Founding year: Wikidata. First post office: 1826.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Blakely’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Blakely is more historic than 76% of U.S. towns, #385 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
A−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Blakely’s overall grade.
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 Blakely’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.
NoteThe founding year comes from Wikidata alone; no second source gives 1786.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from B− to A. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±7.9 points).
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 →
What stands out about Blakely’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Blakely Township was formed in 1818 from portions of old Providence Township and recently formed Greenfield Township, and named after War of 1812 naval hero Johnston Blakely, who captained the sloop Wasp in battle against the British Cruizer-class brig-sloop Avon in 1814. As the first borough established from a portion of old Blakely Township, the Borough of Blakely as created on 27 August 1867 is also named after Capt. Johnston Blakely, one of the most successful naval officers of his era. The "Johnston Blakeley Memorial" in Blakely is a large anchor from the aircraft carrier USS Wasp, decommissioned in the 1960s.
In the 1970s, Blakely was home to Masterpiece Inc., the seventh largest manufacturer of artificial Christmas trees.
Passages that mention Blakely, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Jubilee history commemorative of the fiftieth anniversary of the creation of Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania ..1928 · page 1172Read the page →
Read the text
William Loren Holford received his education in the public schools of his locality and is a graduate of Blakely High School. For several years he was interested in taxidermy in a non-professional way. He was appointed justice of the peace of Blakely in 1924.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History and directory of Newton and Ransom townships, Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania1912 · page 79Read the page →
Read the text
son City. This township was formed from parts of Providence and Greenfield townships in 1818, and is uoav merged into the boroughs of Blakely (1867), Jermvn (1870), Dickson City (1875), Olyphant (1877), Archbald (1877) and Win ton (1877).
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.
Timeline
Blakely, 1786 to 1958
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Lost post offices, places now gone and burying grounds
Blakely had its own post office from 1826 to 1868.
Blakely
1826–1868
Peckville
1859–today
18201920today
Gone or out of use
Blakely High Schoolschool
9cemeteries and burying grounds inside Blakely
All Saints Russian OrthodoxGroathHoly GhostProspect HillSaint Andrew'sSaint Michael the ArchangelSaint Nicholas Russian Orthodox ChurchSaint Patrick'sUnion
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Stories next door
History across the town line
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
In 1786, according to Wikidata. Blakely’s post office opened in 1826, and the census of 1870 counted 659 people here.
How does Blakely rank for history?
Blakely is more historic than 76% of U.S. towns, #385 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.
How old are the homes in Blakely?
44% of Blakely’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±7.9 points), against a typical 18% for a Pennsylvania town; the median home was built in 1945.
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 (7), 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 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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