It is believed that Israel Inman was the first white settler in the township, having traveled up Nescopeck Creek from its mouth in 1833. The next group to arrive after Inman was the Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company. In 1837, they cut a road through the township in order to get to Wilkes-Barre. This was succeeded by the construction of railroads in the following decades.
Dennison Township was formed from a section of the original Hanover Township in 1839. At the time, the new township included what is now Foster Township; it broke away in the 1850s. Logging was a major industry in the area due to the abundance of trees.
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 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.
