Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Photo: Mr. Matté (if there is an issue with this image, contact me using this image's Commons talk page, my Commons user talk page, or my English Wikipedia user talk page; I'll know about it a lot faster) · CC BY-SA 4.0More historic than 63% of U.S. towns · #573 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. What drives it
Most of Edinboro was built recently: 9% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1976. Its Register listing is the Academy Hall. Below: 5 old photos and papers, maps from 1906 on, and the census since 1850.
Edinboro dates its founding to 1801 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1850.
More historic than 63% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Edinboro is more historic than 63% of U.S. towns, #573 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. Its age holds the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
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 Edinboro’s 1.8 sits near the middle of its state (56% of Pennsylvania towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% of U.S. towns.
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 →
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Lost a third of its people between 1890 and 1910, then grew 7-fold.
18 censuses, 1850–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Edinboro’s Wikipedia page.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Born hereJonas Wendell is born here
Born hereWilliam Constantine Culbertson is born here
Born hereClarence B. Culbertson is born here
In the archiveEdinboro, Pa. 1898
In the archiveScene in New Cemetery
In the archiveEdinboro PA Presby PHS193
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
In the archiveFirst Constitutional Presbyterian ChurchFrom Wikipedia’s history of Edinboro.
Members of the Eriez, Iroquois, and Cornplanter Native tribes were the first known inhabitants of the area that is now known as Edinboro. These nations called the region Conneauttee, meaning "land of the living snowflake". William Culbertson moved to the area in 1801, building a gristmill near Conneauttee Lake.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Edinboro, cut from the printed page as they were published.
James Reeder, the second born son in the above family, at one time with his brother-in-law, Mr. Taylor, owned all of the land in the eastern and southeastern part of the village of Edinboro, and to those two gentlemen belong the credit of laying out the streets and platting that part of the village. They also gave the land on which the Normal school is located, and it may be truthfully stated that had it not been for these public spirited citizens Edinboro would never have been the seat of this institution of learning. Throughout his entire life Mr.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Dr. H. R. Steadman attended the public and high schools at Edinboro and in 1906 completed a course at Edinboro Normal School. The next four years were spent in teaching school, and as principal of the Phillipsville and Edinboro high schools. In 1910 Doctor Steadman entered Jefferson Medical School at Philadelphia where he received his degree of Doctor of Medicine in 1914. He then served as interne at Kings County Hospital (N. Y.) for two years, and in 1916 established his present practice in Erie.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
ing stationed for a short time near Bombay the regiment was ordered to Afghanistan, wherethey remained four years. They were then returned to Dublin, and next stationed at Edinboro, Scotland, and then at Mersey, Wales. Quartermaster Taylor died while in quarters at Cork, in 1873. His son, Charles, who had accompanied his father up to the time of his being stationed at Mersey, Wales, came to the United States
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
ford plank, the Colt's Station, the Waterford and Wattsburg, the Flats road to Mill Village, the Waterford and Meadville pike, the old State road to the Ohio line, the Edinboro and Waterford., the Waterford and Meadville plank, the Waterford and McKean, the Waterford and Union, and the Station road from the borough to the railroad. Some of
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.
4 decades in the archive, from the 1890s to the 1930s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
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2003Behind Reeder HallEvery edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Edinboro. 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 Edinboro.
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.
1906Sheet 1 of 5Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
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 Edinboro’s page.
Retake this view · +15The 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.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
In 1801, according to Wikidata. Edinboro’s post office opened in 1837, and the census of 1850 counted 264 people here.
Edinboro is more historic than 63% of U.S. towns, #573 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.
One place: the Academy Hall (listed 2006).
9% of Edinboro’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.5 points), against a typical 18% for a Pennsylvania town; the median home was built in 1976.
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 (17), the Library of Congress (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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.
1898
