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History · Douglassville

Douglassville’s post office opened in 1829, and 17% of its homes were built before 1940

4 places in town are on the National Register. Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1902 on, and old-book passages.

1829first post office

4on the National Register

17%homes built before 1940

2old photos & papers

1famous people

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From Douglassville’s archive · credits on each photo

Quick answers

How Douglassville began

When was Douglassville founded?

1829

The Douglassville post office opened in 1829, the earliest record of the town by name.

2020 census: 518197 years

Founding year: the first Douglassville post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Douglassville’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 2 old photos are in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.On the map since 19026 editions of the USGS map, 1902 to 1995. Watch Douglassville change.Deep rootsA post office since 1829: 197 years of Douglassville.Landmarks on the Register4 places on the National Register.

★ What stands out · Help out

Start Douglassville’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Douglassville’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 photo2 archive items have no date. Guess the decade.+2 Retake an old viewSt. Gabriel's Church, U.S. Route 422: stand where they stood+15 Share a family photoSign in to add one+10

On the map

Douglassville on the map, 1902 to 1995

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

1902Boyertown 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 Douglassville.

The story

How Douglassville came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Douglassville.

Read it all →

Swedish pioneers were the first European settlers in present Berks County on land granted by William Penn. Swedish Lutheran Minister Andreas Rudman secured an order from William Penn on October 21, 1701, setting aside 10,000 acres (40 km2) up the Schuylkill, near Manatawny Creek, for members of his congregation. The boundaries of Amity Township are almost identical to the boundaries of the original area known as the Swedes' tract. Morlatton Village, an early settlement which became part of what is now Douglassville, was Berks County's first settlement site along the Schuylkill River. The settlement later became the location of Old St. Gabriel's Episcopal Church or Old Swedes, founded in 1720 as the oldest church in Berks County. The site also included the Mouns Jones House, built by Swedish settlers in 1716. The house is the oldest documented dwelling in Berks County.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

From the old history books

What they wrote about Douglassville, 1886–1909

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

81 Douglassville is a station on Philadelphia and Reading and Pennsylvania Railroads. Few stations on these great railways are so highly favored in the matter of depot accommodations as this place. It is the railway point of large sections of country, north and south of the river. The village conta… — **History of Berks county in Pennsylvania**1886 · page 953Read the page →
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81 Douglassville is a station on Philadelphia and Reading and Pennsylvania Railroads. Few stations on these great railways are so highly favored in the matter of depot accommodations as this place. It is the railway point of large sections of country, north and south of the river. The village contains the handsome
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.

student at the College of Pharmacy in Philadelphia. Since 1851 Mr. Mauger has been largely engaged in the settlement of estates. He has been secretary of the Douglassville and Yellow House Turnpike Company since its organization in 1867 ; was elected one of the directors of the Schuylkill Bridge Co… — **History of Berks county in Pennsylvania**1886 · page 972Read the page →
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student at the College of Pharmacy in Philadelphia. Since 1851 Mr. Mauger has been largely engaged in the settlement of estates. He has been secretary of the Douglassville and Yellow House Turnpike Company since its organization in 1867 ; was elected one of the directors of the Schuylkill Bridge Company, at Douglassville, in 1866, and in 1867 became the successor to
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Maunce Jones, a Swede, came from the Wissahickon to Douglassville, in Berks county, with a colony of Swedes in 1701. He located on the east bank of the Schuylkill river where he built a stone house in 1716, where the Douglassville county "covered" bridge spans the river. This house has a very thick… — Historical and biographical annals of Berks County, Pennsylvania, embracing a concise history of the county and a genealogical and biographical record of representative families, comp. by Morton L. Montgomery ..1909 · page 694Read the page →
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Maunce Jones, a Swede, came from the Wissahickon to Douglassville, in Berks county, with a colony of Swedes in 1701. He located on the east bank of the Schuylkill river where he built a stone house in 1716, where the Douglassville county "covered" bridge spans the river. This house has a very thick wall, and is very substantially built, having in its earlier days been a place of refuge for the pioneer settlers during In-
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.

Four turnpikes were constructed in the section: the Perkiomen, from the southern county line, via Douglassville and Baumstown, to Reading; the Douglassville, from Douglassville, via Amityville, to Yellow House ; the Oley, from Pikeville, via Pleasantville and Oley Line, to Black Bear ; and the Cent… — Historical and biographical annals of Berks County, Pennsylvania, embracing a concise history of the county and a genealogical and biographical record of representative families, comp. by Morton L. Montgomery ..1909 · page 301Read the page →
Read the text
Four turnpikes were constructed in the section: the Perkiomen, from the southern county line, via Douglassville and Baumstown, to Reading; the Douglassville, from Douglassville, via Amityville, to Yellow House ; the Oley, from Pikeville, via Pleasantville and Oley Line, to Black Bear ; and the Centre, from Reading to Tuckerton, which extended northwardly through Ontelaunee Section, via Lees-
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

Douglassville, decade by decade

Date unknown2 to date

Date?St. Gabriel's Church, U.S. Route 422

Date?Mouns Jones House (Ruins), U.S. Route 422 vicinity

Today4 recent

2011White Horse Dville

2011St Gabes

2011Old Swedes Dville

2011Douglass Mansion

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.

Retake this viewSt. Gabriel's Church, U.S. Route 422

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

Retake this view · +15

On the National Register

4 historic places in Douglassville

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

places listed

National Historic Landmarks

none yet

historic buildings protected

each building in a district counts

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

Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Amity Township7 historic placesB Union Township3 historic placesA Amity GardensIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town Douglass Township2 historic placesA

Questions about Douglassville’s history

What year was Douglassville founded?

The Douglassville post office opened in 1829, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

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 Wikimedia Commons (4), the Library of Congress (2), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps 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.

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