Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Beaver Township

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
Beaver Twp Roadside View (2)Photo: Nicholas A. Tonelli · CC BY 2.0
–Not graded
History · Beaver Township

25% of Beaver Township’s homes were built before 1940

Below: 4 old photos and papers and maps from 1889 on.

0on the National Register
25%homes built before 1940
4old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Beaver Township’s archive · credits on each photo

What stands out about Beaver 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 Beaver Township, and 6 old place names are still on the map.A history waiting to be writtenOnly 4 old photos are in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.On the map since 18896 editions of the USGS map, 1889 to 1976. Watch Beaver Township change.
★ 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.

Beaver Valley
1832–1919
Monticello
1858–1860
Mifllin Cross Roads
1875–1901
McAuley
1880–1881
Shumans
1922–1955
18301930today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Beaver ValleyDogtownMcCauleyMifflin Cross RoadsMonticelloShumans
2cemeteries and burying grounds inside Beaver Township
Hargers UnionMichaels

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

Help out

Start Beaver Township’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewBeaver County Court House: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
On the map

Beaver Township on the map, 1889 to 1976

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

Beaver Township on the 1889 USGS mapBeaver Township on the 1892 USGS mapBeaver Township on the 1948 USGS mapBeaver Township on the 1955 USGS mapBeaver Township on the 1969 USGS mapBeaver Township 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 Beaver Township.

The story

How Beaver Township came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Beaver Township.

Read it all →

Beaver Township was first settled in 1774 by Alexander McCauley. However, McCauley left the township in 1776, and the township was not settled again until 1799. In 1810, a tannery and sawmill were built in Beaver Township. Beaver Township was formed from Catawissa Township.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Beaver Township, 1832 to 1919

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1832Post officeThe Beaver Valley post office opens
  3. 1858Post officeThe Monticello post office opens
  4. 1860Post officeThe Monticello post office closes
  5. 1875Post officeThe Mifllin Cross Roads post office opens
  6. 1889On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  7. 20th century
  8. 1901Post officeThe Mifllin Cross Roads post office closes
  9. 1905In the archiveBeaver County Court House
  10. 1919Post officeThe Beaver Valley post office closes
By decade

Beaver Township, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1900s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1900s4 items
Beaver County Court House1905Beaver County Court HouseBeaver County fair grounds1906Beaver County fair groundsOhio River1906Ohio RiverOld U.P. Church1906Old U.P. Church
1910s–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
Today14 recent
Catawissa Mountain in southern Beaver Township, Columbia County, Pennsylvania 32014Catawissa Mountain in southern Beaver Township, Colum…Catawissa Mountain in southern Beaver Township, Columbia County, Pennsylvania 22014Catawissa Mountain in southern Beaver Township, Colum…Catawissa Mountain in southern Beaver Township, Columbia County, Pennsylvania 12014Catawissa Mountain in southern Beaver Township, Colum…Catawissa Creek from Greenhouse Lane 42014Catawissa Creek from Greenhouse Lane 4Catawissa Creek from Greenhouse Lane 32014Catawissa Creek from Greenhouse Lane 3Catawissa Creek from Greenhouse Lane 22014Catawissa Creek from Greenhouse Lane 2Catawissa Creek from Greenhouse Lane 12014Catawissa Creek from Greenhouse Lane 1Catawissa Creek from Cranberry Run Road 22014Catawissa Creek from Cranberry Run Road 2Catawissa Creek from Cranberry Run Road 12014Catawissa Creek from Cranberry Run Road 1Beaver Run near Shumans, Pennsylvania 22014Beaver Run near Shumans, Pennsylvania 2Beaver Run near Shumans, Pennsylvania 12014Beaver Run near Shumans, Pennsylvania 1Roadside View (1)2013Roadside View (1)Pennsylvania State Route 3392013Pennsylvania State Route 339Beaver Twp Roadside View (2)2013Beaver Twp Roadside View (2)
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.

Beaver County Court House
Retake this viewBeaver County Court House, 1905

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

Retake this view · +15
Famous people

Famous people close to Beaver Township

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

See all →
Haldan Keffer HartlineAmerican neuroscientist · b. 1903
Krysten RitterAmerican actress · b. 1981
Tommy DorseyAmerican big band leader and musician · b. 1905
Jimmy DorseyAmerican clarinetist, alto saxophonist, bandlea… · b. 1904
F
Francis BrennanCatholic cardinal · b. 1894
W
Walter CiszekPolish-American Jesuit priest and missionary · b. 1904
Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Mifflin TownshipIts storyB−Roaring Creek TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townMain TownshipIts storyC+Black Creek TownshipIts storyB+North Union TownshipIts storyB−

Questions about Beaver Township’s history

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 (14), the Library of Congress (4), 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.