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History · Shaft

Shaft’s post office opened in 1900, and 60% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1898 on.

1900first post office
0on the National Register
60%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Shaft began

When was Shaft founded?

1900

The Shaft post office opened in 1900, the earliest record of the town by name.

2020 census: 208126 years
Founding year: the first Shaft post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Shaft’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 Shaft are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.On the map since 18987 editions of the USGS map, 1898 to 1998. Watch Shaft change.Old housesHalf of Shaft’s homes were built before 1938.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Shaft’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Shaft’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
On the map

Shaft on the map, 1898 to 1998

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

Shaft on the 1898 USGS mapShaft on the 1901 USGS mapShaft on the 1949 USGS mapShaft on the 1951 USGS mapShaft on the 1974 USGS mapShaft on the 1981 USGS mapShaft on the 1998 USGS map1898Frostburg 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 Shaft.

The story

How Shaft came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Shaft.

Read it all →

Borden, or Borden Shaft, was the site of a major deep mine in the valley. The principal owners of the mines were the Borden family of Massachusetts. Deep mines were unusual in the area, as most were drift mines in the Big Vein region. In 1907, the mine operator was H. and W. Hitchens Coal company. The C&P railroad delivered the windlass for the mine, then used its railroad crane to set it in place.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Shaft, 1898 to 1917

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1898On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  3. 20th century
  4. 1900Post officeThe Shaft post office opens
  5. 1917Post officeThe Shaft 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
Famous people

Famous people close to Shaft

Nobody well known was born in Shaft itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.

See all →
Edward MooneyCatholic cardinal · b. 1882
Lenore KightAmerican swimmer, Olympic silver medalist · b. 1911
Lefty GroveAmerican baseball player · b. 1900
J. Glenn BeallPolitician and United States Army soldier · b. 1894
Binger HermannAmerican politician · b. 1843
Charles J. ColganPolitician · b. 1926
Places that used to be

Lost post offices and old corners

Shaft had its own post office from 1900 to 1917.

Shaft
1900–1917
19001960today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Borden Shaft

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

Stories next door

History across the town line

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

MidlothianIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townNationalIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Shaft’s history

What year was Shaft founded?

The Shaft post office opened in 1900, 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 Wikipedia, 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.