Center Township, Beaver County, Pennsylvania
township in Beaver County, Pennsylvania
Center Township is a township in Beaver County, Pennsylvania, United States. As of the 2020 census, it had a population of 11,649. It is a suburban community located approximately 25 miles (40 km) northwest of Pittsburgh. It is home to two colleges, Penn State Beaver and Community College of Beaver County. Center Township is also a retail center for Beaver County, home to the Beaver Valley Mall.
History
Prior to colonial explorers, native Indians traveled the "Glade Path", an important trail crossing the future township from north to south. One family of settlers in Beaver Valley, the Bakers, made their home in 1774 in the hills above Raccoon Creek near what is now Pleasant Drive in Center Township. At that time, all lands south of the Ohio had been claimed by Virginia, with the seat of government at Pittsburgh. During the course of the Revolutionary War, Fort McIntosh was constructed at Beaver to aid settlers in defense against the Indians and the British at Detroit. Supplies were brought from Pittsburgh along the old Indian path.
“Center Township, Beaver County, Pennsylvania” enters the record as township in Beaver County, Pennsylvania. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Center, Township and Beaver can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Center Township, Beaver County, Pennsylvania” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Center, Township and Beaver provides the most credible route into that argument.
Maps, plans, fabric surveys and administrative records can establish how the site’s name, extent and function changed over time. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 17, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1776567. VIAF identifies the subject as 125510900. The Library of Congress control number is n82076169. Authority coordinates are 40.617, -80.299. 1 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2020 and 1774.
A single description cannot reconcile every naming convention, rebuilding phase or administrative transfer associated with a place. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Center Township, Beaver County, Pennsylvania”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Center Township, Beaver County, Pennsylvania primary sources, Center Township, Beaver County, Pennsylvania archive and Center research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Center Township, Beaver County, Pennsylvania”?
- Which earlier names or jurisdictions may reveal additional records?
- What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Center Township, Beaver County, Pennsylvania” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.