Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 84% of U.S. towns · #274 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. What drives it
1 place in town is on the National Register, among them a historic district with 9 buildings. Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1904 on, and the census since 1900.
The Aspinwall post office opened in 1892, the earliest record of the town by name.
More historic than 84% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Aspinwall is more historic than 84% of U.S. towns, #274 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its age 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 Aspinwall’s 31.7 sits above most of its state (84% of Pennsylvania towns have fewer) while its 9 historic buildings outnumber those of 75% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: the first post office (other dates in Quick answers). 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.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Aspinwall’s history is told.
Peaked at 4,716 in 1940; 2,916 people lived here in 2020.
13 censuses, 1900–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Aspinwall’s Wikipedia page.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Aspinwall. 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 Aspinwall.
From Wikipedia’s history of Aspinwall.
In the mid-1880s, the area which is now Aspinwall was primarily owned by the descendants of James Ross, but as the steel industry was thriving in Pittsburgh, Henry Warner, superintendent of the Allegheny County Workhouse, had the idea of creating a residential community along the bank of a river.
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.
In the archiveAllegheny River from Highland Park, Pittsburgh, Pa. (det.4a19425)
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
Born hereRobert Lepper is born hereOne decade in the archive so far: the 1900s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
2023House in Aspinwall, 2023-11-26, 02
2023House in Aspinwall, 2023-11-26, 01
2014Aspinwall House on Eastern Avenue 06
2014Aspinwall House on Eastern Avenue 05
2014Aspinwall House on Eastern Avenue 04
2014Aspinwall House on Eastern Avenue 03
2014Aspinwall House on Eastern Avenue 02
2014Aspinwall House on Eastern Avenue 01
2007Map of Allegheny County PA HighlightingMap
2006Pennsylvania State Route 28No 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 Aspinwall’s page.
Retake this view · +15The 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.
Aspinwall had its own post office from 1892 to 1913.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Aspinwall post office opened in 1892, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Aspinwall is more historic than 84% of U.S. towns, #274 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.
One place: the Sauer Buildings Historic District (listed 1985).
49% of Aspinwall’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±8.1 points), against a typical 18% for a Pennsylvania town; the median home was built in 1949.
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 (12), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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.
1908