A history of Pennsboro,
then and now
Postcards, papers and photographs of Pennsboro from public archives, woven together by decade. Neighbors fill in the gaps.
The story so far
from Wikipedia & the U.S. CensusPennsboro is a city in Ritchie County, West Virginia, United States. The population was 1,050 at the 2020 census. The city is located at the junction of U.S. Route 50 and West Virginia Route 74; the North Bend Rail Trail also passes through the city. The town was platted circa 1820 by Charles Penn, and named for him.
Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 1,171 to 1,054 (-10%). Half of its homes were built before 1958.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Pennsboro yet — the old photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Intro from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Population and housing: U.S. Census Bureau.
Timeline
built from the dates on the items belowFinish Pennsboro’s story
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
1 of 10 decades since 1900 have photos 🔁Retake an old viewPennsboro, West Virginia 1899, 1899: stand where they stood+15 📦Share a family photoSign in to add one+10Famous people from Pennsboro
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Pennsboro, decade by decade
1920s
1990s
Then & now
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as Pennsboro, West Virginia 1899 (1899) and it appears here side by side.
🔁 Retake this view · +15Stories next door
nearby towns’ historyFrom Wikimedia Commons (6). Images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.