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PA 879 wb at Frenchville, Aug. 2024Photo: Mr. Matté (if there is an issue with this image, contact me using this image's Commons talk page, my Commons user talk page, or my English Wikipedia user talk page; I'll know about it a lot faster) · CC BY-SA 4.0
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History · Frenchville

Frenchville’s post office opened in 1839, and 13% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1929 on.

1839first post office
0on the National Register
13%homes built before 1940
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Photo: Mr. Matté (if there is an issue with this image, contact me using this image's Commons talk page, my Commons user talk page, or my English Wikipedia user talk page; I'll know about it a lot faster) · CC BY-SA 4.0
Quick answers

How Frenchville began

When was Frenchville founded?

1839

The Frenchville post office opened in 1839, the earliest record of the town by name.

187 years
Founding year: the first Frenchville post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Frenchville’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 Frenchville are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Deep rootsA post office since 1839: 187 years of Frenchville.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Frenchville’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
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The story so far

Frenchville, in brief

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

Frenchville (French: Ville Française) is an unincorporated community and census designated place (CDP) in Clearfield County, Pennsylvania, United States. The community is located along Pennsylvania Route 879, 12.7 miles (20.4 km) east-northeast of Clearfield. Frenchville has a post office with the ZIP code 16836, which opened on February 18, 1839. Frenchville was named for the French ancestry of its first settlers. In this community, developed Frenchville French, a unique dialect of the French language that was spoken in the area until the 1960s. The first white burial in the county (1771) was a French seaman, Tohas Auxe, who died en route from Canada to New Orleans. The stone was discovere…

Its first post office opened in 1839.

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

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

Frenchville on the map, 1929 to 1981

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

Frenchville on the 1929 USGS mapFrenchville on the 1932 USGS mapFrenchville on the 1959 USGS mapFrenchville on the 1971 USGS mapFrenchville on the 1981 USGS map1929Karthaus 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 Frenchville.

Famous people

Famous people close to Frenchville

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

See all →
Edward ScofieldUnion Army officer and governor of Wisconsin · b. 1842
Doug BrocailAmerican baseball player · b. 1967
Anthony A. MitchellAmerican conductor · b. 1918
Don Hilary GingeryAmerican politician · b. 1884
W
William Irvin SwoopeAmerican politician · b. 1862
Rembrandt C. RobinsonAmerican naval commander · b. 1924

Questions about Frenchville’s history

What year was Frenchville founded?

The Frenchville post office opened in 1839, 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 U.S. Geological Survey historical maps. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.