Founding year: Wikidata. First post office: 1800.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Elizabethtown’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Elizabethtown is more historic than 88% of U.S. towns, #223 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its age ranks highest and its National Register listings lowest.
A
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Elizabethtown’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 Elizabethtown’s 0.8 sits near the middle of its state (53% of Pennsylvania towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% of U.S. towns.
NoteThe founding year comes from Wikidata alone; no second source gives 1753.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from B+ to A+. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±5.2 points).
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 Elizabethtown’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.
Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
On the map
Elizabethtown on the map, 1908 to 1990
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Elizabethtown. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1908Middletown 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 Elizabethtown.
Timeline
Elizabethtown, 1753 to 1999
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
There are two stories about the origin of the town's name. In one version it is named after Elizabeth Reeby, wife of Michael Reeby who sold the first building lots here in about 1795. The officially accepted history is that, in 1753, Captain Barnabas Hughes acquired land and laid out a town, naming it for his wife, Elizabeth. The early settlers were primarily Scots-Irish and Pennsylvania Dutch. In 1758 General John Forbes supplied the expedition to Fort Duquesne with flour and oats and stationed a regiment here to protect his supplies.
Passages that mention Elizabethtown, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania1883Read the page →
Read the text
a municipal government organized. Petition was consequently. made to the Legislature, and on April 13, 1827, an act was passed incorporating the borough of Elizabethtown. It was the third borough incorporated in the county. Whether or not officers were elected in 1827 is uncertain, but the first showing on the record are those for 1828. The following is a list of those elected frojn that time to the present, so far
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania1883Read the page →
Read the text
Mr. England, who began in 1752. Until about 1775 services were held in a dwelling several miles from Elizabethtown, which was subsequently enlarged and converted into a church, .\bout 1780 a log cliurch building was erected in Elizabethtowu in which services were held for more than a score of years. On July 1, 1804, the corner-stone of the present church was laid. The house was consecrated Oct. 11, 1807.
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.
By decade
Elizabethtown, decade by decade
3 decades in the archive, from the 1880s to the 1930s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
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 1753, according to Wikidata. Elizabethtown’s post office opened in 1800, and the census of 1860 counted 700 people here.
How does Elizabethtown rank for history?
Elizabethtown is more historic than 88% of U.S. towns, #223 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 Elizabethtown?
One place: the Kreider Shoe Manufacturing Company (listed 1980).
How old are the homes in Elizabethtown?
24% of Elizabethtown’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.2 points), against a typical 18% for a Pennsylvania town; the median home was built in 1964.
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 (18), 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.
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