Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 98% of U.S. towns. What drives it
5 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 50 buildings. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1907 on, and the census since 1870.
More historic than 98% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Donegal Township is more historic than 98% of U.S. towns. All 2 inputs put Donegal Township near the top nationally; its National Register listings ranks highest.
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 Donegal Township’s 235 sits above most of its state (91% of Pennsylvania towns have fewer) while its 53 historic buildings outnumber those of 85% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: our sources. 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.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Donegal Township’s history is told.
Three other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
The 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.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Donegal Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 2,465 to 2,395 (-3%).
Passages that mention Donegal Township, cut from the printed page as they were published.
James W. Grimes was mainly reared on the family farm in Donegal Township. He was educated in a private school in Donegal Township, the Normal School at Claysville and the West Middletown Academy, and afterward for several years he taught school in Washington County. He has been an active and useful citizen of Claysville, serving in the borough council and also as a director in the Independent school district and for a sea-
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
James M. McMurray obtained his education in the schools of Donegal Township and his life has been devoted to farming and stock raising. He is one of Donegal Township 's large landowners, having 290 acres, a large part of which he devotes to his fine stock. He breeds Holstein cattle, registered, also horses of excellent grade and keeps 300 sheep on an average. Mr. McMur- .
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.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
In the archiveMonticue Motel, U.S. Highway 31... 300 yards west from Penn. Turnpike Interchange... Done…One decade in the archive so far: the 1930s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Donegal Township. 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 Donegal Township.
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 Donegal Township’s page.
Retake this view · +15Peaked at 258 in 1940; 102 people lived here in 2020.
16 censuses, 1870–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Donegal Township’s Wikipedia page.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Donegal Township is more historic than 98% of U.S. towns. 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.
5 listings: 3 buildings, among them the Montgomery House (listed 1974, the first), 1 historic district, the West Alexander Historic District, with 50 contributing buildings, and 1 structure. 53 historic buildings in all.
32% of Donegal Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±9.5 points), against a typical 18% for a Pennsylvania town; the median home was built in 1957.
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 (8), the National Register of Historic Places (5), 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 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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