Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Most of Elk Township was built recently: 9% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1986. Its Register listing is the St. Henry Roman Catholic Church and Rectory. Below: maps from 1903 on.
The Elk Township post office opened in 1873, the earliest record of the town by name. Three smaller post offices, Harriettsville (1839), Elk (1873) and Flag (1884), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Elk Township’s history is told.
Three other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Elk Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Elk Township.
From Wikipedia’s history of Elk Township.
Elk was originally called Fredericktown, and under the latter name was laid out in 1854. A post office later was established at Fredericktown under the name Elk. The Elk post office opened in 1873, and remained in operation until 1910.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Nobody well known was born in Elk Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Elk Township post office opened in 1873, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
One place: the St. Henry Roman Catholic Church and Rectory (listed 1982).
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
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 the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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.
