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History · Tell Township

Tell Township’s post office opened in 1883, and 24% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1944 on and the census since 1970.

1883first post office
0on the National Register
24%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Tell Township began

When was Tell Township founded?

1883

The Tell Township post office opened in 1883, the earliest record of the town by name. Four smaller post offices, Nossville (1862), McNeal (1882) and Tell (1883), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

First census: 571 in 19702020 census: 550143 years
Founding year: the first Tell Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Tell Township’s past

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

Lost villages4 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Tell Township, and 4 old place names are still on the map.A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Tell 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 burying grounds

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

Nossville
1862–1913
McNeal
1882–1921
Blairs Mills
1883–today
Tell
1883–1888
Culbertson
1886–1910
18601940today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Blairs MillsCulbertsonNossvilleRichvale
10cemeteries and burying grounds inside Tell Township
CrowElfJeffriesJones / Chapman / ParsonMcMullenMount Zion ChurchNossvilleRichvaleSalemShade Valley Union

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

Help out

Start Tell Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Tell 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

Tell Township, in brief

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

Tell Township is a township that is located in Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 550 at the time of the 2020 census.

Its first post office opened in 1883. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 662 to 550 (-17%).

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

Timeline

Tell Township, 1862 to 1944

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1862Post officeThe Nossville post office opens
  3. 1882Post officeThe McNeal post office opens
  4. 1883Post officeThe Blairs Mills post office opens
  5. 20th century
  6. 1913Post officeThe Nossville post office closes
  7. 1921Post officeThe McNeal post office closes
  8. 1944On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
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

Tell Township on the map, 1944 to 1971

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

Tell Township on the 1944 USGS mapTell Township on the 1959 USGS mapTell Township on the 1971 USGS map1944Mt Union 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 Tell Township.

People over time

Tell Township, census by census

0100200300400500600700198020002020Peak: 662

Between 550 and 662 people in every census since 1970.

6 censuses, 1970–2020.

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

Famous people

Famous people close to Tell Township

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

See all →
George M. ChilcottAmerican politician · b. 1828
James Monroe MillerAmerican politician (Republican) · b. 1852
I
Ira J. DeenAmerican artist · b. 1874
Robert Milton SpeerAmerican politician · b. 1838
Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Cromwell Township1 historic placeB+Shirley Township3 historic placesA−Fannett TownshipIts storyB−Lack TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townDublin Township1 historic placeA−

Questions about Tell Township’s history

What year was Tell Township founded?

The Tell Township post office opened in 1883, 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.