Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 77% of U.S. towns · #372 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. What drives it
Its Register listing is the Guinston United Presbyterian Church. Below: maps from 1912 on and the census since 1850.
The Chanceford Township post office opened in 1824, the earliest record of the town by name. Nine smaller post offices, Chanceford (1824), New Bridgeville (1839) and Union (1847), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
More historic than 77% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Chanceford Township is more historic than 77% of U.S. towns, #372 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its age ranks highest and its National Register listings 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 Chanceford Township’s 1.7 sits near the middle of its state (56% of Pennsylvania towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: the first post office (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.
Nine 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 Chanceford Township’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Chanceford 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 Chanceford Township.
From Wikipedia’s history of Chanceford Township.
The Guinston United Presbyterian Church was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1976.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Born hereJimmy Sheckard is 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.
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.
Between 1,614 and 6,111 people in every census since 1850.
18 censuses, 1850–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Chanceford Township’s Wikipedia page.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Chanceford Township post office opened in 1824, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Chanceford Township is more historic than 77% of U.S. towns, #372 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.
One place: the Guinston United Presbyterian Church (listed 1976).
19% of Chanceford Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±7.3 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 National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), 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.
