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History · Plum Township

Plum Township’s post office opened in 1851, and 24% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1927 on and the census since 2000.

1851first post office
0on the National Register
24%homes built before 1940
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Photo: Doug Kerr from Albany, NY, United States · CC BY-SA 2.0
Quick answers

How Plum Township began

When was Plum Township founded?

1851

The Plum Township post office opened in 1851, the earliest record of the town by name. Seven smaller post offices, Plumb (1829), Sunville (1837) and Wallaceville (1849), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

First census: 1,060 in 20002020 census: 903175 years
Founding year: the first Plum Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Plum Township’s past

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

Lost villages7 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Plum Township, and 5 old place names are still on the map.A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Plum Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners and places now gone

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

Plumb
1829–1830
Sunville
1837–1907
Wallaceville
1849–1906
Plum
1851–1906
Funkville
1864–1866
Diamond
1870–1964
Bradleytown
1885–1906
18201920today
Hamlets and corners on the map
BradleytownChapmanvilleDiamondSunvilleWallaceville
Gone or out of use
Plum Post Officepost officeSunville Post Officepost officeWallaceville Post Officepost office

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

Help out

Start Plum Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Plum 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
The story so far

Plum Township, in brief

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

Plum Township is a township in Venango County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 911 at the 2020 census, a decrease from 1,056 in 2010, which was, in turn a decline from the figure of 1,060 as of the 2000 census.

Its first post office opened in 1851. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 1,056 to 903 (-14%).

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

Timeline

Plum Township, 1829 to 1927

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1829Post officeThe Plumb post office opens
  3. 1830Post officeThe Plumb post office closes
  4. 1837Post officeThe Sunville post office opens
  5. 1849Post officeThe Wallaceville post office opens
  6. 1858Born hereMilton William Shreve is born here
  7. 20th century
  8. 1906Post officeThe Wallaceville post office closes
  9. 1907Post officeThe Sunville post office closes
  10. 1927On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Plum Township, decade by decade

Today1 recent
Pennsylvania State Route 272014Pennsylvania State Route 27
On the map

Plum Township on the map, 1927 to 1973

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

Plum Township on the 1927 USGS mapPlum Township on the 1932 USGS mapPlum Township on the 1945 USGS mapPlum Township on the 1967 USGS mapPlum Township on the 1973 USGS map1927Townville 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 Plum Township.

People over time

Plum Township, census by census

02004006008001,00020002020Peak: 1,060

Between 911 and 1,060 people in every census since 2000.

3 censuses, 2000–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Plum Township’s Wikipedia page.

Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Troy TownshipIts storyBJackson TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townOakland TownshipIts storyCCherrytree Township1 historic placeB+Wayne TownshipIts storyC+

Questions about Plum Township’s history

What year was Plum Township founded?

The Plum Township post office opened in 1851, 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), Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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.