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Troutville, PennsylvaniaPhoto: Doug Kerr · CC BY-SA 2.0
–Not graded
History · Troutville

Troutville dates to 1854, and 42% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1922 on, and the census since 1900.

1854founded
0on the National Register
42%homes built before 1940
2old photos & papers
1famous people
From Troutville’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Troutville began

When was Troutville founded?

1854

Troutville dates its founding to 1854 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1900.

First census: 308 in 19002020 census: 230172 years
Founding year: Wikidata. First post office: 1857.

What stands out about Troutville’s past

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

★ What stands out · Help out

Start Troutville’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
The story so far

Troutville, in brief

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

Troutville is a borough in Clearfield County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 230 at the 2020 census.

Troutville was established in 1854. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 243 to 230 (-5%).

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

On the map

Troutville on the map, 1922 to 1994

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

Troutville on the 1922 USGS mapTroutville on the 1944 USGS mapTroutville on the 1966 USGS mapTroutville on the 1973 USGS mapTroutville on the 1981 USGS mapTroutville on the 1994 USGS map1922Du Bois 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 Troutville.

From the old history books

What they wrote about Troutville, 1887–1911

Passages that mention Troutville, cut from the printed page as they were published.

Andrew Moore, of Penn township, built a saw and grist-mill at what is now known as Rockton (Union township), known to this day as Moore’s Mill. From 1849 to 1850 Jacob Kuntz built a grist-mill on East Branch (of Mahoning) about ene and a half miles south of Troutville. This mill had two pair of Fre…
History of Clearfield County Pennsylvania1887 · page 463Read the page →
Read the text

Andrew Moore, of Penn township, built a saw and grist-mill at what is now known as Rockton (Union township), known to this day as Moore’s Mill. From 1849 to 1850 Jacob Kuntz built a grist-mill on East Branch (of Mahoning) about ene and a half miles south of Troutville. This mill had two pair of French burrs, originally run by water power but now by steam, and known today as Rishel’s Mill. In 1854 Jeremiah Miles built a steam and water-power gristmill on the head waters of Stump Creek, two miles west of Luthersburgh.

Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
In 1876 he moved into Troutville, where he lived ten years, afterwards residing ten years on the farm and then returning to Troutville, where he now lives and where he has a fine residence and office adjoining, having resided here for the last fifteen years. He went into the undertaking business in…
Twentieth century history of Clearfield County, Pennsylvania1911 · page 358Read the page →
Read the text

In 1876 he moved into Troutville, where he lived ten years, afterwards residing ten years on the farm and then returning to Troutville, where he now lives and where he has a fine residence and office adjoining, having resided here for the last fifteen years. He went into the undertaking business in 1878, having received his diploma in embalming at the Pitts-

Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
P. W. Barrett. The post-office at Troutville was established through the efforts of Rev. John Reams and Jacob Kuntz, in 1857 or 58; Mr. Kuntz also was its first postmaster. Troutville was “laid out” as a town three years previous to this time. The village was named after Jacob Trautwein. The town w…
History of Clearfield County Pennsylvania1887 · page 462Read the page →
Read the text

P. W. Barrett. The post-office at Troutville was established through the efforts of Rev. John Reams and Jacob Kuntz, in 1857 or 58; Mr. Kuntz also was its first postmaster. Troutville was “laid out” as a town three years previous to this time. The village was named after Jacob Trautwein. The town was often nick-named ‘‘ Fishtown,” deriving that ‘‘sobriquet” from a large trout which was painted on a swinging sign of the first hotel or tavern (as it was then called) of the town. As the Rev. John Reams claims the honor of naming the village of Troutville, also of drawing up the writings and securing

Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Troutville in March, 1874, and at its "out start" promised great results, but it early commenced to languish, and finally after an existence of (about) three years disbanded.
History of Clearfield County, Pennsylvania1887 · page 470Read the page →
Read the text

Troutville in March, 1874, and at its "out start" promised great results, but it early commenced to languish, and finally after an existence of (about) three years disbanded.

Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.

Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.

Timeline

Troutville, 1854 to 1923

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1854
    FoundingTroutville is established
  3. 1857Post officeThe Troutville post office opens
  4. 1878In the archiveBrady Township, Caldwell Atlas, 1878 Map
  5. 20th century
  6. 1921Born hereDonald C. Bruce is born here
  7. 1922On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  8. 1923In the archiveTroutville PA Trinity Reformed PHS607
By decade

Troutville, decade by decade

2 decades in the archive, from the 1870s to the 1920s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1930s–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
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.

Troutville PA Trinity Reformed PHS607
Retake this viewTroutville PA Trinity Reformed PHS607, 1923

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

Retake this view · +15
People over time

Troutville, census by census

01002003001900192019401960198020002020Peak: 308

Between 190 and 308 people in every census since 1900.

13 censuses, 1900–2020.

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

Questions about Troutville’s history

What year was Troutville founded?

In 1854, according to Wikidata. Troutville’s post office opened in 1857, and the census of 1900 counted 308 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 (5), 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), 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.