Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Photo: Canadian2006 · CC BY-SA 3.0Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1895 on, and the census since 1850.
West Elizabeth dates its founding to 1833 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1850.
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how West Elizabeth’s history is told.
Peaked at 1,297 in 1940; 403 people lived here in 2020.
18 censuses, 1850–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on West Elizabeth’s Wikipedia page.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of West Elizabeth. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of West Elizabeth.
From Wikipedia’s history of West Elizabeth.
The town was initially laid out in 1833, and incorporated March 3, 1848. West Elizabeth was a coal mining and boat-building town. Coal was transported by barge down the Monongahela River to industries in Pittsburgh. Coal was transported from the mine to the river by Walton's Coal Incline and the O'Neil and Company Incline.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention West Elizabeth, cut from the printed page as they were published.
is now Forward township, this part of that territory was Yohogania county, and the courts were held at the house of Andrew Heath, who lived near the town of West Elizabeth, on the west side of the Monongahela. In the records of that court the names of Thomas Applegate, Daniel Applegate, James Wall and Joseph Becket appear as jurors, road-viewers, etc. They were residents in this territory, and had doubtless taken the oath of allegiance to Virginia. What is now Forward was a part of Rostraver township when Westmoreland county embraced this part of Allegheny.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
is now Forward township, this part of that territory was Yohogania county, and the courts were held at the house of Andrew Heath, who lived near the town of West Elizabeth, on the west side of the Monongahela. In the records of that court the names of Thomas Applegate, Daniel Applegate, James Wall and Joseph Becket appear as jurors, road-viewers, etc. They were residents in this territory, and had doubtless taken the oath of allegiance to Virginia. What is now Forward was a part of Rostraver township when Westmoreland county embraced this part of Allegheny.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
West Elizabeth Borough. — This borough is situated on the west bank of the Monongahela river, twenty-two miles from Pittsburgh by railroad. At the lower end of the town the river hills trend obliquely from the bank, leaving a triangular level area, which gradually widens to a depth sufiicient for several streets. The advantages of the location for a town site were first appreciated by Gilbert Stevens, Erastus Percival, Andrew Craighead and Samuel Frew, by whom, in 1833, the town was laid out. The streets are numbered from First to Seventh in order from the river, and Ferry, Market, Wayne, Mill, Washing-
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
West Elizabeth Borough. — This borough is situated on the west bank of the Monongahela river, twenty-two miles from Pittsburgh by railroad. At the lower end of the town the river hills trend obliquely from the bank, leaving a triangular level area, which gradually widens to adepth sufficient for several streets. The advantages of the location for a town site were first apj)reciated by Gilbert Stevens, Erastus Percival, Andrew Craighead and Samuel Frew, by whom, in 1833, the town was laid out. The streets are numbered from First to Seventh in order from the river, and Ferry, Market, Wayne, Mill, Washing-
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.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
In the archiveElizabeth and West Elizabeth, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania 1897
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
In the archiveTwilight (steamer) at West Elizabeth, PA in 19122 decades in the archive, from the 1890s to the 1910s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.
1895Sheet 1 of 2Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on West Elizabeth’s page.
Retake this view · +15Nobody well known was born in West Elizabeth itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
West Elizabeth’s post office has been open since 1842.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
In 1833, according to Wikidata. West Elizabeth’s post office opened in 1842, and the census of 1850 counted 328 people here.
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
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 (6), Wikipedia, 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, Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) 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.
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