hymn still sung today called “It Is Well with My Soul.”
The home where Bliss settled in Rome, Bradford County, is now operated as the Philip P. Bliss Gospel Songwriters Museum.
