Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 86% of U.S. towns · #246 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. What drives it
Its Register listing is the Merchants Cigar Box Company. Below: 5 old photos and papers, maps from 1908 on, and the census since 1870.
Dallastown dates its founding to 1844 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1870.
More historic than 86% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Dallastown is more historic than 86% of U.S. towns, #246 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. All 3 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 Dallastown’s 2.4 sits near the middle of its state (59% of Pennsylvania towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: Wikidata (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.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Dallastown. 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 Dallastown.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
In the archiveBirds eye view
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
Born hereCameron Mitchell is born here
Born hereKim Jones is born hereFrom Wikipedia’s history of Dallastown.
Settled in 1736, the town was renamed after George M. Dallas of Philadelphia (Vice President of the United States during the Polk administration) during the presidential campaign of 1844. Dallastown was incorporated as a borough in April 1866.
President Lyndon Johnson visited Dallastown in 1966 as part of the town's centennial celebration.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Dallastown, cut from the printed page as they were published.
in the management of the home farm. At the expiration of the period noted Mr. Sechrist purchased what was known as the Henry Miller farm, adjoining the village of Dallastown and comprising seventy acres of the most fertile land. On this homestead he has erected excellent buildings and made other improvements so that the place stands as a model of thrift
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
township for seven terms and another in Dallastown, but he never adopted teaching as a permanent employment, and about 1866 engaged in business in Dallastown as a general merchant. For the next twenty years he was thus occupied, and during part of the time also conducted a cigar factory and carriage business, but in 1886 he disposed of his other in-
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.
One decade in the archive so far: the 1900s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.
1908Sheet 1 of 5Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
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 Dallastown’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.
Grew from 287 people in 1870 to 4,195 in 2020, more than tenfold.
16 censuses, 1870–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Dallastown’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Dallastown’s post office has been open since 1847.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
In 1844, according to Wikidata. Dallastown’s post office opened in 1847, and the census of 1870 counted 287 people here.
Dallastown is more historic than 86% of U.S. towns, #246 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 Merchants Cigar Box Company (listed 2021).
34% of Dallastown’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±8.8 points), against a typical 18% for a Pennsylvania town; the median home was built in 1958.
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 (7), the Library of Congress (5), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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), the USGS Geographic Names Information System, Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) 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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1907![Cor. [Corner] Main & Pleasant Sts. Dallastown, Pa](https://images.townratings.com/story/14993/54bdf13692ba45ff2137-s.jpg)
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