Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Below: maps from 1903 on and the census since 1860.
The New Washington post office opened in 1849, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 1859.
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how New Washington’s history is told.
Peaked at 280 in 1880; 50 people lived here in 2020.
17 censuses, 1860–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on New Washington’s Wikipedia page.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of New Washington. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of New Washington.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of New Washington yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
New Washington is a borough in Clearfield County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 50 at the 2020 census.
Its first post office opened in 1849. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 59 to 50 (-15%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Passages that mention New Washington, cut from the printed page as they were published.
on its waters are recalled by many a sudden termination to the life of some well known raftsmen. Upon the banks of Chest Creek, near the northern boundary of the township, on the line of the Clearfield and Jefferson Railroad, and not far from New Washington, in Burnside township, is the first settlement which assumed the proportions of a town. It was first called Hurd Post-office, deriving its name from the large family of Hurds which then resided and still continue to reside in that vicinity. Mr. Henry Hurd erected the first dwelling on the site of the present town of Newburg, and indeed the Hurd family are
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
The Glen Hope and New Washington Turnpike and Plank Road Company was incorporated April 22, 1856, to extend from a point on the Little Bald Eagle and Glen Hope road, near where the public road from Glen Hope to Chest Creek crosses the same, and thence by the nearest and most convenient route to New Washington. The capital stock consisted of two hundred and fifty
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
But in 1858 the hamlet of Lumberville became a borough under the name of Lumber City, and in 1859 New Washington and in 1864 Osceola were incorporated. No other boroughs were added to this list for eight years, when, in 1872, the village of Houtzdale was incorporated. From that year on the number of boroughs increased rapidly
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Nobody well known was born in New Washington itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
New Washington had its own post office from 1849 to 1929.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The New Washington post office opened in 1849, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1859.
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
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 (5), 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.
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