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History · Broad Top City

Broad Top City dates to 1868, and 18% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1930 on and the census since 1870.

1868founded
0on the National Register
18%homes built before 1940
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Photo: Nyttend · Public domain
Quick answers

How Broad Top City began

When was Broad Top City founded?

1868

Broad Top City dates its founding to 1868 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1870.

First census: 327 in 18702020 census: 367158 years
Founding year: Wikidata. First post office: 1835.

What stands out about Broad Top City’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 Broad Top City are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Boom and bustPeaked at 610 in 1940; 367 people lived here in 2020.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Broad Top City’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Broad Top City’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

Broad Top City, census by census

010020030040050060018801900192019401960198020002020Peak: 610

Peaked at 610 in 1940; 367 people lived here in 2020.

16 censuses, 1870–2020.

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

The story so far

Broad Top City, in brief

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

Broad Top City is a borough in Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 371 at the 2020 census, a decline from the figure of 452 tabulated in 2010.

Broad Top City was established in 1868. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 452 to 367 (-19%).

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

Timeline

Broad Top City, 1835 to 1940

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1835Post officeThe Broad Top post office opens
  3. 1868
    FoundingBroad Top City is established
  4. 20th century
  5. 1930On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  6. 1940CensusPopulation peaks at 610
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.
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On the map

Broad Top City on the map, 1930 to 1994

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

Broad Top City on the 1930 USGS mapBroad Top City on the 1968 USGS mapBroad Top City on the 1973 USGS mapBroad Top City on the 1981 USGS mapBroad Top City on the 1994 USGS map1930Broad Top 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 Broad Top City.

Famous people

Famous people close to Broad Top City

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

See all →
Sandra FlukeAmerican women's rights activist and lawyer · b. 1981
George M. ChilcottAmerican politician · b. 1828
Robert E. EvansAmerican politician · b. 1856
James Monroe MillerAmerican politician (Republican) · b. 1852
Robert Milton SpeerAmerican politician · b. 1838
W
Walt IrwinAmerican baseball player · b. 1897
Places that used to be

Places now gone and burying grounds

Gone or out of use
Broad Top Post Officepost office
1cemetery inside Broad Top City
Broad Top Independent Order of Odd Fellows

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

Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Carbon Township1 historic placenot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townWood Township1 historic placenot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Broad Top City’s history

What year was Broad Top City founded?

In 1868, according to Wikidata. Broad Top City’s post office opened in 1835, and the census of 1870 counted 327 people here.

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 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.