Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 27% of U.S. towns · #962 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. What drives it
Most of Baldwin was built recently: 10% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1959. Below: maps from 1904 on and the census since 1960.
More historic than 27% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Baldwin is more historic than 27% of U.S. towns, #962 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. 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 Baldwin’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: 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.
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).
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Baldwin’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Baldwin. 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 Baldwin.
From Wikipedia’s history of Baldwin.
The borough was named for Henry Baldwin (1780–1844), a U.S. Congressman from Pennsylvania and Associate Justice of the Supreme Court. Baldwin Borough was incorporated on October 27, 1950, from Baldwin Township.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Baldwin, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Baldwin has five churches. The Meth¬ odist Episcopal Church was organized about 1868. The first building was erected on the grounds of the Steel Company, oppo¬ site the blast furnace, on the road leading from Baldwin to the depot. While the building was in course of construction, there was preaching in the dining room of
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
The territory now occupied by the town of Baldwin was once the site of an Indian encampment. In making excavations for the railroad switches, Indian skeletons have been exhumed. Indian arrow-heads and darts of flint stone are frequently turned up by the ruthless ploughshare and are quickly gathered and securely pre¬
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
reduced to 17,750 acres. In 1832 the boundary line between the two was so changed as to take from Jefferson 202 acres in favor of Mifflin. In 1844 a small portion of Jefferson was united with contiguous portions of the adjoining township to form the new township of Baldwin, and in the following year about one-third of its territory became part of Snowden. The present area is about twelve thousand acres. The names are remembered of the following residents prior to 1830: James and Jesse Lobb, John McNutt, James Greer, Washington Robinson, Thomas
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
reduced to 17,750 acres. In 1832 the boundary line between the two was so changed as to take from Jefferson 202 acres in favor of Mifflin. In 1844 a small portion of Jefferson was united with contiguous portions of the adjoining township to form the new township of Baldwin, and in the following year about one-third of its territory became part of Snowden. The present area is about twelve thousand acres. The names are remembered of the following residents prior to 1830: James and Jesse Lobb, John McNutt, James Greer, Washington Robinson, Thomas
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.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
Born hereDave Wannstedt is born hereBetween 19,767 and 26,729 people in every census since 1960.
7 censuses, 1960–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Baldwin’s Wikipedia page.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Baldwin is more historic than 27% of U.S. towns, #962 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.
10% of Baldwin’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.8 points), against a typical 18% for a Pennsylvania town; the median home was built in 1959.
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 (4), 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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