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History · Karthaus Township

Karthaus Township’s post office opened in 1826, and 33% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1929 on.

1826first post office
0on the National Register
33%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory
Photo: Shanafme · CC BY-SA 4.0
Quick answers

How Karthaus Township began

When was Karthaus Township founded?

1826

The Karthaus Township post office opened in 1826, the earliest record of the town by name. Three smaller post offices, Cataract (1887), Pottersdale (1888) and Belford (1889), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

2020 census: 824200 years
Founding year: the first Karthaus Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Karthaus Township’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 Karthaus Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Lost villages3 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Karthaus Township, and 5 old place names are still on the map.Deep rootsA post office since 1826: 200 years of Karthaus Township.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Karthaus Township’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

Three other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.

Karthaus
1826–today
Cataract
1887–1902
Pottersdale
1888–1966
Belford
1889–1893
18201920today
Hamlets and corners on the map
BelfordKarthausOak HillPiperPottersdale
Gone or out of use
Cataract Schoolschool
1cemetery inside Karthaus Township
Oak Hill Memorial

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Timeline

Karthaus Township, 1826 to 1966

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1826Post officeThe Karthaus post office opens
  3. 1887Post officeThe Cataract post office opens
  4. 1888Post officeThe Pottersdale post office opens
  5. 20th century
  6. 1902Post officeThe Cataract post office closes
  7. 1929On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  8. 1966Post officeThe Pottersdale post office closes
The story so far

Karthaus Township, in brief

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

Karthaus is an unincorporated community in Clearfield County, Pennsylvania, United States. The community is located along Pennsylvania Route 879, 18.2 miles (29.3 km) east-northeast of Clearfield. Karthaus has a post office with ZIP code 16845, which opened on April 24, 1826. The community was named after Peter A. Karthaus, the proprietor of a local blast furnace.

Its first post office opened in 1826. Its population held steady between the last two censuses: 811 in 2010, 824 in 2020.

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

Karthaus Township on the map, 1929 to 1971

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

Karthaus Township on the 1929 USGS mapKarthaus Township on the 1932 USGS mapKarthaus Township on the 1959 USGS mapKarthaus Township on the 1971 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 Karthaus Township.

Famous people

Famous people close to Karthaus Township

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

See all →
Don Hilary GingeryAmerican politician · b. 1884
Mike RoachAmerican baseball player · b. 1869
A
Austin HarrierAmerican politician · b. 1912
Garrett CochranAmerican football player · b. 1876
Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Burnside TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townCooper Township1 historic placeA−Covington TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townWest Keating TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townGibson TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Karthaus Township’s history

What year was Karthaus Township founded?

The Karthaus Township post office opened in 1826, 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, the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.