Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 84% of U.S. towns · #264 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. What drives it
Its Register listing is the St. Severin's Old Log Church. Below: 3 old photos and papers, maps from 1929 on, and the census since 1970.
More historic than 84% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Cooper Township is more historic than 84% of U.S. towns, #264 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. All 2 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its share of homes from before 1940 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 Cooper Township’s 3.9 sits near the middle of its state (64% of Pennsylvania towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% 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.
Four 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 Cooper Township’s history is told.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Cooper Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Cooper Township is a township in Clearfield County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 2,593 at the 2020 census.
Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 2,704 to 2,594 (-4%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
In the archive1940 Census Enumeration District Descriptions - Pennsylvania - Clearfield County - ED 17-…
In the archive1940 Census Enumeration District Maps - Pennsylvania - Clearfield County - Cooper - ED 17…
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey2 decades in the archive, from the 1850s to the 1880s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Cooper 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 Cooper Township.
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 Cooper Township’s page.
Retake this view · +15The 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 2,585 and 2,819 people in every census since 1970.
6 censuses, 1970–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Cooper Township’s Wikipedia page.
Nobody well known was born in Cooper Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Cooper Township is more historic than 84% of U.S. towns, #264 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 St. Severin's Old Log Church (listed 1975).
31% of Cooper Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±8.6 points), against a typical 18% for a Pennsylvania town; the median home was built in 1971.
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), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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.
1880
2024
2011
2011
