Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 35% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Below: maps from 1965 on and old-book passages.
More historic than 35% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Covington Township is more historic than 35% 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 Covington 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.
Three 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 Covington Township’s history is told.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Covington Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Covington Township is a township in Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 2,206 as of the 2020 Census. Mayor: Gracie Short
Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 2,284 to 2,198 (-4%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Passages that mention Covington Township, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Albert N. Sayer spent his boyhood on his father’s farm in Covington Township, and attended the district schools. At an early age he engaged in the lumber business, doing contract woods work. He cut timber and stocked the mills of Covington Township, and in 1896 located at Moscow. Mr. Sayer is a recognized authority on timber throughout this section of Pennsylvania, and is familiar with its history and development. In 1921 he reorganized the C. P. Van Brunt manufacturing Company and at that time was elected president. For many years he was. associated with the
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.
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyEvery edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Covington 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 Covington Township.
Nobody well known was born in Covington Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Covington Township is more historic than 35% 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.
14% of Covington Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±7.4 points), against a typical 18% for a Pennsylvania town; the median home was built in 1979.
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 (3), 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.
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