Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Spring Gap

We’ll email a one-tap link to publish your post. No password, and nothing is public until you click it.
Already a member? Sign in
–Not graded
History · Spring Gap

Spring Gap’s post office opened in 1904

Most of Spring Gap was built recently: 0.0% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1987. Below: 6 old photos and papers and maps from 1899 on.

1904first post office
0on the National Register
0.0%homes built before 1940
6old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Spring Gap’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Spring Gap began

When was Spring Gap founded?

1904

The Spring Gap post office opened in 1904, the earliest record of the town by name.

2020 census: 52122 years
Founding year: the first Spring Gap post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Spring Gap’s past

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

On the map since 18994 editions of the USGS map, 1899 to 1996. Watch Spring Gap change.
★ What stands out · On the map

Spring Gap on the map, 1899 to 1996

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

Spring Gap on the 1899 USGS mapSpring Gap on the 1900 USGS mapSpring Gap on the 1951 USGS mapSpring Gap on the 1996 USGS map1899Flintstone 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 Spring Gap.

The story so far

Spring Gap, in brief

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

Its first post office opened in 1904. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 55 to 52 (-5%).

Timeline

Spring Gap, 1899 to 1968

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1899On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  3. 20th century
  4. 1904Post officeThe Spring Gap post office opens
  5. 1968In the archiveEast elevation showing context and approach looking west - Western Maryland Railway Bridg…
By decade

Spring Gap, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1960s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1960s6 items
East elevation showing context and approach looking west - Western Maryland Railway Bridge, Spanning Maryland Route 51 …1968East elevation showing context and approach looking w…East elevation, south abutment looking south - Western Maryland Railway Bridge, Spanning Maryland Route 51 at Spring Ga…1968East elevation, south abutment looking south - Wester…West elevation looking northeast - Western Maryland Railway Bridge, Spanning Maryland Route 51 at Spring Gap, Cumberlan…1968West elevation looking northeast - Western Maryland R…West elevation showing context and approach looking east - Western Maryland Railway Bridge, Spanning Maryland Route 51 …1968West elevation showing context and approach looking e…West elevation, detail of north end post looking northwest - Western Maryland Railway Bridge, Spanning Maryland Route 5…1968West elevation, detail of north end post looking nort…West elevation, detail of top of south abutment and south end post looking northwest - Western Maryland Railway Bridge,…1968West elevation, detail of top of south abutment and s…
1970s–1990snothing yet
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.
Add from your album
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.

East elevation showing context and approach looking west - Western Maryland Railway Bridge, Spanning Maryland Route 51 …
Retake this viewEast elevation showing context and approach looking west - Western Maryland Railway Bridge, Spanning Maryland Route 51 …, 1968

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Spring Gap’s page.

Retake this view · +15
Help out

Finish Spring Gap’s story

Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewEast elevation showing context and appr…: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10

Questions about Spring Gap’s history

What year was Spring Gap founded?

The Spring Gap post office opened in 1904, 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 Wikimedia Commons (6), 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.