Harmony dates to 1804, and 36% of its homes were built before 1940
1 place in town is on the National Register, among them the Harmony Historic District, a National Historic Landmark, and a historic district with 10 buildings. Below: 6 old photos and papers from 1880 on and old-book passages.
In December 1753, George Washington and Christopher Gist came through the area. They were shot at somewhere between present-day Evans City and Ellwood City (the exact location is unknown), through a region above the forks of the Ohio known as Mutheringtown or "Murdering Town". In 2003, the borough commemorated the event as part of the 250th Anniversary Commemoration of the French and Indian War.
Passages that mention Harmony, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Butler County, Pennsylvania.1895 · page 397Read the page →
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agricultural township, it contains the old town of Harmony, where the Harmony Society made their first settlement in America; the boroughs ol Zelienople and Evans City, and the villages of Eidenau and Ramsdale. The township abounds in coal, which has been mined from the pioneer days to the present, and in extensive deposits of iron ore and limestone. The people of the township are thriftv, industrious and prosperous.
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History of Butler County, Pennsylvania. With illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers1883Read the page →
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Besides the old town of Harmony, Jackson Township contains the thriving towns of Zelienople and Evans- ))nrg. of which detailed sketches are given in this chapter.
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Harmony, Zelienople, a part of Evans City, Eidenau and Ramsdale belong, physically, to Jackson township. The first three are boroughs, and distinct municipal governments; while Eidenau is still within the jurisdiction of the township officers. Ramsdale, like Oilbronn, in Lancaster township, long since disappeared, and few, if any. of the present inhabitants have the slightest notion that old Ramsdale. a half mile north of Harmony, was at first an Indian town and,
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History of Butler County Pennsylvania1927 · page 235Read the page →
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James Magee settled in Jackson Township in 1797. William and Michael Martin, Thomas Wilson, and Detmar Basse, founder of Zelienople, settled here in 1802. George Rapp, founder of Harmony, came to this township in 1804, and founded Harmony the next year. JEFFERSON TOWNSHIP.
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Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
By decade
Harmony, decade by decade
3 decades in the archive, from the 1880s to the 1920s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
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.
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 (6), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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.
1901
1901
1901