Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 82% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Its Register listing is the Thomas Brothers Store. Below: 3 old photos and papers, maps from 1944 on, and the census since 1910.
Biglerville dates its founding to 1817 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1910.
More historic than 82% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Biglerville is more historic than 82% of U.S. towns. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its age ranks highest and its National Register listings lowest.
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 Biglerville’s 9.3 sits above most of its state (76% of Pennsylvania towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: Wikidata (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 Biglerville’s history is told.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
In the archive140 East York St., Biglerville, PA - Oct. 18, 1907
In the archiveCamp Nawakwa, Biglerville, Pa (65086)
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyFrom Wikipedia’s history of Biglerville.
Originally named Middletown, it was renamed Biglerville in 1903 after William Bigler, the 12th Governor of Pennsylvania. The Thomas Brothers Store was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2008. The National Apple Harvest Festival takes place in Biglerville on an annual basis.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Biglerville, cut from the printed page as they were published.
This hamlet is situated on the west line of the township, about one mile southeast of Arendtsville, and three miles west by south of Biglerville. The settlement was founded, in 1825, by David Beecher, on lands warranted, in 1788, by Jacob Gilbert. This year he built a tannery, and in 1832 erected the woolen-mills on a site occupied for forty years before by the old carding and fulling-mill. The Conowago Woolen Factory, owned by David Beecher and Robert Morrison, was an important industry as early as 1828. He also built a paper-mill in 1837, one-quarter mile down the creek. R. G. Me-
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.
2 decades in the archive, from the 1900s to the 1930s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Biglerville. 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 Biglerville.
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 Biglerville’s page.
Retake this view · +15The 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.
Grew from 386 people in 1910 to 1,225 in 2020, 3 times over.
12 censuses, 1910–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Biglerville’s Wikipedia page.
Nobody well known was born in Biglerville itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
In 1817, according to Wikidata. Biglerville’s post office opened in 1886, and the census of 1910 counted 386 people here.
Biglerville is more historic than 82% 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.
One place: the Thomas Brothers Store (listed 2008).
21% of Biglerville’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.4 points), against a typical 18% for a Pennsylvania town; the median home was built in 1963.
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 (12), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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.
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