The area of the Ohio headwaters was long inhabited by the Shawnee and several other groups of Native Americans. The first known Europeans to enter the region were French explorers/traders during the 17th century.
Christopher Gist was one of the first English colonists to survey the Ohio River Region around present day Pittsburgh in 1751. George Washington would also survey the area in 1753 as an envoy to demand the French to vacate the territory, which the British had claimed, as land disputes were occurring between British and French colonies at the time. Hostilities broke out in 1754 which triggered the French and Indian War.
Passages that mention Georgetown, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Beaver County, Pennsylvania1888 · page 564Read the page →
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This borough, situated near the center of Greene township, is three and one-half miles from Georgetown, eleven from Beaver and about twenty-eight from Pittsburgh. It was named in honor of Matthias Hook,* a wortiiy citizen who came from Maryland, and having purchased the land upon which the town was subsequently built, was accustomed to go to the Eastland bring salt across the mountains to sell to the early settlers. Some of Hook's neighbors in the early days were Thomas Dawson and John Parks, both from Maryland; Joseph
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History of Beaver County, Pennsylvania1888 · page 556Read the page →
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This place is situated in the southern part of Hanover township, near the Washington county line. In the days of stage coaches (1837) it was reported as a " flourishing village, twenty-six miles from Pittsburgh, twenty miles from Beaver and thirteen from Georgetown." The town stands on the edge of a tract of a thousand acres of land secured by Levi Dungan in 1772. The portion of country surroundingit was the earliest settled in the county. The names of some of the first settlers wnll be found in Chapter III.
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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 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 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.
