Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 60% of U.S. towns · #598 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. What drives it
Most of Amity Township was built recently: 5% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1990. Below: 4 old photos and papers, maps from 1968 on, and the census since 1980.
More historic than 60% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Amity Township is more historic than 60% of U.S. towns, #598 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
Pennsylvania towns list about as much on the Register as the country (a typical Pennsylvania town has 2.1 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Amity Township’s 14.9 sits above most of its state (80% of Pennsylvania towns have fewer) while its 20 historic buildings outnumber those of 79% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: our sources. Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Another post office, Yellow House, opened and closed inside today’s town.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Amity Township’s history is told.
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
From Wikipedia’s history of Amity Township.
The George Douglass House, Griesemer-Brown Mill Complex, Old St. Gabriel's Episcopal Church, Mouns Jones House, Rhoads-Lorah House and Barn, Weidner Mill, and White Horse Tavern are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Born hereDavid B. Brunner is born here
In the archiveTownship map of Berks County, Pennsylvania, from actual surveys
In the archive1940 Census Enumeration District Maps - Pennsylvania - Berks County - Amity - ED 6-3
Born hereGuy L. Moser is born here
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
In the archiveConrail 9621 (MP15)3 decades in the archive, from the 1860s to the 1980s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Amity Township. 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 Amity Township.
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 Amity Township’s page.
Retake this view · +15Grew from 5,883 people in 1980 to 13,435 in 2020.
5 censuses, 1980–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Amity Township’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Amity Township is more historic than 60% of U.S. towns, #598 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
7 listings: 7 buildings, among them the Old Swede's House (listed 1974, the first). 20 historic buildings in all.
5% of Amity Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.3 points), against a typical 18% for a Pennsylvania town; the median home was built in 1990.
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).
From Wikimedia Commons (8), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (7), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
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