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History · Koppel

Koppel’s post office opened in 1907, and 35% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: 6 old photos and papers from 1907 on.

1907first post office
0on the National Register
35%homes built before 1940
6old photos & papers
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Photo: Nyttend · Public domain
Quick answers

How Koppel began

When was Koppel founded?

1907

The Koppel post office opened in 1907, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 1910.

2020 census: 712119 years
Founding year: the first Koppel post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Wikidata: 1910.The full story ↓

What stands out about Koppel’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

Old housesHalf of Koppel’s homes were built before 1947.
★ What stands out · The story

How Koppel came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Koppel.

Read it all →

Koppel was named after Arthur Koppel of Orenstein & Koppel, which was a German manufacturing company that owned 558 acres of land in nearby Big Beaver Township by 1907. In 1912, Koppel was established as a borough. The next year, Orenstein & Koppel donated land to the new borough for school and municipal buildings. After most of the town was confiscated by the Office of Alien Property Custodian from Orenstein & Koppel in 1917, much of the property was sold to the Koppel Industrial and Equipment Company. Other manufacturing companies had a presence in Koppel—the Pressed Steel Car Company from 1919 to 1937 and Babcock & Wilcox during the 1950s.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Koppel, 1907 to 1921

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

  1. 20th century
  2. 1907In the archiveThe Works of the Arthur Koppel Co. at Koppel, PA (The Iron Trade Review, October 10, 1907…
  3. 1907Post officeThe Koppel post office opens
  4. 1921Born hereJames E. Ross is born here
By decade

Koppel, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1900s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1900s6 items
The Works of the Arthur Koppel Co. at Koppel, PA (The Iron Trade Review, October 10, 1907, p. 583)1907The Works of the Arthur Koppel Co. at Koppel, PA (The…The Works of the Arthur Koppel Co. at Koppel, PA (The Iron Trade Review, October 10, 1907, p. 584)1907The Works of the Arthur Koppel Co. at Koppel, PA (The…The Works of the Arthur Koppel Co. at Koppel, PA (The Iron Trade Review, October 10, 1907, p. 585)1907The Works of the Arthur Koppel Co. at Koppel, PA (The…The Works of the Arthur Koppel Co. at Koppel, PA (The Iron Trade Review, October 10, 1907, p. 586)1907The Works of the Arthur Koppel Co. at Koppel, PA (The…The Works of the Arthur Koppel Co. at Koppel, PA (The Iron Trade Review, October 10, 1907, p. 587)1907The Works of the Arthur Koppel Co. at Koppel, PA (The…The Works of the Arthur Koppel Co. at Koppel, PA (The Iron Trade Review, October 10, 1907, p. 588)1907The Works of the Arthur Koppel Co. at Koppel, PA (The…
1910s–1990snothing yet
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.
Add from your album
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.

The Works of the Arthur Koppel Co. at Koppel, PA (The Iron Trade Review, October 10, 1907, p. 583)
Retake this viewThe Works of the Arthur Koppel Co. at Koppel, PA (The Iron Trade Review, October 10, 1907, p. 583), 1907

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

Retake this view · +15
Help out

Finish Koppel’s story

Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewThe Works of the Arthur Koppel Co. at K…: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Big BeaverIts storyBNorth Sewickley Township1 historic placeA−

Questions about Koppel’s history

What year was Koppel founded?

The Koppel post office opened in 1907, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1910.

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 (6), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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.