Founding year: the first Duryea post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Wikidata: 1891.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Duryea’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Duryea is more historic than 52% of U.S. towns, #721 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
B−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Duryea’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 Duryea’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.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C− to B+. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±9.1 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date; Wikidata’s 1891 falls in the same era, so the grade doesn’t depend on which one is used.
Founding year: the first post office (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 Duryea’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The area now known as Duryea Borough was historically the heartland of the Susquehannock tribe, also called the Conestoga, which were an Iroquoian people whose territory extended from lower New York State to the Potomac. The Susquehannock befriended the Dutch traders by 1612, who soon began trading tools and firearms for furs. The Dutch had established their trading posts along the rivers near where two natural Indian trails allowed them to make contact with the Conestoga— these were the sometimes disputed lands of the Susquehannocks and the rival Delaware nation (Lenape people).
Passages that mention Duryea, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, with biographical selections1893 · page 604Read the page →
Read the text
Duryea is the postoffice village in the township situated two miles north of Pittston boroiigh. In the vicinity of this place have recently been erected new coal breakers, and not only here but all over the township there has been a rapid rise in real estate. The village has postal, telegraph and telephone communications, as well as being topped by three leading railroads. The village is laid off and built up in good style, and elegant business and residence houses are just built or building on every hand. It already has a population of 2,200, and constant increase is of daily remark. A Catholic and a Methodist church are already built.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
A history of Wilkes-Barré, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania1909 · page 143Read the page →
Read the text
Duryea — On May 28, 1901, Duryea, then incorporated as a borough, absorbed the whole of Marcy Township. Necessarily, therefore, it takes to itself the history of Marcy, and earlier political divisions of that territory.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, with biographical selections1893 · page 603Read the page →
Read the text
the peojile of Pittston township. A census was taken at its formation and found to be 1,159 inhabitants, which in 1890 had increased to 2,904. and the rapidity of the growth of the population since the recent opening of her collieries is specially marked in the giowth of the village of Duryea, which by actual count in June, 1892, had a population of 2,195. No township in the county has had a greater comparative prosperity than this the past two years. It is rich in mining and agriculture. Three railroads, the Lehigh Valley, and the Erie & Wyoming Valley and the D., L. & W.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
A history of Wilkes-Barré, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania1909 · page 126Read the page →
Read the text
Marcy Township, which was org-anized in 1880, from Pittston, Ransom and Old Forge townships, is no more, having been absorbed by the borough of Duryea in the first decade of the twentieth century. Its history will be found as part of that of Duryea. Nescopeck Township — Nescopeck is one of the old townships of Luzerne County. In Stewart Pierce's Annals of 1866 is the following : "Nescopeck Township was separated from Newport in 1792. Jacob Smithers, Jacob Shaver, INIartin Arner and Jacob Seyberling settled in the territory
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
Duryea, 1883 to 1937
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
The Duryea post office opened in 1883, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1891.
How does Duryea rank for history?
Duryea is more historic than 52% of U.S. towns, #721 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 Duryea?
36% of Duryea’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±9.1 points), against a typical 18% for a Pennsylvania town; the median home was built in 1952.
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), 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.
2026
2016
2015
2013
2013
2010