Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 72% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Below: maps from 1904 on and the census since 1880.
Atglen dates its founding to 1723 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1880.
More historic than 72% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Atglen is more historic than 72% of U.S. towns. Its age holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull 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 Atglen’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (25% of Pennsylvania towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: Wikidata (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 Atglen’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Atglen. 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 Atglen.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Born hereGeorge Morris Philips is born here
Born hereCharles Alan Pownall is born here
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyFrom Wikipedia’s history of Atglen.
Present-day Atglen was originally a wilderness where Native Americans made paths that cut across this area when they traveled from Paxtang in present-day Harrisburg to present day New Castle, Delaware to trade with the Swedes and later the English. The Great Minquas Path was one of these trails.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Atglen, cut from the printed page as they were published.
The borough of Parkesburg was incorporated in 1872, and the borough of Atglen in 1875, both taken from Sadsbury township, and they became respectively the Fiftyeighth and Fifty-ninth Districts.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Between 347 and 1,406 people in every census since 1880.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Atglen’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Atglen’s post office has been open since 1876. Another post office, Penningtonville, 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).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
In 1723, according to Wikidata. Atglen’s post office opened in 1842, and the census of 1880 counted 347 people here.
Atglen is more historic than 72% of U.S. towns. 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.
20% of Atglen’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.7 points), against a typical 18% for a Pennsylvania town; the median home was built in 1992.
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 (6), 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), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
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