Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Below: 2 old photos and papers and maps from 1914 on.
The Davidsville post office opened in 1832, the earliest record of the town by name.
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Davidsville’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Davidsville. 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 Davidsville.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
From Wikipedia’s history of Davidsville.
David Stutzman laid out Davidsville in 1831, with Thomas Gaghegan serving as surveyor. Joseph Schell & Peter Levy built the first house in 1831, Tobias Mishler & Samuel Livingstone built a blacksmith shop in 1832, and a schoolhouse was built around 1835. A Lutheran church was built in 1852.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
2 decades in the archive, from the 1850s to the 1860s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
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 Davidsville’s page.
Retake this view · +15Nobody well known was born in Davidsville itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
The Davidsville post office opened in 1832, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
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). How TownRatings grades history →
From Wikimedia Commons (3), Wikipedia and U.S. Geological Survey historical maps. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
2008
