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Export Pennsylvania Business District 2010Photo: Canadian2006 · CC BY-SA 3.0
–Not graded
History · Export

Export’s post office opened in 1892, and 42% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1904 on, and the census since 1920.

1892first post office
0on the National Register
42%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Export’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Export began

When was Export founded?

1892

The Export post office opened in 1892, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 2,596 in 19202020 census: 894134 years
Founding year: the first Export post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Export’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.Old housesHalf of Export’s homes were built before 1945.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Export’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Export’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 viewBrevard Bridge, Spanning Westland Run a…: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story

How Export came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Export.

Read it all →

A post office called Export has been in operation since 1892. The borough was so named because coal was once mined in and exported from the town.

The remains of Westmoreland Coal Company's South (#2) mine are still visible behind the District Court building in Export. A 2018 project unearthed three entrances. A fourth entrance was rediscovered in January 2019 by Michael Mance and Lou Corsi.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

From the old history books

What they wrote about Export in 1906

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

particularly coal lands, and on his return to Pennsylvania made large purchases of coal lands for the Westmoreland Coal Company. In 1890 he went to Irwin, his present home. In 1900, having purchased for the company their lands at Export, he accpiired property there in his own name and began mining …
History of Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania1906 · page 466Read the page →
Read the text

particularly coal lands, and on his return to Pennsylvania made large purchases of coal lands for the Westmoreland Coal Company. In 1890 he went to Irwin, his present home. In 1900, having purchased for the company their lands at Export, he accpiired property there in his own name and began mining independently, and in 1902 organized the W. B. Skelly Coal Company, which is now carrying on a flourishing business. In the conduct of his coal operations Mr. Skelly gives employment to a large number of men and distributes his output throughout the central states and Canada.

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

Export, decade by decade

Date unknown1 to date
Brevard Bridge, Spanning Westland Run at Ullom RoadDate?Brevard Bridge, Spanning Westland Run at Ullom Road
Today9 recent
Export mine entrances2019Export mine entrancesExport PA Mine Entrance2019Export PA Mine EntranceExport PA Mine Entrance closeup2019Export PA Mine Entrance closeupRemains of coal mine in2018Remains of coal mine inRemains of coal mine fan house2018Remains of coal mine fan housePlaque at remains of coal mine fan house2018Plaque at remains of coal mine fan houseCoal mine portal, now blocked2018Coal mine portal, now blockedBorough of Export Flood Protection Project April 20162016Borough of Export Flood Protection Project April 2016Export Pennsylvania Business District 20102010Export Pennsylvania Business District 2010
On the map

Export on the map in 1904

The U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Export.

Export on the 1904 USGS map1904Greensburg 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 Export.

Every building

Export, building by building, 1909

Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a sheet.

Export fire insurance map, 1909, sheet 11909Sheet 1 of 3
BrickWoodStone

Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.

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.

Brevard Bridge, Spanning Westland Run at Ullom Road
Retake this viewBrevard Bridge, Spanning Westland Run at Ullom Road

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

Retake this view · +15
People over time

Export, census by census

05001,0001,5002,0002,500192019401960198020002020Peak: 2,596

Between 894 and 2,596 people in every census since 1920.

11 censuses, 1920–2020.

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

Questions about Export’s history

What year was Export founded?

The Export post office opened in 1892, 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 →
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 (9), the Library of Congress (1), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System, Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) 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.