Danville dates to 1776, and 37% of its homes were built before 1940
More historic than 97% of U.S. towns · #80 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. What drives it
3 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 291 buildings. Below: 12 old photos and papers, maps from 1885 on, and the census since 1850.
Founding year: Wikidata. First post office: 1800.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Danville’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Danville is more historic than 97% of U.S. towns, #80 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its National Register listings ranks highest and its age lowest.
A+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Danville’s overall grade.
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 Danville’s 697 sits above most of its state (96% of Pennsylvania towns have fewer) while its 294 historic buildings outnumber those of 95% of U.S. towns.
NoteThe founding year comes from Wikidata alone; no second source gives 1776.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from A to A+. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±7.1 points).
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 →
What stands out about Danville’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
On the map
Danville on the map, 1892 to 1994
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Danville. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1892Shamokin 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 Danville.
Every building
Danville, building by building, 1885–1930
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.
As Europeans explored the coastal regions reachable from ships at the dawn of the 17th Century, the whole valley of the Susquehanna from South-central New York state to the upper Chesapeake Bay was owned by the fierce Iroquois-like Susquehannock people, like the Erie people, an Iroquoian speaking tribe with a similar related culture. As the European wars of religion lulled before the cataclysm of the Thirty Years' War, ca. 1600 AD the protestant Dutch traders first entered the Delaware Valley and began regularly trading firearms for furs, especially highly valued beaver pelts with the inland Susquehannock people in the vicinity of greater Philadelphia.
Danville, Hazleton or' Wilkes-barre Railroad. — This is the latest addition to the railroads of Danville. It is now operated by the Pennsylvania Railroad Company and extends from Sunbury to Tomhicken, a distance of fil'ty-four miles. This is one of the most important railroads in tlie country, as it forms a link in a direct line from New York to the great West. Tne completion of the Lehigh and Eastern will complete the chain, from San Francisco to Boston. For the construction of this road we are indebted to S. P. Kase. Through
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Danville is well provided with railroads. There are no less than three running in every direction and connecting at all points with the great iron checker work reaching every nook and corner of the country. The first lailroad built through the town of Danville was the Catawissa, now a branch of the Reading railroad, and strange to say it was laid with rails manufactured in England. So much for low wages in England and low tariff in America. The location of
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.
Timeline
Danville, 1776 to 1997
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
B'nai Zion NewB'nai Zion OldEpiscopalFairviewGerman LutheranGrove Presbyterian Church Memorial GardenOld Presbyterian ChurchOld Saint JosephsVilla of the Sacred Heart
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Help out
Finish Danville’s story
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
In 1776, according to Wikidata. Danville’s post office opened in 1800, and the census of 1850 counted 3,302 people here.
How does Danville rank for history?
Danville is more historic than 97% of U.S. towns, #80 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.
What is on the National Register in Danville?
Three places: the Beaver, Thomas, Free Library and Danville YMCA (listed 1987), the Danville Historic District (1994) and the Gen. William Montgomery House (1979).
How old are the homes in Danville?
37% of Danville’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±7.1 points), against a typical 18% for a Pennsylvania town; the median home was built in 1957.
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 Library of Congress (12), the National Register of Historic Places (3), 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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