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LongueVueClubandGolfCoursePhoto: Lee Paxton · CC BY-SA 4.0
–Not graded
History · Penn Hills

Penn Hills dates to 1850, and 1 of its places is on the National Register

1 place in town is on the National Register, among them a historic district with 5 buildings. Below: maps from 1953 on and the census since 1860.

1850founded
1on the National Register
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Quick answers

How Penn Hills began

When was Penn Hills founded?

1850

Penn Hills dates its founding to 1850 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1860.

First census: 1,821 in 1860176 years
Founding year: Wikidata. First post office: 1880.The full story ↓

What stands out about Penn Hills’ past

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

Lost villages5 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Penn Hills, and 23 old place names are still on the map.A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Penn Hills are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Boom and bustPeaked at 62,886 in 1970; 41,059 people lived here in 2020.
★ What stands out · Places that used to be

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

Five other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.

Herron
1880–1892
Nadine
1889–1904
Rodi
1890–1914
Universal
1909–1955
North Bessemer
1910–1955
18801950today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Black RidgeChurchill ValleyCrescent HillsEastvueEastwoodGascolaLaketon HeightsLincoln ParkMilltownNadineNewfieldNorth BessemerPenn RidgePeter Mans CornerPoint BreezeRodiRosedaleSandy CreekShadow ShuttleShannon HeightsUniversalValemont HeightsVerona Hills
Gone or out of use
Hebron SchoolschoolSeneca Junior High SchoolschoolWashington Schoolschool
9cemeteries and burying grounds inside Penn Hills
B'Nai IsraelGerman LutheranHebronMount Carmel CatholicMount HopePenn Forest Natural Burial ParkRichey FamilySaint JosephsSunset View

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

Help out

Start Penn Hills’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Penn Hills’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
People over time

Penn Hills, census by census

05,00010,00015,00020,00025,00030,00035,00040,00045,00050,00055,00060,00065,00070,000190019502000Peak: 62,886

Peaked at 62,886 in 1970; 41,059 people lived here in 2020.

17 censuses, 1860–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Penn Hills’ Wikipedia page.

The story

How Penn Hills came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Penn Hills.

Read it all →

In 1788, when Allegheny County was formed, the area now known as Penn Hills was part of Pitt Township. On January 16, 1850, Robert Logan, Thomas Davison and Daniel Bieber were appointed by the court to review the boundaries of a new township to be formed from the northern part of Wilkins. This new township was formed and named Adams, until August 1850 when the action of the court was reconsidered to change the name to McNair Township. The name was again changed to Penn Township by Act of Assembly and approved on February 10, 1851. In 1958 Penn Township became Penn Hills Township, and in 1976 Penn Hills became a home rule municipality. The earliest population was given in 1860, when there were 1,821 people living in Penn Township. The population grew to 2,685 in 1870 and 3,291 in 1880.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Penn Hills, 1850 to 1970

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1850
    FoundingPenn Hills is established
  3. 1880Post officeThe Herron post office opens
  4. 1889Post officeThe Nadine post office opens
  5. 1890Post officeThe Rodi post office opens
  6. 1892Post officeThe Herron post office closes
  7. 20th century
  8. 1904Post officeThe Nadine post office closes
  9. 1914Post officeThe Rodi post office closes
  10. 1923BuiltLongue Vue Club and Golf Course is built
  11. 1953On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  12. 1970CensusPopulation peaks at 62,886
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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On the map

Penn Hills on the map, 1953 to 1964

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

Penn Hills on the 1953 USGS mapPenn Hills on the 1964 USGS map1953Pittsburgh sheet · 1:250,000

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Penn Hills.

On the National Register

1 listing protects 5 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
5
each building in a district counts
first listed
2005
Longue Vue Club and Golf Course
Longue Vue Club and Golf Course, built 1923
Districts

Architectural styles listings

Late 19th and 20th Century Revivals1
English Norman1
French Rural1
Longue Vue Club and Golf CourseLate 19th and 20th Century Revivals · Built 1923

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

Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Plum2 historic placesB+MonroevilleIts storyC−Pittsburgh189 historic placesA+VeronaIts storyAOakmont2 historic placesB+Wilkinsburg5 historic placesA+Churchill1 historic placeC+BlawnoxIts storyC+O'Hara Township1 historic placeBWilkins TownshipIts storyB−

Questions about Penn Hills’ history

What year was Penn Hills founded?

In 1850, according to Wikidata. Penn Hills’ post office opened in 1880, and the census of 1860 counted 1,821 people here.

What is on the National Register in Penn Hills?

One place: the Longue Vue Club and Golf Course (listed 2005).

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
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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 Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), 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.