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History · Aristes

Aristes’ post office opened in 1897, and 32% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1889 on and the census since 2000.

1897first post office
0on the National Register
32%homes built before 1940
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Photo: Jakec · CC BY-SA 4.0
Quick answers

How Aristes began

When was Aristes founded?

1897

The Aristes post office opened in 1897, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 230 in 20002020 census: 256129 years
Founding year: the first Aristes post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Aristes’ 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 Aristes are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.On the map since 18896 editions of the USGS map, 1889 to 1976. Watch Aristes change.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Aristes’s collection

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

Aristes on the map, 1889 to 1976

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

Aristes on the 1889 USGS mapAristes on the 1892 USGS mapAristes on the 1947 USGS mapAristes on the 1953 USGS mapAristes on the 1969 USGS mapAristes on the 1976 USGS map1889Catawissa 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 Aristes.

The story

How Aristes came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Aristes.

Read it all →

Around the year 1800, the Red Tavern was built along the Old Reading Road, which ran from Catawissa to Reading. In 1865, the owner of the Red Tavern laid out a village which he called "Montana". When a post office was established here in 1897, the name of the town was changed to "Aristes", a contraction of the name Aristides, a Greek statesman.

In 1948, United Airlines Flight 624 hit a high-voltage powerline and crashed near Aristes. Notable victims of the crash included Broadway theatre impresario Earl Carroll and his girlfriend, actress Beryl Wallace; Henry L. Jackson, men's fashion editor of Collier's Weekly magazine and co-founder of Esquire magazine; and Venita Varden Oakie, the former wife of actor Jack Oakie.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

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.

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People over time

Aristes, census by census

010020030020002020Peak: 311

Between 230 and 311 people in every census since 2000.

3 censuses, 2000–2020.

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

Famous people

Famous people close to Aristes

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

See all →
E
Ellen Albertini DowAmerican actress · b. 1913
J
Janet AsimovAuthor, psychiatrist, psychoanalyst · b. 1926
E
Eddie CostaAmerican jazz musician; pianist and vibraphonist · b. 1930
Emil SeidelAmerican politician · b. 1864
W
William J. WaltersheidAuxiliary Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese … · b. 1956
Frank BolickAmerican baseball player · b. 1966

Questions about Aristes’ history

What year was Aristes founded?

The Aristes post office opened in 1897, 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 →
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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 and U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.