Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Chapman Township

We’ll email a one-tap link to publish your post. No password, and nothing is public until you click it.
Already a member? Sign in
Mother and child McKee's Half Falls Rest AreaPhoto: Alan Kotok on Flickr · CC BY 2.0
BHistory
History · Chapman Township

34% of Chapman Township’s homes were built before 1940

More historic than 62% of U.S. towns. What drives it

Below: maps from 1893 on.

0on the National Register
34%homes built before 1940
Photo: Alan Kotok on Flickr · CC BY 2.0
Quick answers

About Chapman Township’s history

How historic is Chapman Township?

B

More historic than 62% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
History grade

What drives Chapman Township’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Chapman Township is more historic than 62% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.

B
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Chapman Township’s overall grade.
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 62%
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 Chapman 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 (±7.5 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 Chapman Township’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

★ What stands out · Help out

Start Chapman Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Chapman 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, old corners and places now gone

Three other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.

McKees Half Falls
1828–1919
Meiserville
1883–1922
Hoffer
1888–1909
18201920today
Hamlets and corners on the map
HofferIndependenceLocust GroveMahantangoMcKees Half FallsMeiserville
Gone or out of use
Ceejay Airportairport

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

On the map

Chapman Township on the map, 1893 to 1999

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Chapman Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Chapman Township on the 1893 USGS mapChapman Township on the 1947 USGS mapChapman Township on the 1953 USGS mapChapman Township on the 1969 USGS mapChapman Township on the 1977 USGS mapChapman Township on the 1999 USGS map1893Millersburg sheet · 1:62,500

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Chapman Township.

The story so far

Chapman Township, in brief

Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Chapman Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.

Chapman Township is a township in Snyder County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 1,565 at the 2020 census.

Its population held steady between the last two censuses: 1,554 in 2010, 1,565 in 2020.

Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.

Timeline

Chapman Township, 1828 to 1922

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1828Post officeThe McKees Half Falls post office opens
  3. 1883Post officeThe Meiserville post office opens
  4. 1888Post officeThe Hoffer post office opens
  5. 1893On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  6. 20th century
  7. 1909Post officeThe Hoffer post office closes
  8. 1919Post officeThe McKees Half Falls post office closes
  9. 1922Post officeThe Meiserville post office closes
By decade

Chapman Township, decade by decade

Famous people

Famous people close to Chapman Township

Nobody well known was born in Chapman Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.

See all →
Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Questions about Chapman Township’s history

How does Chapman Township rank for history?

Chapman Township is more historic than 62% 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 Chapman Township?

34% of Chapman Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±7.5 points), against a typical 18% for a Pennsylvania town; the median home was built in 1968.

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
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 (1), 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.