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–Not graded
History · Harwood Township

Harwood Township’s post office opened in 1876, and 13% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1924 on.

1876first post office
0on the National Register
13%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Harwood Township began

When was Harwood Township founded?

1876

The Harwood Township post office opened in 1876, the earliest record of the town by name. Two smaller post offices, Harwood (1876) and Dillsburg (1881), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

2020 census: 610150 years
Founding year: the first Harwood Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Harwood Township’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Harwood Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Lost villages2 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Harwood Township, and 1 old place names are still on the map.On the map since 19244 editions of the USGS map, 1924 to 1984. Watch Harwood Township change.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Harwood Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Harwood Township’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

Two other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.

Harwood
1876–1881
Dillsburg
1881–1938
18701950today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Dillsburg
Gone or out of use
Battles SchoolschoolBurbank SchoolschoolGallagher SchoolschoolGriswold SchoolschoolHarwood Center SchoolschoolPleasant Ridge SchoolschoolPleasant Vale Schoolschool
3cemeteries and burying grounds inside Harwood Township
Harwood ChapelHoly SepulchreHuffman

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

On the map

Harwood Township on the map, 1924 to 1984

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Harwood Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Harwood Township on the 1924 USGS mapHarwood Township on the 1949 USGS mapHarwood Township on the 1957 USGS mapHarwood Township on the 1984 USGS map1924Paxton sheet · 1:62,500

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Harwood Township.

The story so far

Harwood Township, in brief

Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Harwood Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.

Its first post office opened in 1876. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 623 to 610 (-2%).

Timeline

Harwood Township, 1876 to 1938

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1876Post officeThe Harwood post office opens
  3. 1881Post officeThe Harwood post office closes
  4. 1881Post officeThe Dillsburg post office opens
  5. 20th century
  6. 1924On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  7. 1938Post officeThe Dillsburg post office closes
By decade

No old photos in the archives yet

Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.

Be the first to add onePhotograph a print flat, in daylight, no flash.
Add from your album
Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Ludlow TownshipIts storyCKerr TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Harwood Township’s history

What year was Harwood Township founded?

The Harwood Township post office opened in 1876, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021). How TownRatings grades history →

From U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.