Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 27% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Most of Clearfield Township was built recently: 9% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1980. Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1900 on, and old-book passages.
More historic than 27% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Clearfield Township is more historic than 27% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
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 Clearfield 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.
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 →
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 Clearfield Township’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Clearfield 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 Clearfield Township.
Two 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).
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Clearfield Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Clearfield Township is a township in Butler County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 2,430 at the 2020 census.
Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 2,645 to 2,427 (-8%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Passages that mention Clearfield Township, cut from the printed page as they were published.
the township and at that time was expected to become a center of business, as the mail coach between Butler and Kittanning passed that way tri-weekly. Fenelton was founded in 1856 by Peter Fennell, who with his son and two nephews came to Clearfield Township from Armstrong County, the family being numerous enough to start the settlement. Carbon Center was almost unimproved farm land prior to 1875, developing then into a town as more and more of the surrounding sands proved rich in oil. Business enterprises were
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Clearfield Township derived its name from the fact that when the early settlers came in from Westmoreland County and elsewhere as early as 1794, they discovered, much to their surprise, a large square of cleared land in the vicinity of a family of Milligans. From its general indication it was concluded that it was an Indian cornfield. There was no doubt in the minds of the pioneers but that the cultivation was recent, as the ground was still soft and loamy. The name Clearfield was, therefore, very appropriate, for nothing was
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 archiveForest View, T, 8?0
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyOne decade in the archive so far: the 1860s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
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 Clearfield Township’s page.
Retake this view · +15Nobody well known was born in Clearfield Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Clearfield Township is more historic than 27% 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.
9% of Clearfield Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±3.1 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 Wikimedia Commons (1), the Library of Congress (2), 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.
Date?
2007
