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Byers-Muma HouseByers-Muma House · Photo: Smallbones · CC BY-SA 3.0
A−History
History · East Donegal Township

7 of East Donegal Township’s places are on the National Register

More historic than 75% of U.S. towns · #395 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. What drives it

Most of East Donegal Township was built recently: 8% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1994. Below: maps from 1908 on.

7on the National Register
8%homes built before 1940
Quick answers

About East Donegal Township’s history

How historic is East Donegal Township?

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More historic than 75% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
History grade

What drives East Donegal Township’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, East Donegal Township is more historic than 75% of U.S. towns, #395 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.

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HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of East Donegal Township’s overall grade.
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 75%
NewerOlder
Pennsylvania towns of 2,500+ (1,035)Ahead of 62%

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 East Donegal Township’s 102 sits above most of its state (89% of Pennsylvania towns have fewer) while its 89 historic buildings outnumber those of 89% of U.S. towns.

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 (±3.2 points).

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 →

What stands out about East Donegal Township’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

★ What stands out · Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

Five other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.

Maytown
1824–today
Chickies
1858–1909
Chicques
1872–1872
Schock's Mills
1876–1892
Florin
1882–1963
Rowenna
1892–1934
18201920today
Hamlets and corners on the map
ChickiesDonegal HeightsDonegal SpringsFlorinMaytownRowennaWaynesboro
Gone or out of use
Maytown Post Officepost office
7cemeteries and burying grounds inside East Donegal Township
Donegal Presbyterian ChurchEast DonegalHershey - HiestandKraybill MennoniteMaytown Reformed ChurchyardMaytown UnionShock

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Help out

Start East Donegal Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how East Donegal Township’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
On the National Register

7 listings protect 89 historic buildings

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

places listed
7
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
89
each building in a district counts
first listed
1975
Cameron Estate

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

The story so far

East Donegal Township, in brief

Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of East Donegal Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.

Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 7,755 to 8,684 (+12%).

Timeline

East Donegal Township, 1740 to 1909

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 18th century
  2. 1740BuiltByers-Muma House is built
  3. 19th century
  4. 1824Post officeThe Maytown post office opens
  5. 1858Post officeThe Chickies post office opens
  6. 1872Post officeThe Chicques post office opens
  7. 1872Post officeThe Chicques post office closes
  8. 20th century
  9. 1908On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  10. 1909Post officeThe Chickies post office closes
By decade

No old photos in the archives yet

Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.

Be the first to add onePhotograph a print flat, in daylight, no flash.
Add from your album
On the map

East Donegal Township on the map, 1908 to 1990

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of East Donegal Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

East Donegal Township on the 1908 USGS mapEast Donegal Township on the 1943 USGS mapEast Donegal Township on the 1956 USGS mapEast Donegal Township on the 1964 USGS mapEast Donegal Township on the 1972 USGS mapEast Donegal Township on the 1990 USGS map1908Middletown sheet · 1:62,500

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of East Donegal Township.

Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Questions about East Donegal Township’s history

How does East Donegal Township rank for history?

East Donegal Township is more historic than 75% of U.S. towns, #395 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.

What is on the National Register in East Donegal Township?

7 listings: 4 buildings, among them the Cameron Estate (listed 1975, the first), and 3 historic districts, the Danville West Market Street Historic District, the Donegal Presbyterian Church Complex and the Chickies Historic District, with 77 contributing buildings. 89 historic buildings in all.

How old are the homes in East Donegal Township?

8% of East Donegal Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±3.2 points), against a typical 18% for a Pennsylvania town; the median home was built in 1994.

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

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 the National Register of Historic Places (7), U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, 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.