The story
Read it all →How Armstrong Township came to be
From Wikipedia’s history of Armstrong Township.
The Thomas Covered Bridge was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
B−History
History · Armstrong Township
1 of Armstrong Township’s places is on the National Register
More historic than 51% of U.S. towns · #735 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. What drives it
Its Register listing is the Thomas Covered Bridge. Most of Armstrong Township was built recently: 9% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1986. Below: maps from 1902 on and the census since 1850.
1on the National Register
9%homes built before 1940
Quick answers
About Armstrong Township’s history
How historic is Armstrong Township?
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What drives the grade ↓More historic than 51% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
History grade
What drives Armstrong Township’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Armstrong Township is more historic than 51% of U.S. towns, #735 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
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HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Armstrong Township’s overall grade.
Founding eraNo founding year we can rely on, so the grade uses the other two–Homes built before 19408.7% of homes (±3.7) · typical PA town 17.7% · U.S. 8.4%C+National Register1 listing, 3.6 per 10,000 residents · typical PA town 2.1 · U.S. 2.4B
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 51%
NewerOlder
Pennsylvania towns of 2,500+ (1,035)Ahead of 29%
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 Armstrong Township’s 3.6 sits near the middle of its state (63% of Pennsylvania towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on two of the three inputs, so a change in either one moves the letter more than it would with three. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±3.7 points).
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 →
What stands out about Armstrong Township’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Armstrong Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Shrank, then grewLost a third of its people between 1870 and 1930, then grew 3-fold.Lost villages1 post office opened and closed inside today’s Armstrong Township, and 3 old place names are still on the map.
★ What stands out · Help out
Start Armstrong Township’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Armstrong Township’s history is told.
Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.People over time
Armstrong Township, census by census
Lost a third of its people between 1870 and 1930, then grew 3-fold.
18 censuses, 1850–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Armstrong Township’s Wikipedia page.
Places that used to be
Lost post offices, old corners and burying grounds
Another post office, Parkwood, opened and closed inside today’s town.
Hamlets and corners on the map
CreteJ M JunctionParkwood
5cemeteries and burying grounds inside Armstrong Township
CreteCurry RunShelocta PresbyterianUnionWest Union United Presbyterian Church
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Timeline
Armstrong Township, 1870 to 2000
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
- 19th century
- 1870Post officeThe Parkwood post office opens
- 20th century
- 1902
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey - 1930Post officeThe Parkwood post office closes
- 21st century
- 2000CensusPopulation peaks at 3,090
By decade
Armstrong Township, decade by decade
2015
2015
2015
2008On the map
Armstrong Township on the map in 1902
The U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Armstrong Township.
1902Elders Ridge sheet · 1:62,500U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Armstrong Township.
On the National Register
1 historic place in Armstrong Township
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
1
each building in a district counts
first listed
1979
Thomas Covered Bridge
Structures
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Stories next door
History across the town line
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Questions about Armstrong Township’s history
How does Armstrong Township rank for history?
Armstrong Township is more historic than 51% of U.S. towns, #735 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.
What is on the National Register in Armstrong Township?
One place: the Thomas Covered Bridge (listed 1979).
How old are the homes in Armstrong Township?
9% of Armstrong Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±3.7 points), against a typical 18% for a Pennsylvania town; the median home was built in 1986.
Memory lane
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
Start a conversation
Sources
Where this page comes from
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 (4), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, 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.