The story
Read it all →How Buffalo Township came to be
From Wikipedia’s history of Buffalo Township.
The Millersburg Ferry was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2006.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
C+History
History · Buffalo Township
17% of Buffalo Township’s homes were built before 1940
More historic than 41% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Below: maps from 1907 on and old-book passages.
0on the National Register
17%homes built before 1940
Quick answers
About Buffalo Township’s history
How historic is Buffalo Township?
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What drives the grade ↓More historic than 41% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
History grade
What drives Buffalo Township’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Buffalo Township is more historic than 41% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
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HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Buffalo Township’s overall grade.
Founding eraNo founding year we can rely on, so the grade uses the other two–Homes built before 194017.1% of homes (±6.4) · typical PA town 17.7% · U.S. 8.4%BNational RegisterNo listings counted · typical PA town 2.1 per 10,000 · U.S. 2.4C−
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 41%
NewerOlder
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 Buffalo 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.
How sure. Graded on two of the three inputs, so a change in either one moves the letter more than it would with three. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±6.4 points).
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 →
What stands out about Buffalo Township’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Buffalo Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Lost villages3 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Buffalo Township, and 3 old place names are still on the map.On the map since 19075 editions of the USGS map, 1907 to 1977. Watch Buffalo Township change.
★ What stands out · Help out
Start Buffalo Township’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Buffalo Township’s history is told.
Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.Places that used to be
Lost post offices and old corners
Three other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.
Montgomerys Ferry
Mount Patrick
Acker
18101920today
Hamlets and corners on the map
AckerMontgomery FerryMount Patrick
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
On the map
Buffalo Township on the map, 1907 to 1977
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Buffalo Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1907Millerstown sheet · 1:62,500U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Buffalo Township.
From the old history books
What they wrote about Buffalo Township in 1922
Passages that mention Buffalo Township, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History Of Perry County, Pennsylvania1922 · page 194Read the page →
Read the text
“By the thirty-second section of the Act of March 24, 1818, the voting place of Buffalo Township was changed to the house of Frederick Deal, in said township, and by the twelfth section of the Act of March 29, 1810, the township of Saville was erected into a separate election district, with voting place ‘at a schoolhouse near Ickesburg, in said township.’
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History Of Perry County, Pennsylvania1922 · page 678Read the page →
Read the text
the first school in Pennsylvania to be opened in accordance with that act was the one he taught, described as “at Col. Thompson’s,” which opened September 10, 1834. ‘This location was in that part of Buffalo Township which has since become Watts. According to further entry in the diary Buffalo Township was the first district in the state to adopt the free school law.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Perry County, Pennsylvania, including descriptions of Indians and pioneer life from the time of earliest settlement1922 · page 194Read the page →
Read the text
"By the thirty-second section of the Act of March 24, t8i8, the voting place of Buffalo Township was changed to the house of Frederick Deal, in said township, and by the twelfth section of the Act of March 29, 1819, the township of Saville was erected into a separate election district, with voting place 'at a schoolhouse near Ickesburg, in said township.'
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Perry County, Pennsylvania, including descriptions of Indians and pioneer life from the time of earliest settlement1922 · page 932Read the page →
Read the text
Buffalo Township, named after the massive animal which once roamed its hills as they later did the plains of the great West, was the sixth township to be formed of territory which now comprises Perry County, being made a township in 1799, the same year that George Washington, the first President of the United States, breathed his last. This comparison is made here to show the fact that the history of the township is almost as old as that of the country itself.
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
Buffalo Township, 1818 to 1919
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
- 19th century
- 1818Post officeThe Montgomerys Ferry post office opens
- 1835Post officeThe Mount Patrick post office opens
- 1871Post officeThe Acker post office opens
- 20th century
- 1904Post officeThe Acker post office closes
- 1905Post officeThe Mount Patrick post office closes
- 1907
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey - 1919Post officeThe Montgomerys Ferry post office closes
By decade
Buffalo Township, decade by decade
Today12 recent
2025PA 34 nb, Buffalo Township, Perry County, July 2025
2025PA 34 nb entering Buffalo Township, Perry County, Jul…
2025PA 34 nb at US 11-15, July 2025
2025PA 34 nb approaching US 11-15, July 2025
2025Buffalo Township, Perry County, PA Municipal Building…
2025Blessed Hope Bible Church, Buffalo Township, Perry Co…
2024US 22 (PA) wb at Midway interchange, May 2024
2024US 22 (PA) wb at MP 224.0, May 2024
2024US 22 (PA) wb at MP 223.9, May 2024
2015Juniata River hills in Watts Township
2008US Route 11 - Pennsylvania
2008US Route 11 - PennsylvaniaFamous people
See all →Famous people close to Buffalo Township
Nobody well known was born in Buffalo Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Stories next door
History across the town line
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Upper Paxton Township1 historic placeA−Halifax Township1 historic placeB+Liverpool Township1 historic placeA−Watts TownshipIts storyC−Howe TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townGreenwood TownshipIts storyB−LiverpoolIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town
Questions about Buffalo Township’s history
How does Buffalo Township rank for history?
Buffalo Township is more historic than 41% 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.
How old are the homes in Buffalo Township?
17% of Buffalo Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.4 points), against a typical 18% for a Pennsylvania town; the median home was built in 1977.
Memory lane
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
Start a conversation
Sources
Where this page comes from
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), Wikipedia, 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.