Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Below: 20 old photos and papers, maps from 1902 on, and the census since 1870.
The Bernville post office opened in 1832, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 1851.
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Lost a third of its people between 1870 and 1920, then more than doubled.
16 censuses, 1870–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Bernville’s Wikipedia page.
5 decades in the archive, from the 1860s to the 1970s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
1933BRICK END WALL WITH X VENTILATORS AND QUOINS. ALSO NO…
1968HAER PA,6-BERN.V,6- (sheet 1 of 3) - Conrad's Warehou…
1968HAER PA,6-BERN.V,6- (sheet 1 of 3) - Conrad's Warehou…
1968HAER PA,6-BERN.V,6- (sheet 2 of 3) - Conrad's Warehou…
1968HAER PA,6-BERN.V,6- (sheet 2 of 3) - Conrad's Warehou…
1968HAER PA,6-BERN.V,6- (sheet 3 of 3) - Conrad's Warehou…
1968HAER PA,6-BERN.V,6- (sheet 3 of 3) - Conrad's Warehou…
1968DETAIL OF DOOR-WINDOW (FRONT) ELEVATION. - Conrad's W…
1968DETAIL OF FOUNDATION STONE (FRONT ELEVATION). - Conra…
1968EAST ELEVATION FROM EAST - Pleasant Valley Roller Mil…
1968EAST ELEVATION FROM EAST SHOWING ORIGINAL STONE PORTI…
1968EAST ELEVATION FROM SOUTHEAST - Pleasant Valley Rolle…
1968EAST ELEVATION- DETAIL OF GRAIN CHUTES AND STEPS - Pl…
1968EAST ELEVATION- DETAIL OF WINDOW - Pleasant Valley Ro…
1968FIRST FLOOR INTERIOR- DETAIL OF GRAIN CHUTES - Pleasa…
1968FIRST FLOOR INTERIOR- DETAIL SHOWING TURNED COLUMN - …Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Bernville. 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 Bernville.
From Wikipedia’s history of Bernville.
Before European settlers arrived in the Tulpehocken Creek valley, the area was inhabited by the Lenape people. In 1723, thirty-three Palatine families from Schoharie, New York, moved to the confluences of the Tulpehocken and Northkill Creeks. By 1735, a saw and grist mill was located three and a half miles up the Tulpehocken river from Bernville.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Bernville, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Creamery Business. — (Charles M. Richardson (the burgess of Bernville) has been very successfully engaged in conducting creameries in different parts of Berks county for a number of years, having directed their affairs from Bernville as a central office under two firms with which he is connected, Ahrens & Richardson and Richardson Brothers, the former controlling eight creameries
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
William Umbenhauer tavern-keeper Daniel Klopp tavern-keeper John Daniel tinsmith Incorporation. — Bernville was incorporated as a borough in 1851 in order to secure better schools and roads. The latter at that time were in a very poor condition, and measures were taken, as soon as the power was vested
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
The borough of Bernville is situated in the western part of Penn township, on the North- Kill, near its confluence with the Tulpehocken Creek, and about ten miles from the nearest railway station, Mohrville, on the Philadelphia and Beading Railroad. Many substantial improvements have been made lately and the business men are 'enterprising ; but there has been
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
toral relations which continued for twenty-four years without alterations, and in part still exist. In the spring of 1901 he resigned the pastorate of Friedens church at Bernville, leaving its congregation with a new church edifice, built a few years before, completely furnished and paid for, and with money in its treasury. Since resigning the Bernville part of his charge he devotes himself exclusively to St. John's Church at Kutztown. Here also his
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.
In the archiveTownship map of Berks County, Pennsylvania, from actual surveys
In the archiveBernville Berks Co PA 1898
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyIn the archiveBRICK END WALL WITH X VENTILATORS AND QUOINS. ALSO NOTE WOOD GABLE - Barn, State Route 10…In the archiveHAER PA,6-BERN.V,6- (sheet 1 of 3) - Conrad's Warehouse, Between Locks 38 and 39 on Union…
In the archiveSOUTHEAST AND NORTHEAST FACADES - Log House, Host Road vicinity (North Heidelberg Townshi…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 Bernville’s page.
Retake this view · +15Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Bernville post office opened in 1832, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1851.
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). How TownRatings grades history →
From Wikimedia Commons (24), Wikipedia, 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.
1898
2012
2012
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