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History · Pavia Township

Pavia Township’s post office opened in 1868, and 14% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1902 on.

1868first post office
0on the National Register
14%homes built before 1940
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Photo: Rudi Riet · CC BY-SA 2.0
Quick answers

How Pavia Township began

When was Pavia Township founded?

1868

The Pavia Township post office opened in 1868, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Pavia (1868), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

2020 census: 286158 years
Founding year: the first Pavia Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Pavia 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 Pavia Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.On the map since 19024 editions of the USGS map, 1902 to 1981. Watch Pavia Township change.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Pavia Township’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
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On the map

Pavia Township on the map, 1902 to 1981

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

Pavia Township on the 1902 USGS mapPavia Township on the 1963 USGS mapPavia Township on the 1972 USGS mapPavia Township on the 1981 USGS map1902Ebensburg 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 Pavia Township.

The story

How Pavia Township came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Pavia Township.

Read it all →

The township was known as Union Township until it changed its name to Pavia Township sometime between 1993 and 1995.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Pavia Township, 1868 to 1943

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1868Post officeThe Pavia post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1902On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  5. 1943Post officeThe Pavia post office closes
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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Places that used to be

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

Another post office, Pavia, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Hamlets and corners on the map
Pavia
Gone or out of use
Claysburg Air Force Stationmilitary
1cemetery inside Pavia Township
Mount Zion

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

Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Summerhill TownshipIts storyB+Lincoln TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townKimmel TownshipIts storyB−Greenfield TownshipIts storyB−

Questions about Pavia Township’s history

What year was Pavia Township founded?

The Pavia Township post office opened in 1868, 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 Wikipedia, 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.