Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Photo: Generic1139 · CC BY 3.0More historic than 75% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1901 on, and the census since 1870.
The Bentleyville post office opened in 1826, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 1870.
More historic than 75% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Bentleyville is more historic than 75% 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 Bentleyville’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 Bentleyville’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Bentleyville. 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 Bentleyville.
Peaked at 3,679 in 1920; 2,352 people lived here in 2020.
16 censuses, 1870–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Bentleyville’s Wikipedia page.
From Wikipedia’s history of Bentleyville.
A post office called Bentleyville has been in operation since 1822. Bentleyville was named for Sheshbazzar Bentley Jr., a pioneer settler. The borough was incorporated in 1864.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Bentleyville, cut from the printed page as they were published.
held at his house in 1787. His son George moved to the mouth of Mingo Creek, but Sheshbazzar Bentley, Jr., remained in Somerset, and laid out the village of Bentleyville, March 4, 1816. Some members of his family still remain in that place. Henry McDonough was a farmer, a distiller, and also served honorably as a justice of the peace. His family comprised five sons and one daughter. The
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
this section by the diftereut members of the Newkirk iamily, amounting to nearly nine hundred acres, which lay along Pigeon Creek and north of the present village of Bentleyville. One tract called "Agriculture" contained three hundred and eighty-six acres, and was situated on both sides of the north fork of Pigeon Creek adjoining lands of Vincent Colvin, John Wallace, and James Craven. The date
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
The father of Mr. Eichardson, whose death occurred in 1905, was widely known as a hotel man. He conducted a hotel at Bentleyville from 1878 for several years; and at Coal Center from 1893 until 1896, when he came to California, and operated the Arlington Hotel for some years. His widow survives.
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.
Born hereJohn C. Moss is born here
In the archive1940 Census Enumeration District Maps - Pennsylvania - Washington County - Bentleyville -…
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
Born hereRay Anthony is born here
In the archiveBentleyville PA Presby ch and p PHS552 decades in the archive, from the 1880s to the 1920s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
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.
1913Sheet 1 of 4Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
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 Bentleyville’s page.
Retake this view · +15Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Bentleyville’s post office has been open since 1826.
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.
The Bentleyville post office opened in 1826, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1870.
Bentleyville is more historic than 75% 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.
41% of Bentleyville’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±7.7 points), against a typical 18% for a Pennsylvania town; the median home was built in 1953.
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, 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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