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History · Gettysburg

Gettysburg’s post office opened in 1858, and 49% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1986 on and the census since 1870.

1858first post office
0on the National Register
49%homes built before 1940
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Photo: Nyttend · Public domain
Quick answers

How Gettysburg began

When was Gettysburg founded?

1858

The Gettysburg post office opened in 1858, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Robisons (1825), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

First census: 228 in 18702020 census: 463168 years
Founding year: the first Gettysburg post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Gettysburg’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 Gettysburg are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Old housesHalf of Gettysburg’s homes were built before 1943.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Gettysburg’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
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The story

How Gettysburg came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Gettysburg.

Read it all →

Gettysburg was founded by natives of Adams County, Pennsylvania, in the late 1820s. When the settlement was platted by John Hershey in 1842, the community was named for Gettysburg, the county seat of Adams County. The community's first church was a congregation of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America, established in 1847 or 1848, while the first school was built in 1850.

By the 1860s the village had an active business sector including general stores, shoe shops, cabinet makers, wagon/carriage shops, harness shops, tanning yards, cooperages, blacksmiths, tinning shop, tailors, physicians, a hotel, grain elevator, flouring and saw mills. Several saloons opened but soon failed.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Gettysburg, 1825 to 1986

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1825Post officeThe Robisons post office opens
  3. 1858Post officeThe Robisons post office closes
  4. 1858Post officeThe Gettysburg post office opens
  5. 20th century
  6. 1986On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Gettysburg, decade by decade

Today5 recent
Main east of Clay2015Main east of ClayGettysburg gas station and post office, 453282015Gettysburg gas station and post office, 45328Clay near Main in2015Clay near Main inMap of Darke County Ohio Highlighting Gettysburg Village2015Map of Darke County Ohio Highlighting Gettysburg Vill…MapOHMap-doton-Gettysburg2004OHMap-doton-Gettysburg
On the map

Gettysburg on the map in 1986

The U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Gettysburg.

Gettysburg on the 1986 USGS map1986Piqua sheet · 1:100,000

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

People over time

Gettysburg, census by census

010020030040050060018801900192019401960198020002020Peak: 558

Between 228 and 558 people in every census since 1870.

16 censuses, 1870–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Gettysburg’s Wikipedia page.

Places that used to be

Lost post offices

Gettysburg’s post office has been open since 1858. Another post office, Robisons, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Robisons
1825–1858
Gettysburg
1858–today
18201920today

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

Questions about Gettysburg’s history

What year was Gettysburg founded?

The Gettysburg post office opened in 1858, 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 (5), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), 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.