Ebensburg dates to 1796, and 36% of its homes were built before 1940
More historic than 98% of U.S. towns · #73 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. What drives it
4 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 416 buildings. Below: 4 old photos and papers, maps from 1887 on, and the census since 1810.
Founding year: Wikidata. First post office: 1807.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Ebensburg’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Ebensburg is more historic than 98% of U.S. towns, #73 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its National Register listings ranks highest and its age lowest.
A+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Ebensburg’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 Ebensburg’s 1,262 sits above most of its state (98% of Pennsylvania towns have fewer) while its 419 historic buildings outnumber those of 97% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from A to A+. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±8.6 points). Two sources give 1796.
Founding year: Wikidata (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 Ebensburg’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.
Ebensburg originated in November 1796, when Congregational minister Rees Lloyd led a small party of 20 Welsh people from Philadelphia to the lands that Morgan John Rhees had chosen for his colony. They selected an attractive spot in the tops of the Allegheny Mountains and settled what would become Ebensburg. They named it for the minister's son Eben Lloyd, who had died in childhood.
Lloyd offered land to the government in exchange for Ebensburg becoming the county seat, which the government accepted. A nearby settlement by the name of Beula, Pennsylvania, had sprouted just to the west of the town, with its own intentions of becoming the county seat. With the decision made, Beula faded into obscurity. All that remains is its old cemetery.
Passages that mention Ebensburg, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Cambria County, Pennsylvania1907 · page 224Read the page →
Read the text
than a mile from the oil-well spring the North Branch, which has in the meantime received but one small tributary from the westward, is crossed by an iron bridge, a span of one hundred feet, on the road from VVilmore to Ebensburg. One end of this structure is in Summerhill township aiid the other in Wilmore borough, the center of the stream forming the line between the township and borough for about a quarter of a mile to another iron bridge that crosses on the line of the Old Portage railroad
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Cambria County, Pennsylvania1907 · page 99Read the page →
Read the text
The Phillipsburg road is the oldest county road extending north of Ebensburg. The proceedings were begun June 20th, 1808, but the viewers did not make their return until December 3, 1811. The petitioners represented that they ''suffer great injury for the want of a road from the town of Ebensburg to join that one beina: made bv the order of the Court of Centre 456^45
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
Ebensburg, 1796 to 1923
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
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 1796, according to Wikidata. Ebensburg’s post office opened in 1807, and the census of 1810 counted 75 people here.
How does Ebensburg rank for history?
Ebensburg is more historic than 98% of U.S. towns, #73 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 Ebensburg?
4 listings: 3 buildings, among them the Cambria County Courthouse (listed 1980, the first), and 1 historic district, the Ebensburg Historic District, with 416 contributing buildings. 419 historic buildings in all.
How old are the homes in Ebensburg?
36% of Ebensburg’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±8.6 points), against a typical 18% for a Pennsylvania town; the median home was built in 1954.
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 (17), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (4), 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.
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