Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 35% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1935 on, and the census since 2000.
The Ayr Township post office opened in 1888, the earliest record of the town by name. Four smaller post offices, Webster Mills (1849), Big Cove Tannery (1864) and Ayr (1888), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
More historic than 35% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Ayr Township is more historic than 35% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 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 Ayr Township’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: 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 Ayr Township’s history is told.
Four other post offices 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).
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Ayr Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Ayr Township is a township in Fulton County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 2,031 at the 2020 census.
Its first post office opened in 1888. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 1,942 to 2,036 (+5%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
In the archiveHouse N.W. corner of Chestnut and Strawberry Alley
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyOne decade in the archive so far: the 1840s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Ayr 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 Ayr 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 Ayr Township’s page.
Retake this view · +15Between 1,942 and 2,031 people in every census since 2000.
3 censuses, 2000–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Ayr Township’s Wikipedia page.
Nobody well known was born in Ayr Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Ayr Township post office opened in 1888, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Ayr Township is more historic than 35% 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.
16% of Ayr Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.7 points), against a typical 18% for a Pennsylvania town; the median home was built in 1973.
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 the Library of Congress (1), 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.
