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Welcome to West Willow ...

West Willow is located in Lancaster County<1>.

While we don't have a date for the founding of West Willow, you might consider that their post office opened  in 1879.

A typical abbreviation for West Willow: W. Willow

West Willow is 430 feet [131 m] above sea level.<2>.

Time Zone: West Willow lies in the Eastern Time Zone (EST/EDT) and observes daylight saving time

Area Codes for West Willow: 717 & 223<3>

Communities Also Named West Willow ...

Using our Gazetteer, we found another community named West Willow - it's located in Michigan.

For more information, see our Tidbits & Trivia Page for West Willow.

Communities near West Willow ...

We have created a list of 10 communities that are near West Willow.

  • Lancaster
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
  • Ephrata
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)
  • Columbia
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Columbia have been provided by the GNIS.<5> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Columbia
    • Columbia is located in Lancaster County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 10,295 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Columbia <4>
  • Lititz
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lititz
    • Lititz is located in Lancaster County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 10,022 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Lititz <4>
  • Millersville
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
  • Mount Joy
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
  • Red Lion
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
  • New Holland
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
  • Manheim
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
  • New Freedom
    (18 miles [29 km] to the southwest)

To Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

We have a couple of sections for those tracing their genealogy.

We created a list of cemeteries that are in the area around West Willow. Our list includes the location of those cemeteries and we provide an overhead view. See our Cemetery List for West Willow.

Using the information from an 1895 Atlas, we've created a list of communities that were in the area of West Willow. Our list includes information such as whether the 1895 community had a post office or railroad service. See our List of 1890's Communities around West Willow.

We also have a detailed list of newspapers that have been published in the area around West Willow. See our Newspapers Page for West Willow.

TripAdvisor Tourism Pages for West Willow ...

Looking for more information about West Willow? A wonderful source is the TripAdvisor website. We always start with the TripAdvisor Tourism page, where you can read an overview with links that will help you find lodging, restaurants and attractions.

While we are unaware of a Tourism page that is specific to West Willow, there are neighboring communities that do have Tourism pages. A map of those communities can be found with our TripAdvisor Page for West Willow.

Adding West Willow to Our Gazetteer ...

We originally found mention of West Willow in both the FIPS-55 and the GNIS. For more information, see the FIPS and GNIS Codes sections on our Miscellaneous Page.

From our notes, the earliest published mention we've found for West Willow was in the document titled List of Post Offices from Cameron Blevins and Richard Helbock.<6>

From that list, the West Willow post office opened in 1879.

We also found West Willow in the book titled Business Atlas and Shippers' Guide (1895).

For more details, see References and Mentions for West Willow.

Footnotes ...

<1>If you're interested in how the shape of Pennsylvania's counties, including Lancaster, have changed over time, we recommend the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.
<2>The elevation is an estimate for the area around West Willow - it will be higher in some places and lower in others.
<3>When there's a risk of an area code running out of phone numbers, an 'Overlay Area Code' is created that has the same geographic boundaries as the existing area code. In this case, the 717 code has been Overlayed with the 223 area code. New phone numbers in the West Willow area will be assigned with one of these codes: 717 or 223. As a result, placing a call in the West Willow area will require 10-digit dialing (where you enter both the area code and then the phone number).
<4>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<5>The location has been supplied by the Geographic Names Information System - which is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). While these values should be definitive, we found that accuracy can vary and you should double-check the location if accuracy is required.
<6>A copy of their list with background information can be found at:

      https://cblevins.github.io/us-post-offices/data-biography/