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History · Brown Township

Brown Township’s post office opened in 1830, and 37% of its homes were built before 1940

Its Register listing is the Bridge in Brown Township. Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1946 on, and old-book passages.

1830first post office
1on the National Register
37%homes built before 1940
2old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Brown Township’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Brown Township began

When was Brown Township founded?

1830

The Brown Township post office opened in 1830, the earliest record of the town by name. Four smaller post offices, Brown (1830), Cedar Run (1853) and Hilborn (1880), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

2020 census: 93196 years
Founding year: the first Brown Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Brown Township’s past

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

Lost villages4 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Brown Township, and 5 old place names are still on the map.A history waiting to be writtenOnly 2 old photos are in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.Deep rootsA post office since 1830: 196 years of Brown Township.Old housesHalf of Brown Township’s homes were built before 1962.
★ What stands out · Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

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

Brown
1830–1834
Cedar Run
1853–1967
Slate Run
1853–today
Hilborn
1880–1905
State Run
1884–1885
18301930today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Beulah LandCedar PinesCedar RunHilbornSlate Run
Gone or out of use
Black Forest Inn Airportairport
3cemeteries and burying grounds inside Brown Township
Cedar RunSlate Run BaptistSlate Run Methodist

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

Help out

Start Brown Township’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old view1940 Census Enumeration District Maps -…: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Timeline

Brown Township, 1830 to 1967

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1830Post officeThe Brown post office opens
  3. 1834Post officeThe Brown post office closes
  4. 1853Post officeThe Cedar Run post office opens
  5. 1853Post officeThe Slate Run post office opens
  6. 1880In the archive1940 Census Enumeration District Maps - Pennsylvania - Lycoming County - Brown - ED 41-5
  7. 20th century
  8. 1946On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  9. 1967Post officeThe Cedar Run post office closes
The story

How Brown Township came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Brown Township.

Read it all →

Brown Township, named for Major General Jacob Brown of the War of 1812, was formed on May 3, 1815, by the Court of Quarter Sessions of the Peace of Lycoming County, from parts of Mifflin and Pine townships. Pine Creek and its gorge divide the township nearly in half, and it is the center of history in Brown Township. Pine Creek was a major waterway in the settlement of north-central Pennsylvania and in the lumber era that swept through Pennsylvania in the mid-to-late 19th century. Early pioneers were attracted to its remoteness and abundance of fish and game.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

From the old history books

What they wrote about Brown Township in 1929

Passages that mention Brown Township, cut from the printed page as they were published.

Jacob Lamb is credited with being the first settler, and he was followed by William Blackwell, Andrew Gamble, John Morrison and Jacob Warren. The Tomb family also settled in what is now Brown Township. It was set off from Mifflin May 8, 1815, and is therefore one of the oldest of the townships whic…
History of Lycoming County, Pennsylvania1929 · page 253Read the page →
Read the text

Jacob Lamb is credited with being the first settler, and he was followed by William Blackwell, Andrew Gamble, John Morrison and Jacob Warren. The Tomb family also settled in what is now Brown Township. It was set off from Mifflin May 8, 1815, and is therefore one of the oldest of the townships which were erected after Lycoming became a separate county.

Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Brown Township lies in the extreme northwestern part of the county and, in point of area, is one of the largest. It is the fifth in size and contains 41,560 acres. It was named for General Brown, who served with distinction in Canada during the Revolutionary war. It is almost a perfect rectangle in…
History of Lycoming County, Pennsylvania1929 · page 252Read the page →
Read the text

Brown Township lies in the extreme northwestern part of the county and, in point of area, is one of the largest. It is the fifth in size and contains 41,560 acres. It was named for General Brown, who served with distinction in Canada during the Revolutionary war. It is almost a perfect rectangle in shape and lies 2,000 feet above sea level. The face of the country is wild and rugged, with towering mountains on each side of Pine

Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.

Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.

By decade

Brown Township, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1880s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1880s2 items
1940 Census Enumeration District Maps - Pennsylvania - Lycoming County - Brown - ED 41-518801940 Census Enumeration District Maps - Pennsylvania …1940 Census Enumeration District Maps - Pennsylvania - Lycoming County - Brown - ED 41-518801940 Census Enumeration District Maps - Pennsylvania …
1890s–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
Today10 recent
2021-10-19 14 35 20 View southeast down Pine Creek from Pennsylvania State Route 414 just northeast of Cedar Run within…20212021-10-19 14 35 20 View southeast down Pine Creek fr…2021-10-19 14 35 16 View northeast up Pine Creek from Pennsylvania State Route 414 just northeast of Cedar Run within B…20212021-10-19 14 35 16 View northeast up Pine Creek from…Pennsylvania State Route 4142018Pennsylvania State Route 414Pennsylvania State Route 4142018Pennsylvania State Route 414Pennsylvania State Route 4142018Pennsylvania State Route 414Cedar run skyline2012Cedar run skylineFlickr - Nicholas T - Bonnell Run (2)2011Flickr - Nicholas T - Bonnell Run (2)Flickr - Nicholas T - Bonnell Run (1)2011Flickr - Nicholas T - Bonnell Run (1)Black Forest Remote2010Black Forest RemotePennsylvania State Route 4142009Pennsylvania State Route 414
On the map

Brown Township on the map, 1946 to 1994

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

Brown Township on the 1946 USGS mapBrown Township on the 1971 USGS mapBrown Township on the 1994 USGS map1946Antrim 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 Brown Township.

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.

1940 Census Enumeration District Maps - Pennsylvania - Lycoming County - Brown - ED 41-5
Retake this view1940 Census Enumeration District Maps - Pennsylvania - Lycoming County - Brown - ED 41-5, 1880

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

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

1 historic place in Brown 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
1988
Bridge in Brown Township
Bridge in Brown Township
Structures
Bridge in Brown TownshipStructure

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

Famous people

Famous people close to Brown Township

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

See all →
Kathryn CrawfordAmerican actress · b. 1908
William A. StoneAmerican politician, Pennsylvania · b. 1846
Ed SchieffelinProspector who discovered the Tombstone mining … · b. 1847
D
Dick RiffleAmerican football player · b. 1915
Horace Billings PackerAmerican politician · b. 1851
L
Lee GambleAmerican baseball player · b. 1910
Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Stewardson TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townMcHenry TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townChapman TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townElk TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townPine Township1 historic placenot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Brown Township’s history

What year was Brown Township founded?

The Brown Township post office opened in 1830, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Brown Township?

One place: the Bridge in Brown Township (listed 1988).

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 (12), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.