Founding year: Wikipedia. First post office: 1881.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Denver’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Denver is more historic than 44% of U.S. towns, #804 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
C+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Denver’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 Denver’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (25% of Pennsylvania towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.
NoteThe founding year comes from Wikipedia alone; no second source gives 1735.
How sure. Graded on two of the three inputs, so a change in either one moves the letter more than it would with three. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±7.5 points).
Founding year: Wikipedia (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 Denver’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Denver was founded by in 1735, by Hans Bucher, a Swiss immigrant. It was originally known as Bucher's Thal, or "Bucher Valley", in reference to the adjacent Cocalico Creek. The original name is the source of the Pennsylvania German name, Bucherdaal.
In the mid-18th century, a gristmill was built along the creek, and by 1772 six dwellings had been built. A blacksmith shop and a sawmill were operating by 1820. Early advantages for the settlement were fertile soils and the limestone formations that were mined for the manufacture of mortar, plaster and whitewash.
In the 1830s, settler John Bucher became an advocate for using the lime as a fertilizer. Several limestone quarries were in turn operating by the 1850s.
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.
In 1735, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Denver’s post office opened in 1881, and the census of 1910 counted 933 people here.
How does Denver rank for history?
Denver is more historic than 44% of U.S. towns, #804 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.
How old are the homes in Denver?
19% of Denver’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±7.5 points), against a typical 18% for a Pennsylvania town; the median home was built in 1975.
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 (6), 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.
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