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History · Croydon

13% of Croydon’s homes were built before 1940

1 place in town is on the National Register. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1942 on, and the census since 1990.

1on the National Register
13%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Croydon’s archive · credits on each photo

What stands out about Croydon’s past

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

A history waiting to be writtenOnly 1 old photo is in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.Old housesHalf of Croydon’s homes were built before 1959.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Croydon’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Croydon’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Date a photo1 archive item has no date. Guess the decade.+2Retake an old viewWhite Hall of Bristol College, 701-721 …: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story

How Croydon came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Croydon.

Read it all →

The name Croydon comes from the town of Croydon in South-East England; nine miles south of the historic center of London, it was traditionally part of Surrey but is now the center of the London Borough of Croydon.

The White Hall of Bristol College was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

By decade

Croydon, decade by decade

Date unknown1 to date
White Hall of Bristol College, 701-721 Shadyside AvenueDate?White Hall of Bristol College, 701-721 Shadyside Aven…
Today5 recent
US 13 nb at Newportville Road, Croydon, PA, Aug. 20262026US 13 nb at Newportville Road, Croydon, PA, Aug. 2026US 13 sb, Croydon, PA, Nov. 20222022US 13 sb, Croydon, PA, Nov. 2022White Hall aka China Hall circa 1970s2016White Hall aka China Hall circa 1970sBucks county2014Bucks countyCroydon Pennsylvania2011Croydon Pennsylvania
On the map

Croydon on the map, 1942 to 1995

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

Croydon on the 1942 USGS mapCroydon on the 1955 USGS mapCroydon on the 1973 USGS mapCroydon on the 1995 USGS map1942Burlington 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 Croydon.

Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

White Hall of Bristol College, 701-721 Shadyside Avenue
Retake this viewWhite Hall of Bristol College, 701-721 Shadyside Avenue

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Croydon’s page.

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

1 historic place in Croydon

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
1
each building in a district counts

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

People over time

Croydon, census by census

02,0004,0006,0008,00010,00020002020Peak: 10,014

Between 9,950 and 10,014 people in every census since 1990.

4 censuses, 1990–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Croydon’s Wikipedia page.

Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Bristol Township2 historic placesB+Bensalem Township6 historic placesC+

Questions about Croydon’s history

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). How TownRatings grades history →

From Wikimedia Commons (5), the Library of Congress (1), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps and U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.