Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Photo: Nyttend · Public domainBelow: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1961 on, and the census since 1910.
West Liberty dates its founding to 1829 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1910.
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 Liberty’s history is told.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
In the archive1940 Census Enumeration District Maps - Pennsylvania - Butler County - Brady - ED 10-3
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyWikipedia doesn’t have a history of West Liberty yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
West Liberty is a borough in Butler County, Pennsylvania, United States. As of the 2020 census, West Liberty had a population of 335.
West Liberty was established in 1829. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 343 to 335 (-2%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Passages that mention West Liberty, cut from the printed page as they were published.
and later another was taught where the Franklin road crosses Muddycreek by a man named Fletcher. John Wigton, who was not an educated man but gifted as a scribe, conducted writing classes at his home, and also at West Liberty and other places. Thomas Gorley taught in an old log school house at West Liberty. The old Stone House is a historic old point in Brady Township, a tavern having been established there in the early days and continued for many years. The old log house built by the Douglass family was
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
West Liberty, in Brady Township, was laid out as a town February 13, 1829, by James J. Hoge, and surveyed. It did not make any headway as a settlement until 1845. In 1847 a plat of the village was recorded. It was incorporated as a borough on September 5, 1903. It is a farming community.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Associale Church. — A. congregation of the Associate Church, better known as Seceders. was organized at West Liberty in 1859, and continued to woi'ship there nntil 1878, when the place of meeting was changed to Centreville. and a house of worship erected at a cost of Sl.fjOO. No church was erected at West Liberty. The pastors were all supplied until Rev.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
township. Later, Mr. Fletcher presided over a school, near where the Franklin road crosses Muddy creek; then a subscription school was organized in the Stone- 1 louse neighborhood, and next a writing school was taught by John Wigton at his home, and at West Liberty and other places, where lie could gather a few pupils. Thomas Gorley, an Irishman, who became the autocrat of the log school-house at West Liberty, and ultimately of the settlement, is well remembered. There are. now, six schools in the township. In June. 1893, there were ninety-eight male and eight-five female pupils of school age registered. The total receipts for
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.
One decade in the archive so far: the 1880s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of West Liberty. 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 Liberty.
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 Liberty’s page.
Retake this view · +15Between 191 and 343 people in every census since 1910.
12 censuses, 1910–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on West Liberty’s Wikipedia page.
Nobody well known was born in West Liberty itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
West Liberty had its own post office from 1868 to 1902.
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 1829, according to Wikidata. West Liberty’s post office opened in 1868, and the census of 1910 counted 199 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 (2), 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.
2015