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History · Beale Township

Beale Township’s post office opened in 1883, and 15% of its homes were built before 1940

Its Register listing is the Tuscarora Academy. Below: maps from 1966 on and the census since 1850.

1883first post office
1on the National Register
15%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Beale Township began

When was Beale Township founded?

1883

The Beale Township post office opened in 1883, the earliest record of the town by name. Five smaller post offices, Walnut (1833), Academia (1847) and Doyles Mills (1863), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

First census: 744 in 18502020 census: 768143 years
Founding year: the first Beale Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Beale Township’s past

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

Lost villages5 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Beale Township, and 4 old place names are still on the map.A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Beale Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Boom and bustPeaked at 1,130 in 1880; 769 people lived here in 2020.
★ What stands out · Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners and burying grounds

Five other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.

Walnut
1833–1960
Academia
1847–1956
Doyles Mills
1863–1953
Beale
1883–1893
Nook
1901–1958
18301930today
Hamlets and corners on the map
AcademiaDoyles MillsNookWalnut
2cemeteries and burying grounds inside Beale Township
Henry MemorialLower Tuscarora Church and

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

Help out

Start Beale Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Beale Township’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
People over time

Beale Township, census by census

02004006008001,0001,2001850190019502000Peak: 1,130

Peaked at 1,130 in 1880; 769 people lived here in 2020.

18 censuses, 1850–2020.

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

The story

How Beale Township came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Beale Township.

Read it all →

Beale Township is the location of the Book Site, an archaeological site dating from the Woodland period. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The Academia Pomeroy Covered Bridge and Tuscarora Academy are also listed. The Academia Pomeroy Covered Bridge at 278 feet (85 m) (portal to portal) is the longest remaining covered bridge in Pennsylvania, crossing Tuscarora Creek between Spruce Hill and Beale Townships. It has been owned by the Juniata County Historical Society of Mifflintown since 1962.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Beale Township, 1833 to 1966

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1833Post officeThe Walnut post office opens
  3. 1837BuiltTuscarora Academy is built
  4. 1847Post officeThe Academia post office opens
  5. 1863Post officeThe Doyles Mills post office opens
  6. 1880CensusPopulation peaks at 1,130
  7. 20th century
  8. 1953Post officeThe Doyles Mills post office closes
  9. 1956Post officeThe Academia post office closes
  10. 1960Post officeThe Walnut post office closes
  11. 1966On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
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
On the map

Beale Township on the map, 1966 to 1973

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

Beale Township on the 1966 USGS mapBeale Township on the 1973 USGS map1966Lewistown sheet · 1:24,000

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

On the National Register

1 historic place in Beale Township

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
1
each building in a district counts
first listed
1972
Tuscarora Academy
Tuscarora Academy, built 1837
Buildings
Tuscarora AcademyBuilt 1837

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

Famous people

Famous people close to Beale Township

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

See all →
T
Trent HidlayAmerican wrestler · b. 1999
Adam HarrisAmerican politician · b. 1975
Frank Ross McCoyUnited States Army general · b. 1874
Joseph M. BelfordAmerican politician · b. 1852
Ronald FoglemanRetired US Air Force general · b. 1942
William Wirt CulbertsonAmerican politician · b. 1835
Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Spruce Hill Township1 historic placenot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townMilford Township1 historic placeB+Tuscarora TownshipIts storyC+

Questions about Beale Township’s history

What year was Beale Township founded?

The Beale Township post office opened in 1883, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Beale Township?

One place: the Tuscarora Academy (listed 1972).

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 Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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.