Penn Township was formed in 1828 when Muncy Township was divided for the fourth time. It is named for Penn Township in Berks County, which in turn is named for William Penn, the founder of Pennsylvania. Tobias and Isaac Kepner had migrated to eastern Lycoming County from Berks County and wanted their new home to have the same name as their old home. Much of the history of Penn Township can be found in the history of the Big Runaway and Muncy Township. Lumbering was the dominant industry in Penn Township during the mid-to-late 19th century. A man-made lake, Beaver Lake, was built to supply water power for a sawmill. The sawmill has long since disappeared but the lake remains.
Passages that mention Penn Township, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Lycoming County, Pennsylvania1929 · page 209Read the page →
Read the text
Penn Township.—Tobias and Isaac Kepner were largely influential in having Penn Township erected in 1828 and, having come from a place of the same name in Berks County they gave to it the name of the illustrious founder of the Commonwealth.
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.
By decade
Penn Township, decade by decade
One decade in the archive so far: the 1880s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
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.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Penn Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1932Eagles Mere 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 Penn Township.
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.
Retake this view1940 Census Enumeration District Maps - Pennsylvania - Lycoming County - Penn - ED 41-48, 1880
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Penn Township’s page.
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 (3), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, 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.
2015
2015
