Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 98% of U.S. towns · #76 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. What drives it
5 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 94 buildings. Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1902 on, and the census since 1880.
Centerville dates its founding to 1821 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1880.
More historic than 98% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Centerville is more historic than 98% of U.S. towns, #76 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its share of homes from before 1940 ranks highest and its age 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 Centerville’s 306 sits above most of its state (92% of Pennsylvania towns have fewer) while its 99 historic buildings outnumber those of 89% 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.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Centerville’s history is told.
The 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.
Another post office, East Bethlehem, 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).
From Wikipedia’s history of Centerville.
The Centerville Historic District, Joseph Dorsey House, Harrison House and Welsh-Emery House are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Centerville, cut from the printed page as they were published.
schooling in the township in which they were born and afterward helped their father. The home farm on which they live contains 315 acres, thirty-two acres lying in East Pike Eun Township and the remainder in Centerville Borough. They own also the Joseph Williams farm of sixty acres, in Centerville Borough, and the Leonard Sword place, which contains seven acres, improved with twelve tenant houses, situated also in Centerville. The
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 archive1940 Census Enumeration District Maps - Pennsylvania - Washington County - Cecil - ED 63-…
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyOne decade in the archive so far: the 1880s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Centerville. 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 Centerville.
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 Centerville’s page.
Retake this view · +15Peaked at 6,467 in 1930; 3,254 people lived here in 2020.
14 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Centerville’s Wikipedia page.
Nobody well known was born in Centerville itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
In 1821, according to Wikidata. Centerville’s post office opened in 1827, and the census of 1880 counted 150 people here.
Centerville is more historic than 98% of U.S. towns, #76 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.
5 listings: 4 buildings, among them the Malden Inn (listed 1974, the first), and 1 historic district, the Centerville Historic District, with 94 contributing buildings. 99 historic buildings in all.
46% of Centerville’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±9.0 points), against a typical 18% for a Pennsylvania town; the median home was built in 1943.
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 (6), the National Register of Historic Places (5), 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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