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History · Oliver Township

36% of Oliver Township’s homes were built before 1940

0on the National Register
36%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

Where Oliver Township’s name came from

How did Oliver Township get its name?

Oliver Township was named after Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry.

Name: Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

What stands out about Oliver 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 Oliver Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Lost villages3 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Oliver Township, and 6 old place names are still on the map.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Oliver Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Oliver 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.

Coolspring
1838–1966
Sprankle Mills
1857–1984
Oliveburg
1862–today
Markton
1895–1934
18301930today
Hamlets and corners on the map
CoolspringCoulterEast BranchMarktonOliveburgSprankle Mills
Gone or out of use
Laurel Ridge SchoolschoolSmith SchoolschoolStartzell Schoolschool
7cemeteries and burying grounds inside Oliver Township
Barton ChapelBurkett HollowCoolspringMarktonOld EbenezerOliveSaint Pauls Lutheran

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

The story so far

Oliver Township, in brief

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

Oliver Township is a township in Jefferson County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 1,006 at the 2020 census. It was named after Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry.

Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 1,083 to 1,000 (-8%).

Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.

Timeline

Oliver Township, 1838 to 1984

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1838Post officeThe Coolspring post office opens
  3. 1857Post officeThe Sprankle Mills post office opens
  4. 1862Post officeThe Oliveburg post office opens
  5. 20th century
  6. 1966Post officeThe Coolspring post office closes
  7. 1984Post officeThe Sprankle Mills post office closes
By decade

Oliver Township, decade by decade

Today5 recent
Pennsylvania State Route 362012Pennsylvania State Route 36Pennsylvania State Route 362012Pennsylvania State Route 36Pennsylvania State Route 362012Pennsylvania State Route 36Pennsylvania State Route 362012Pennsylvania State Route 36Map of Jefferson County, Pennsylvania Highlighting2008Map of Jefferson County, Pennsylvania HighlightingMap
Famous people

Famous people close to Oliver Township

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

See all →
Britt BakerAmerican professional wrestler · b. 1991
Devin MesoracoAmerican professional baseball player · b. 1988
Billy HunterAmerican baseball player and coach · b. 1928
Albert C. ThompsonLawyer, judge and politician · b. 1842
D
David BarclayAmerican politician · b. 1823
D
DeVeren BookwalterAmerican actor · b. 1939
Stories next door

History across the town line

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

McCalmont TownshipIts storyBKnox TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townRinggold TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townPerry TownshipIts storyBBeaver TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Oliver Township’s history

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 (5), 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.