Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 54% of U.S. towns · #688 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. What drives it
Below: 4 old photos and papers and maps from 1943 on.
Bridgewater Township dates its founding to 1798 (Wikidata). Its post office opened in 1808.
More historic than 54% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Bridgewater Township is more historic than 54% of U.S. towns, #688 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. Its age 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 Bridgewater 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: 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.
Five other post offices 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).
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Bridgewater Township’s history is told.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
In the archiveOld woman living in slum house
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyFrom Wikipedia’s history of Bridgewater Township.
Bridgewater Township was formed in November 1806 from parts of Tunkhannock, Braintrim, Nicholson, and Rush Townships in what was then northern Luzerne County. The Borough of Montrose was incorporated from part of Bridgewater Township in 1824.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
One decade in the archive so far: the 1940s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Bridgewater 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 Bridgewater 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 Bridgewater Township’s page.
Retake this view · +15Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
In 1798, according to Wikidata. Bridgewater Township’s post office opened in 1808.
Bridgewater Township is more historic than 54% of U.S. towns, #688 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.
14% of Bridgewater Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.3 points), against a typical 18% for a Pennsylvania town; the median home was built in 1980.
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 (4), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
1940
1940
Date?
