Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 56% of U.S. towns · #655 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. What drives it
2 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 8 buildings. Below: maps from 1894 on and the census since 2000.
The Cumru Township post office opened in 1859, the earliest record of the town by name. Four smaller post offices, Gouglersville (1855), Cumru (1859) and Angelica (1882), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
More historic than 56% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Cumru Township is more historic than 56% of U.S. towns, #655 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls 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 Cumru Township’s 6.4 sits above most of its state (70% of Pennsylvania towns have fewer) while its 10 historic buildings outnumber those of 76% of U.S. towns.
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 →
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 Cumru Township’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Cumru 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 Cumru Township.
From Wikipedia’s history of Cumru Township.
The township was so named by Welsh settlers, after Cymru, meaning Wales in the Welsh language.
In 1863, Cumru Township was the birthplace of William G. Leininger, creator of the Railroad Sock.
Ridgewood Farm was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1992.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
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 SurveyWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
The 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 13,816 and 15,638 people in every census since 2000.
3 censuses, 2000–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Cumru Township’s Wikipedia page.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Cumru Township post office opened in 1859, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Cumru Township is more historic than 56% of U.S. towns, #655 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.
Two places: the Rieser Mill (listed 1990) and the Ridgewood Farm (1992).
11% of Cumru Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±3.8 points), against a typical 18% for a Pennsylvania town; the median home was built in 1977.
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 the National Register of Historic Places (2), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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.
