The town of Manns Choice was incorporated into a borough on 29 November 1886. The name was thought to be derived from an incident involved the U. S. Postal System. Upon the urging of then-Congressman Job Mann, a post office was to be established in Harrison Township. The decision for the name was to be the prerogative of Mr. Mann, and postal maps were printed with the temporary name "Mann's Choice." The name simply was never changed, except for the dropping of the apostrophe in the word Mann's.
Mann's Choice had its start as a post office in the year 1848 according to Waterman's history. The postal service recorded the opening date for the post office as 19 March 1850. The post office was named for Job Mann, who advocated for the site as a post office. The town was somewhat slow coming into existence. In fact, because the village that was envisioned by Mann did not actually come into existence, the post office was discontinued for a year. It was closed on 03 August 1866 and was reopened on 13 August 1867. On 11 December 1894 the spelling of the name of the post office was changed to Manns Choice with the removal of the apostrophe from the original name.
The town was surveyed and laid out in the year 1872. The post office had been re-established at Mann's Choice in 1867. The post office was housed in a store that was opened by the owners of the tannery. The town was laid out to the east and west of the primary road known variously as the Glade Pike or Allegheny Road, State Route 31. The road, designated as Main Street within the bounds of the town, traveled in a roughly northeast to southwest direction.
