Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 82% of U.S. towns · #294 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. What drives it
2 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 17 buildings. Below: 13 old photos and papers, maps from 1909 on, and the census since 1820.
Butler Township dates its founding to 1802 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1820.
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, Butler Township is more historic than 82% of U.S. towns, #294 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its National Register listings ranks highest and its share of homes from before 1940 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 Butler Township’s 14.1 sits above most of its state (80% of Pennsylvania towns have fewer) while its 24 historic buildings outnumber those of 80% 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.
Old hamlets and crossroads still carry their names on the map.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Peaked at 24,477 in 1940; 13,502 people lived here in 2020.
21 censuses, 1820–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Butler Township’s Wikipedia page.
5 decades in the archive, from the 1890s to the 1930s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
From Wikipedia’s history of Butler Township.
Butler was named for Maj. Gen. Richard Butler, who fell at the Battle of the Wabash, also known as St. Clair's Defeat, in western Ohio in 1791.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Butler Township, cut from the printed page as they were published.
the Stevenson and Bach farms on the Baltimore & Ohio railroad at the present site of East Butler, and the third was the John Doerr farm in Butler Township south of the borough line. The Adams farm at Wick Station on the Bessemer road was also offered. On January 25, 1899, the commissioners considered a resolution to the effect that the John Doerr farm of two hundred acres could be purchased at the price of $70 per acre. The board: was hopelessly divided on
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Butler Township was one of the original thirteen townships organized in 1804 and occupied an area of about eight miles square. Subsequently, as has been seen in a former chapter, it was divided into North Butler and South Butler, thus remaining until 1854, when the township was established within the present limits. This township is well drained by Connoquenessing Creek. It has many productive farms, and is underlaid by the Upper Freeport coal vein.
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.
In the archiveButler, Butler County, Pennsylvania, 1896
In the archiveHigh School
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
In the archiveThe Diamond
In the archiveMaytag dealer
In the archiveShockeys Suburban Court, Junction of U.S. 422 and 68, Butler, Penna (84238)Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Butler 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 Butler 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 Butler Township’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.
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
In 1802, according to Wikidata. Butler Township’s post office opened in 1902, and the census of 1820 counted 225 people here.
Butler Township is more historic than 82% of U.S. towns, #294 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.
Two places: the Preston Laboratories (listed 2012) and the Butler Veterans Administration Hospital Historic District (2022).
13% of Butler Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.6 points), against a typical 18% for a Pennsylvania town; the median home was built in 1964.
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 (10), the Library of Congress (8), the National Register of Historic Places (2), 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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