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History · Southwest Township

Southwest Township’s post office opened in 1852, and 25% of its homes were built before 1940

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

1852first post office
0on the National Register
25%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory
Photo: Doug Kerr from Albany, NY, United States · CC BY-SA 2.0
Quick answers

How Southwest Township began

When was Southwest Township founded?

1852

The Southwest Township post office opened in 1852, the earliest record of the town by name. Five smaller post offices, South West (1852), Scofield (1872) and Enterprise (1874), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

First census: 561 in 20002020 census: 427174 years
Founding year: the first Southwest Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Southwest Township’s past

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

Lost villages5 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Southwest Township, and 4 old place names are still on the map.A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Southwest Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Old housesHalf of Southwest Township’s homes were built before 1964.
★ What stands out · Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

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

South West
1852–1874
Scofield
1872–1903
Enterprise
1874–1935
Wheeldale
1886–1891
Selkirk
1891–1902
18501940today
Hamlets and corners on the map
DotyvilleEnterprisePinevilleSelkirk
Gone or out of use
Colorado Goodwill Hill Grand Valley Oil FieldoilfieldColorado SchoolschoolMount Hope SchoolschoolSelkirk SchoolschoolSwede Hill Schoolschool
1cemetery inside Southwest Township
Cheney

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

Help out

Start Southwest Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Southwest 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

Southwest Township, in brief

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

Southwest Township is a township in Warren County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 425 at the 2020 census, down from 527 at the 2010 census. 561 at the 2000 census.

Its first post office opened in 1852. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 527 to 427 (-19%).

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

Timeline

Southwest Township, 1852 to 1935

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1852Post officeThe South West post office opens
  3. 1872Post officeThe Scofield post office opens
  4. 1874Post officeThe South West post office closes
  5. 1874Post officeThe Enterprise post office opens
  6. 20th century
  7. 1903Post officeThe Scofield post office closes
  8. 1927On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  9. 1935Post officeThe Enterprise post office closes
By decade

No old photos in the archives yet

Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.

Be the first to add onePhotograph a print flat, in daylight, no flash.
Add from your album
On the map

Southwest Township on the map, 1927 to 1973

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

Southwest Township on the 1927 USGS mapSouthwest Township on the 1933 USGS mapSouthwest Township on the 1968 USGS mapSouthwest Township on the 1973 USGS map1927Titusville 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 Southwest Township.

People over time

Southwest Township, census by census

010020030040050060020002020Peak: 561

Between 425 and 561 people in every census since 2000.

3 censuses, 2000–2020.

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

Famous people

Famous people close to Southwest Township

Nobody well known was born in Southwest Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.

See all →
Jeannie SeelyAmerican singer-songwriter · b. 1940
Julien BryanAmerican photojournalist · b. 1899
Michael C. KerrAmerican politician · b. 1827
Paul S. L. JohnsonAmerican clergyman · b. 1873
John E. PetersonAmerican politician · b. 1938
Ralph DunnAmerican actor · b. 1900
Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Triumph TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townEldred TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townOil Creek Township1 historic placeA−

Questions about Southwest Township’s history

What year was Southwest Township founded?

The Southwest Township post office opened in 1852, 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 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.