History · Bath

Bath dates to 1728, and 31% of its homes were built before 1940

More historic than 88% of U.S. towns · #207 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. What drives it

2 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district. Below: maps from 1885 on and the census since 1860.

1728founded

2on the National Register

31%homes built before 1940

2famous people

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Quick answers

How Bath began

When was Bath founded?

1728

Bath dates its founding to 1728 (Wikipedia’s history). The census first counted it in 1860.

First census: 486 in 18602020 census: 2,808298 years

How historic is Bath?

More historic than 88% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓

Founding year: Wikipedia. First post office: 1814.The full story ↓

History grade

What drives Bath’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Bath is more historic than 88% of U.S. towns, #207 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. All 2 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its share of homes from before 1940 ranks highest and its National Register listings lowest.

HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Bath’s overall grade.

Founding eraNo founding year we can rely on, so the grade uses the other two–Homes built before 194030.6% of homes (±7.3) · typical PA town 17.7% · U.S. 8.4%A National Register2 listings, 7.0 per 10,000 residents · typical PA town 2.1 · U.S. 2.4B⁺

All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 88%

NewerOlder

Pennsylvania towns of 2,500+ (1,035)Ahead of 80%

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 Bath’s 7.0 sits above most of its state (72% of Pennsylvania towns have fewer) while its 2 listings outnumber those of 60% of U.S. towns.

NoteThe founding year comes from Wikipedia alone; no second source gives 1728.

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 (±7.3 points).

Founding year: Wikipedia (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 →

What stands out about Bath’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 Bath are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.On the map since 18947 editions of the USGS map, 1894 to 1992. Watch Bath change.Older than the countryEstablished in 1728, 48 years before the Declaration of Independence.

★ What stands out · Help out

Start Bath’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Bath’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos

00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s

0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.

Share a family photoSign in to add one+10

On the map

Bath on the map, 1894 to 1992

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Bath. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

1894Allentown sheet · 1:62,500

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Bath.

Timeline

Bath, 1728 to 2000

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

18th century
1728
FoundingBath is established
19th century
1814Post officeThe Bath post office opens
1854Born hereArthur Granville Dewalt is born here
1894On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
21st century
2000Born hereMark C. Urban is born here

The story

How Bath came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Bath.

Read it all →

Bath is located at the head of the Monocacy Creek in an area of the Lehigh Valley that was once rich in agriculture. The greater area of the town, however, lies east of the Monocacy Valley. Prior to European settlement, Bath was inhabited by the Lenape Indigenous tribe.

Bath was established in 1728 as a Scotch-Irish settlement before the American Revolution as the first settlement by white people in the Forks of the Delaware River. It is named for Bath, Somerset, England by Margaret DeLancey, who sold land under her father, lieutenant colonel of the Continental Army, William Allen, in the 1700s.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

From the old history books

What they wrote about Bath in 1879

Passages that mention Bath, cut from the printed page as they were published.

Boyd, surrounded by the graves of those who nearly a century ago were her playmates and friends ; at the other end of the Settlement, about a mile from Bath, w’as the “Academy,” where church was held every alternate Sunday until a few years ago, when the erection of the church at Bath caused an aba… — Genealogies, necrology, and reminiscences of the "Irish settlement," or A record of those Scotch-Irish Presbyterian families who were the first settlers in the "Forks of Delaware," now Northampton County, Pennsylvania--a sequel to the "History of the Alle1879Read the page →
Read the text
Boyd, surrounded by the graves of those who nearly a century ago were her playmates and friends ; at the other end of the Settlement, about a mile from Bath, w’as the “Academy,” where church was held every alternate Sunday until a few years ago, when the erection of the church at Bath caused an abandonment of the “Academy,” and a transfer of divine service
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.

Every building

Bath, building by building, 1885

Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a sheet.

1885Sheet 1 of 1

Sheets

BrickWoodStone

Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.

On the National Register

2 historic places in Bath

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

places listed

National Historic Landmarks

none yet

historic buildings protected

each building in a district counts

first listed

1982

Daniel Steckel House

BuildingsDistricts

Architectural styles listings

Federal1

Daniel Steckel HouseFederal

All 2 listings

Bath Crossroads Historic DistrictDistrict · listed 2024

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

People over time

Bath, census by census

Grew from 486 people in 1860 to 2,808 in 2020, 5 times over.

17 censuses, 1860–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Bath’s Wikipedia page.

Famous people

2 famous people were born in Bath

Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.

See all →

Arthur Granville DewaltAmerican politician · b. 1854

Mark C. UrbanProfessor of ecology and evolutionary biology · b. 2000

Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

East Allen TownshipIts storyC⁻Upper Nazareth TownshipIts storyC⁻

Questions about Bath’s history

What year was Bath founded?

In 1728, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Bath’s post office opened in 1814, and the census of 1860 counted 486 people here.

How does Bath rank for history?

Bath is more historic than 88% of U.S. towns, #207 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 Bath?

Two places: the Daniel Steckel House (listed 1982) and the Bath Crossroads Historic District (2024).

How old are the homes in Bath?

31% of Bath’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±7.3 points), against a typical 18% for a Pennsylvania town; the median home was built in 1969.

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →

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 (23), the National Register of Historic Places (2), 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, Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) 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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