Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Portage Township

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
SSP Hall of ConifersPhoto: Nicholas · CC BY 2.0
–Not graded
History · Portage Township

Half of Portage Township’s homes were built after 1953

Most of Portage Township was built recently: 9% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1953. Below: 3 old photos and papers, maps from 1948 on, and the census since 2000.

0on the National Register
9%homes built before 1940
3old photos & papers
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Portage Township’s archive · credits on each photo

What stands out about Portage Township’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 3 old photos are in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.Lost villages2 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Portage Township, and 1 old place names are still on the map.Old housesHalf of Portage Township’s homes were built before 1953.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Portage Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Portage Township’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 viewGeneral view of the Genessee Valley, ne…: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners and burying grounds

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

Prestonville
1865–1873
Sizerville
1877–1926
18601940today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Sizerville
1cemetery inside Portage Township
Portage Township

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

The story so far

Portage Township, in brief

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

Portage Township is a township in Cameron County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 163 at the 2020 census, down from 171 in 2010.

Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 171 to 166 (-3%).

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

Timeline

Portage Township, 1856 to 1948

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1856In the archiveGeneral view of the Genessee Valley, near Portage, N.Y., looking up the river; Montague S…
  3. 1860In the archivePortage Railway Bridge - height, 230 feet
  4. 1865Post officeThe Prestonville post office opens
  5. 1873Post officeThe Prestonville post office closes
  6. 1877Post officeThe Sizerville post office opens
  7. 1885Born hereC. F. Collins is born here
  8. 1893In the archiveGrand Canyon of the Genesee, near Portage, N.Y
  9. 20th century
  10. 1926Post officeThe Sizerville post office closes
  11. 1948On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Portage Township, decade by decade

3 decades in the archive, from the 1850s to the 1890s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1850s–1890s3 items
General view of the Genessee Valley, near Portage, N.Y., looking up the river; Montague Street, Brooklyn, N.Y.; Port Cl…1856General view of the Genessee Valley, near Portage, N.…Portage Railway Bridge - height, 230 feet1860Portage Railway Bridge - height, 230 feetGrand Canyon of the Genesee, near Portage, N.Y1893Grand Canyon of the Genesee, near Portage, N.Y
1900s–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
Today3 recent
2022-06-13 11 02 05 View south along Pennsylvania State Route 155 (Sizerville Road) at Crooked Run Road in Portage Town…20222022-06-13 11 02 05 View south along Pennsylvania Sta…CCC memorial near Emporium2015CCC memorial near EmporiumSSP Hall of Conifers2011SSP Hall of Conifers
On the map

Portage Township on the map, 1948 to 1994

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

Portage Township on the 1948 USGS mapPortage Township on the 1950 USGS mapPortage Township on the 1971 USGS mapPortage Township on the 1994 USGS map1948Emporium sheet · 1:24,000

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

General view of the Genessee Valley, near Portage, N.Y., looking up the river; Montague Street, Brooklyn, N.Y.; Port Cl…
Retake this viewGeneral view of the Genessee Valley, near Portage, N.Y., looking up the river; Montague Street, Brooklyn, N.Y.; Port Cl…, 1856

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

Retake this view · +15
People over time

Portage Township, census by census

010020020002020Peak: 258

Between 163 and 258 people in every census since 2000.

3 censuses, 2000–2020.

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

Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Lumber TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townShippen TownshipIts storyC−

Questions about Portage Township’s history

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 (3), the Library of Congress (3), 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.