Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 32% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Below: 7 old photos and papers, maps from 1968 on, and the census since 2000.
More historic than 32% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Berwick Township is more historic than 32% 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 Berwick Township’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 →
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Berwick Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Berwick Township is a township in Adams County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 2,400 at the 2020 census. Berwick Township is one of 21 townships in Adams County.
Its population held steady between the last two censuses: 2,389 in 2010, 2,403 in 2020.
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Passages that mention Berwick Township, cut from the printed page as they were published.
The Berlin branch of the Baltimore & Hanover Railroad passes through the northern part of the township and the borough of Abbottstown. The only postoffice in Berwick Township is Abbottstown. BOROUGH OF ABBOTTSTOWN, 1753-1886. This borough is situated in the extreme northeastern part of Berwick Township, at the intersection of the York & Gettysburg and Hanover & Berlin Turnpikes, with its eastern suburbs running into York County. The new railroad, known as the ‘* Berlin Branch Railroad,’’ completed in 1877, over
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Gearnhart in 1708, was his property until April 4, 1704, when a friar preacher, named Joseph Herout, purchased the whole tract and set about establishing a school there, as related in the History of Heroutford. A reference to the original assessment roll of Berwick Township, of which Oxford formed a part up to 1847, points out the names of all the property owners in this township when the county was organized. In the sketches of New Oxford, Irishtown and Heroutford, the minutix of the township’s history is given.
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 archiveBerwick, Pa
In the archiveA portion of the steel passenger department
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey2 decades in the archive, from the 1890s to the 1900s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Berwick 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 Berwick Township.
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 Berwick Township’s page.
Retake this view · +15Between 1,818 and 2,400 people in every census since 2000.
3 censuses, 2000–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Berwick Township’s Wikipedia page.
Nobody well known was born in Berwick Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Old hamlets and crossroads still carry their names on the map.
Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Most 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.
Berwick Township is more historic than 32% 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.
12% of Berwick Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.0 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 Library of Congress (7), U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), 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.
1890
1906
1906
1906
1907