Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 40% of U.S. towns · #857 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. What drives it
Most of Benner Township was built recently: 8% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1990. Its Register listing is the Brockerhoff Mill. Below: maps from 1908 on.
The Benner Township post office opened in 1858, the earliest record of the town by name. Three smaller post offices, Fillmore (1851), Benner (1858) and Lauvertown (1888), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
More historic than 40% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Benner Township is more historic than 40% of U.S. towns, #857 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. Its National Register listings hold 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 Benner Township’s 1.1 sits near the middle of its state (54% of Pennsylvania towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% 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.
Three 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 Benner Township’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Benner 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 Benner Township.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Benner Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Its first post office opened in 1858. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 6,188 to 8,964 (+45%).
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 SurveyWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
The 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.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Benner Township post office opened in 1858, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Benner Township is more historic than 40% of U.S. towns, #857 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 Brockerhoff Mill (listed 1979).
8% of Benner Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.8 points), against a typical 18% for a Pennsylvania town; the median home was built in 1990.
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 National Register of Historic Places (1), U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, 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.
