Townville was founded in 1824 by Noah Town, and named for him.
Thanks to its high banks along Muddy Creek, Townville saw many of its first settlers create saw mills, damming the creek and using the water fall to power their operations. Among these millers were Arthur Lamb, Ransom Kingsley, John Baker, Noah Town (who built his mill in 1833), Joseph Town, and Ebenezer Smith. These millers would saw lumber brought to them, receiving their payment by splitting the resulting lumber. Sold lumber was typically brought east to Oil Creek, where it was then rafted to the Allegheny River to reach Pittsburgh.
Passages that mention Townville, cut from the printed page as they were published.
history of crawford county, pennsylvania1885 · page 655Read the page →
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No very early schools were held in Steuben. The earliest was probably kept within the bounds of Townville Borough. Several early saw-mills were built-on Muddy Creek at Townville. About a half mile below the village a grist-mill was erected on Muddy Creek by Ebenezer Smith, but a few years later it was destroyed by fire and not rebuilt.
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history of crawford county, pennsylvania1885 · page 654Read the page →
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deer and returned home seven miles on the same day. Mr. Navy died about In 1822 a settlement was made in the vicinity of Townville. John Baker, Zephaniah Kingsley, George Northum and Silas Mason came that year and settled in one locality. The latter two settledon Tract 13871, just west of Townville; Northum, on the I. D. Gillet place; Mason, on the Jeremiah Pond farm. Both came from Fort Ann, N. Y. A few years later Northum moved to Erie County, near the lake, and Mason to Ohio. John Baker settled in the northwest corner of Tract 125, just north of Townville. He wasa
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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), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
2011