Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Pine Grove Mills

We’ll email a one-tap link to publish your post. No password, and nothing is public until you click it.
Already a member? Sign in
–Not graded
History · Pine Grove Mills

Pine Grove Mills’ post office opened in 1809, and 22% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: 6 old photos and papers, maps from 1919 on, and the census since 1980.

1809first post office
0on the National Register
22%homes built before 1940
6old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Pine Grove Mills’ archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Pine Grove Mills began

When was Pine Grove Mills founded?

1809

The Pine Grove Mills post office opened in 1809, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 1,030 in 19802020 census: 1,481217 years
Founding year: the first Pine Grove Mills post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Pine Grove Mills’ past

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

On the map since 19195 editions of the USGS map, 1919 to 1998. Watch Pine Grove Mills change.Deep rootsA post office since 1809: 217 years of Pine Grove Mills.Old housesHalf of Pine Grove Mills’ homes were built before 1964.
★ What stands out · On the map

Pine Grove Mills on the map, 1919 to 1998

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

Pine Grove Mills on the 1919 USGS mapPine Grove Mills on the 1935 USGS mapPine Grove Mills on the 1963 USGS mapPine Grove Mills on the 1972 USGS mapPine Grove Mills on the 1998 USGS map1919Menno 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 Pine Grove Mills.

Timeline

Pine Grove Mills, 1874 to 1941

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1874In the archiveAtlas of Centre County, Pennsylvania
  3. 20th century
  4. 1919On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  5. 1941In the archiveSwimming hole
The story

How Pine Grove Mills came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Pine Grove Mills.

Read it all →

Thomas Ferguson, who, in 1791, bought 321 acres (1.30 km2) of land for 300 pounds in gold and silver coins, is credited with founding Pine Grove Mills. In 1800, he dammed Slab Cabin Run and built the first of the mills that would eventually give the town its name. According to local tradition, a grove of pine trees separating the sawmill from the gristmill along the run provided the rest of the name.

John Patton Jr., son of Centre Furnace ironmaster Col. John Patton, laid out the town of Pattonville at the east end of Pine Grove Mills in 1815, and the entire village went by Pattonville for a time.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

By decade

Pine Grove Mills, decade by decade

2 decades in the archive, from the 1870s to the 1940s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1870s1 item
Atlas of Centre County, Pennsylvania1874Atlas of Centre County, PennsylvaniaMap
1940s5 items
Swimming hole1941Swimming holeSwimming hole1941Swimming holeSwimming hole1941Swimming holeSwimming hole1941Swimming holeHay harvest near Pine Grove Mills, Pennsylvania1941Hay harvest near Pine Grove Mills, Pennsylvania
1950s–1990snothing yet
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.
Add from your album
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.

Swimming hole
Retake this viewSwimming hole, 1941

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Pine Grove Mills’ page.

Retake this view · +15
People over time

Pine Grove Mills, census by census

02004006008001,0001,2001,4001,600198020002020Peak: 1,502

Between 1,030 and 1,502 people in every census since 1980.

5 censuses, 1980–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Pine Grove Mills’ Wikipedia page.

Help out

Finish Pine Grove Mills’s story

Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewSwimming hole: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10

Questions about Pine Grove Mills’ history

What year was Pine Grove Mills founded?

The Pine Grove Mills post office opened in 1809, 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 Wikimedia Commons (1), the Library of Congress (5), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps and U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.