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 4.0
Founding year: Wikidata. First post office: 1874.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Edwardsville’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Edwardsville is more historic than 49% of U.S. towns, #756 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 Edwardsville’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 Edwardsville’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 (±9.5 points). Two sources give 1884.
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 Edwardsville’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
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.
The area was first settled in 1768 by pioneers from Connecticut during the era of the Susquehanna Company’s expansion. For much of its early years, the settlement was a quiet agricultural and milling outpost; one of its earliest industrial landmarks was Moneypenny’s Mill, a significant grain mill and inn built by William Moneypenny to serve travelers crossing the Susquehanna River.
Passages that mention Edwardsville, cut from the printed page as they were published.
A history of Wilkes-Barré, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania1909 · page 165Read the page →
Read the text
Pringle — Bordering on the boroughs of Kingston, Edwardsville, Courtdale and Luzerne, and also the township of Kingston, Pringle Borough was at one time a village of Kingston Township. It was incorporated as a borough on January 17, 1914, absorbing the territory which had formerly been Pringle Township, the latter having been organized out of part of Kingston Township in the previous decade.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
A history of Wilkes-Barré, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania1909 · page 144Read the page →
Read the text
In 1900, Edwardsville had 5,165 inhabitants; in 1910 the census was 8,047, and in 1920, 9,027. Until the consolidation of Kingston and Dorranceton, in 192 1, Edwardsville was a larger community than its older neighbor. In 1926 Edwardsville had 4,875 taxables, and the assessed valuation of their property then was $6,986,272. Harry E. Jones was burgess in 1926, John R. Hatten was president of school board, and Victor E. Lewis was supervising school principal. Edwardsville schools in 1926 had a stafT of ten high school teachers and forty-nine graded school teachers.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, with biographical selections1893 · page 882Read the page →
Read the text
(Thomas) Evans. The subject of this sketch came to America in the year 1870, and was educated in Hudson, Ohio, where he received thorough instruction. He next went to Bangor, Me., where he continued his studies, and in 1875 was ordained as a preacher at the Welsh Congregational Church of Edwardsville, Pa. He then went to Pittston, Pa. , where he was pastor of the Welsh Church for four years. In 1882, he began with others what is known in church phraseology as the English Congregational movement, and in the same year helped to organize the Puritan Church at Wilkes-Barre, and the Bethesda Church at Edwardsville, Pa., and also
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
Edwardsville, 1874 to 1998
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
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.
1891Sheet 1 of 1
Edition
Sheets
BrickWoodStone
Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Then & now
Stand where they stood
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Retake this viewEdwardsville, Pa. 1892, 1892
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Edwardsville’s page.
In 1884, according to Wikidata. Edwardsville’s post office opened in 1874, and the census of 1890 counted 3,284 people here.
How does Edwardsville rank for history?
Edwardsville is more historic than 49% of U.S. towns, #756 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 Edwardsville?
32% of Edwardsville’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 1959.
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 (13), the Library of Congress (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.
1892
1892
1892![A1386-A1393--Edwardsville, PA--Woodward Breaker--Construction Progress--Erection of Steelwork--Side View [1918.08.01]](https://images.townratings.com/story/15192/9599f1cbb9d2b61e6f96-s.jpg)
1918![A1386-A1393--Edwardsville, PA--Woodward Breaker--Construction Progress--Erection of Steelwork--Side View [1918.08.01]](https://images.townratings.com/story/15192/250e7398179ab930f4b5-s.jpg)
1918
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Date?
2023
2011
