Sabillasville’s post office opened in 1860, and 61% of its homes were built before 1940
Its Register listings are the Cullen, Victor, School Power House and the Cullen, Victor, Center, Old Administration Building. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1911 on, and old-book passages.
From Sabillasville’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers
How Sabillasville began
When was Sabillasville founded?
1860
The Sabillasville post office opened in 1860, the earliest record of the town by name. Three smaller post offices, Sibylsville (1828), Sabillisville (1830) and Lantz (1880), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
2020 census: 470166 years
Founding year: the first Sabillasville post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
What stands out about Sabillasville’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The first European settlers to arrive in the vicinity of Sabillasville were Swiss immigrants in the late-1750s. Among the earliest settlers was Peter Zollinger (or Zullinger), who owned the land on which the present-day village is located. In 1813, the village was laid out by Andrew Smith and named Sabillasville in honor of Savilla Zollinger (wife of Peter). In 1872, the Western Maryland Railroad reached Sabillasville on its line leading from Baltimore to Hagerstown and the surrounding area soon developed into a summer resort called Pen Mar (a portmanteau of Pennsylvania and Maryland).
Passages that mention Sabillasville, cut from the printed page as they were published.
The history of Graceham, Frederick County, Maryland1913 · page 105Read the page →
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tory sermon at Graceham in the German language, and at Sabillasville on Sunday, December 13, English in the morning and German in the afternoon. During his pastorate he continued the preaching at Sabillasville once a month, and also preaching and Bible-lectures at the Centre School-house, English and German at both places, the Bible-lectures on Wednesday evenings.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
The history of Graceham, Frederick County, Maryland1913 · page 129Read the page →
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hearts of his believing ones.” The Committee decided that the pastor’s salary should be $60 per quarter. Bro. Bachman continued the preaching in Harbaugh’s Valley, Eyler’s Valley, the Ridge, and at Franklinville for some time, also at Sabillasville, and Smithfield. The preaching at Franklinville was changed to the Furnace, March 14, 1869, and the weekly prayer-meeting at Mechanicstown, begun October 6, 1868, was moved to Bro. Engel’s on the Levels, January 12, 1869.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Timeline
Sabillasville, 1828 to 1911
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Sabillasville. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1911Emmitsburg 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 Sabillasville.
Then & now
Stand where they stood
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Retake this viewHorseshoe Bend, Sabillasville, Maryland, Postcard, Circa 1910, c. 1910
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Sabillasville’s page.
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 Wikimedia Commons (6), the National Register of Historic Places (2), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
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