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Briar Creek, Pennsylvania borough hallPhoto: Ruhrfisch · CC BY-SA 4.0
–Not graded
History · Briar Creek

Briar Creek’s post office opened in 1891

Most of Briar Creek was built recently: 6% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1976. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1894 on, and the census since 1920.

1891first post office
0on the National Register
6%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Briar Creek’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Briar Creek began

When was Briar Creek founded?

1891

The Briar Creek post office opened in 1891, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 1917. Two smaller post offices, Brier Creek (1831) and Briar Creek Station (1858), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

First census: 295 in 19202020 census: 597135 years
Founding year: the first Briar Creek post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Wikidata: 1917.

What stands out about Briar Creek’s past

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

A history waiting to be writtenOnly 1 old photo is in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.On the map since 18946 editions of the USGS map, 1894 to 1989. Watch Briar Creek change.Lost villages2 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Briar Creek.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Briar Creek’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Date a photo1 archive item has no date. Guess the decade.+2Retake an old viewMethodist Episcopal Church: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
On the map

Briar Creek on the map, 1894 to 1989

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

Briar Creek on the 1894 USGS mapBriar Creek on the 1947 USGS mapBriar Creek on the 1954 USGS mapBriar Creek on the 1969 USGS mapBriar Creek on the 1978 USGS mapBriar Creek on the 1989 USGS map1894Bloomsburg 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 Briar Creek.

Places that used to be

Lost post offices

Briar Creek had its own post office from 1891 to 1959. Two other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.

Brier Creek
1831–1871
Briar Creek Station
1858–1859
Briar Creek
1891–1959
18301930today

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

The story so far

Briar Creek, in brief

Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Briar Creek yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.

Briar Creek is a borough in Columbia County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is part of Northeastern Pennsylvania. The population was 597 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Bloomsburg-Berwick micropolitan area.

Its first post office opened in 1891. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 660 to 597 (-10%).

Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.

Timeline

Briar Creek, 1831 to 1959

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1831Post officeThe Brier Creek post office opens
  3. 1858Post officeThe Briar Creek Station post office opens
  4. 1859Post officeThe Briar Creek Station post office closes
  5. 1871Post officeThe Brier Creek post office closes
  6. 1891Post officeThe Briar Creek post office opens
  7. 1894On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  8. 20th century
  9. 1959Post officeThe Briar Creek post office closes
By decade

Briar Creek, decade by decade

Date unknown1 to date
Methodist Episcopal ChurchDate?Methodist Episcopal Church
Today1 recent
Briar Creek, Pennsylvania borough hall2012Briar Creek, Pennsylvania borough hall
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.

Methodist Episcopal Church
Retake this viewMethodist Episcopal Church

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

Retake this view · +15
People over time

Briar Creek, census by census

0100200300400500600700192019401960198020002020Peak: 660

Between 249 and 660 people in every census since 1920.

11 censuses, 1920–2020.

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

Famous people

Famous people close to Briar Creek

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

See all →
Haldan Keffer HartlineAmerican neuroscientist · b. 1903
Krysten RitterAmerican actress · b. 1981
William H. WoodinAmerican politician · b. 1868
R
Richard Sharpe ShaverAmerican writer and conspiracy theorist · b. 1907
E
Emile SantiagoAmerican costume designer · b. 1899
Frank Eugene LutzAmerican entomologist · b. 1879
Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Mifflin TownshipIts storyB−MifflinvilleIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townBerwick2 historic placesABriar Creek TownshipIts storyC−

Questions about Briar Creek’s history

What year was Briar Creek founded?

The Briar Creek post office opened in 1891, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1917.

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 (1), the Library of Congress (1), 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.