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History · Port Matilda

Port Matilda dates to 1836, and 44% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1922 on, and the census since 1880.

1836founded
0on the National Register
44%homes built before 1940
2old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Port Matilda’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Port Matilda began

When was Port Matilda founded?

1836

Port Matilda dates its founding to 1836 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1880.

First census: 310 in 18802020 census: 578190 years
Founding year: Wikidata. First post office: 1852.The full story ↓

What stands out about Port Matilda’s past

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

A history waiting to be writtenOnly 2 old photos are in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.Old housesHalf of Port Matilda’s homes were built before 1951.On the map since 19227 editions of the USGS map, 1922 to 1994. Watch Port Matilda change.Deep rootsEstablished in 1836: 190 years of Port Matilda.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Port Matilda’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Port Matilda’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewHalfmoon 1861: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story

How Port Matilda came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Port Matilda.

Read it all →

Squire Clement Beckwith laid out the town in 1850 and named it to honor his daughter, Matilda. Why he chose to call it Port Matilda is not clear, but the name may have reflected his hope that the town would eventually be connected to the Bald Eagle and Spring Creek Branch of the Pennsylvania Canal. While the canal did not reach Port Matilda, the Bald Eagle Railroad did, and the community became a market center in the Bald Eagle Valley for agricultural and lumber products.

ChaptersIndustrial history

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

On the map

Port Matilda on the map, 1922 to 1994

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

Port Matilda on the 1922 USGS mapPort Matilda on the 1939 USGS mapPort Matilda on the 1945 USGS mapPort Matilda on the 1959 USGS mapPort Matilda on the 1971 USGS mapPort Matilda on the 1981 USGS mapPort Matilda on the 1994 USGS map1922Philipsburg 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 Port Matilda.

Timeline

Port Matilda, 1836 to 1922

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1836
    FoundingPort Matilda is established
  3. 1852Post officeThe Port Matilda post office opens
  4. 1861In the archiveHalfmoon 1861
  5. 1874In the archiveAtlas of Centre County, Pennsylvania
  6. 20th century
  7. 1922On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Port Matilda, decade by decade

2 decades in the archive, from the 1860s to the 1870s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1860s–1870s2 items
Halfmoon 18611861Halfmoon 1861Atlas of Centre County, Pennsylvania1874Atlas of Centre County, PennsylvaniaMap
Today4 recent
High Street sb, Port Matilda, PA (1), Aug. 20242024High Street sb, Port Matilda, PA (1), Aug. 2024High Street nb, Port Matilda, PA (1), Aug. 20242024High Street nb, Port Matilda, PA (1), Aug. 2024Port Matilda PA12014Port Matilda PA1US Route 322 - Pennsylvania2003US Route 322 - Pennsylvania
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.

Halfmoon 1861
Retake this viewHalfmoon 1861, 1861

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Port Matilda’s page.

Retake this view · +15
People over time

Port Matilda, census by census

010020030040050060070018801900192019401960198020002020Peak: 697

Between 310 and 697 people in every census since 1880.

11 censuses, 1880–2020.

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

Questions about Port Matilda’s history

What year was Port Matilda founded?

In 1836, according to Wikidata. Port Matilda’s post office opened in 1852, and the census of 1880 counted 310 people here.

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 (6), 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.