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 4.0
–Not graded
History · Fairless Hills
Fairless Hills’ post office opened in 1951, and 1 of its places is on the National Register
Most of Fairless Hills was built recently: 3% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1959. Below: 3 old photos and papers, maps from 1947 on, and the census since 1990.
From Fairless Hills’ archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers
How Fairless Hills began, and where its name came from
When was Fairless Hills founded?
1951
The Fairless Hills post office opened in 1951, the earliest record of the town by name.
First census: 9,026 in 19902020 census: 9,04175 years
How did Fairless Hills get its name?
Fairless Hills was named in honor of Benjamin Fairless, then president of U.S. Steel, which operated the "Fairless Works" plant that employed most of Fairless Hills' homeowners at the time.
Fairless Hills as it is known today began in 1951, when developer Danherst Corporation began erecting prefabricated homes built by Gunnison Magichomes, Inc. Gunnison was a wholly owned subsidiary of U.S. Steel. The development was financed by U.S. Steel with a loan of $50 million. It was named in honor of Benjamin Fairless, then president of U.S. Steel, which operated the "Fairless Works" plant that employed most of Fairless Hills' homeowners at the time.
The Sotcher Farmhouse was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1977.
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.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Fairless Hills. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1947Trenton West sheet · 1:24,000
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Fairless Hills.
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 viewDETAIL VIEW OF SOUTH FRONT ENTRANCE, WITH SCALE - Senator Thomas Jenks, Jr., House, Woodbourne Road, 1989
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Fairless Hills’ page.
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). How TownRatings grades history →
From Wikimedia Commons (6), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps and U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
1989
1989
1989
2012
2011
2011
