The Conestoga Township post office opened in 1827, the earliest record of the town by name. Three smaller post offices, Safe Harbor (1838), Colemanville (1854) and Slack Water (1854), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
2020 census: 3,914199 years
How historic is Conestoga Township?
B−
More historic than 54% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first Conestoga Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Conestoga Township’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Conestoga Township is more historic than 54% of U.S. towns, #688 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. Its age holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
B−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Conestoga Township’s overall grade.
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 Conestoga 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 any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C+ to B+. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±4.8 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.
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 →
What stands out about Conestoga Township’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Conestoga Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1912Mc Calls Ferry 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 Conestoga Township.
Conestoga refers to the Conestoga people, the English name for the Susquehannock who had inhabited the area before European settlement. The name is thought to have been derived from kanastoge meaning "at the place of the immersed pole."
The name was also used for the Conestoga River which forms the northern boundary of Conestoga Township, and for Conestoga Manor, a large tract of land reserved by William Penn that was located north of the river in what is now Manor Township. Conestoga also referred to a succession of Susquehannock settlements located within Conestoga Manor. In 1763, the last of these settlements was destroyed and its inhabitants massacred by the Paxton Boys, a vigilante group of Scotch-Irish settlers from Lancaster County.
The Conestoga Township post office opened in 1827, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Conestoga Township rank for history?
Conestoga Township is more historic than 54% of U.S. towns, #688 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.
How old are the homes in Conestoga Township?
14% of Conestoga Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.8 points), against a typical 18% for a Pennsylvania town; the median home was built in 1976.
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 (4), Wikipedia, 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.
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