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–Not graded
History · Natrona

Natrona’s post office opened in 1861, and 57% of its homes were built before 1940

1 place in town is on the National Register. Below: 4 old photos and papers from 1968 on.

1861first post office
1on the National Register
57%homes built before 1940
4old photos & papers
4famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Natrona’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Natrona began

When was Natrona founded?

1861

The Natrona post office opened in 1861, the earliest record of the town by name.

165 years
Founding year: the first Natrona post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Natrona’s past

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

A history waiting to be writtenOnly 4 old photos are in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.Old housesHalf of Natrona’s homes were built before 1938.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Natrona’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Date a photo2 archive items have no date. Guess the decade.+2Retake an old view36 Wood Street (Rowhouse), 36 Wood Stre…: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story

How Natrona came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Natrona.

Read it all →

The original village of Natrona – then known as East Tarentum – was built as a company town by the Pennsylvania Salt Manufacturing Company in the 1850s. It received its name from "natron", a naturally occurring mineral composed primarily of sodium carbonate and sodium bicarbonate.

The company began with two salt wells in 1850, and continued operations until 1959. By 1876, the company, which owned the cryolite deposits of Greenland, brought the crude mineral to its works in Natrona, where the mineral was pulverized, sifted, heated, reacted with calcium carbonate and leached to produce pure carbonate of soda (sodium carbonate) and aluminate of soda (sodium aluminate).

ChaptersCanalRailroadsMining

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Natrona, 1882 to 1968

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1882Born hereDutch Rudolph is born here
  3. 20th century
  4. 1929Born hereEd Modzelewski is born here
  5. 1931Born hereDick Modzelewski is born here
  6. 1956Born hereBrian D. Clark is born here
  7. 1968In the archiveProject Blue Book report - 1968-08-9677478-Natrona-Pennsylvania
By decade

Natrona, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1960s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1960s2 items
Project Blue Book report - 1968-08-9677478-Natrona-Pennsylvania1968Project Blue Book report - 1968-08-9677478-Natrona-Pe…BookProject Blue Book report - 1969-02-7171958-Natrona-Pennsylvania1969Project Blue Book report - 1969-02-7171958-Natrona-Pe…Book
1970s–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
Date unknown2 to date
36 Wood Street (Rowhouse), 36 Wood StreetDate?36 Wood Street (Rowhouse), 36 Wood Street16 Blue Ridge Avenue (Rowhouse), 16 Blue Ridge AvenueDate?16 Blue Ridge Avenue (Rowhouse), 16 Blue Ridge Avenue
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.

36 Wood Street (Rowhouse), 36 Wood Street
Retake this view36 Wood Street (Rowhouse), 36 Wood Street

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

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

1 listing protects 152 historic buildings

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
152
each building in a district counts

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

Famous people

4 famous people were born in Natrona

Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.

See all →
D
Dick ModzelewskiAmerican football player and coach · b. 1931
B
Brian D. ClarkAmerican politician · b. 1956
D
Dutch RudolphAmerican baseball player · b. 1882
E
Ed ModzelewskiPlayer of American football · b. 1929
Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Natrona HeightsIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townHarrison Township2 historic placesA−Lower Burrell1 historic placeC+BrackenridgeIts storyC+

Questions about Natrona’s history

What year was Natrona founded?

The Natrona post office opened in 1861, 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 Wikimedia Commons (2), the Library of Congress (2), Wikipedia and Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.