Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 29% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Below: maps from 1908 on and old-book passages.
More historic than 29% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Brady Township is more historic than 29% 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 Brady 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 →
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 Brady Township’s history is told.
Another post office, Elora, opened and closed inside today’s town.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Brady 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 Brady Township.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Brady Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Brady Township is a township in Butler County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 1,216 at the 2020 census.
Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 1,310 to 1,214 (-7%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Passages that mention Brady Township, cut from the printed page as they were published.
West Liberty, in Brady Township, was laid out as a town February 13, 1829, by James J. Hoge, and surveyed. It did not make any headway as a settlement until 1845. In 1847 a plat of the village was recorded. It was incorporated as a borough on September 5, 1903. It is a farming community.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Brady Township was erected in 1854, and named in honor of Captain Samuel Brady, the famous scout mentioned in a former chapter. Through the northeastern part of this township flows the picturesque Slippery Rock Creek, and the southern boundary line is Muddycreek. These streams, with the small tributaries, afford the township excellent drainage. There are many excellent farms in this township.
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.
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Nobody well known was born in Brady Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Brady Township is more historic than 29% 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.
11% of Brady Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±3.9 points), against a typical 18% for a Pennsylvania town; the median home was built in 1976.
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 U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, 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.
