Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 71% of U.S. towns · #451 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. What drives it
Most of Falls Township was built recently: 2% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1962. Its Register listings are the Pennsbury Manor, the Sotcher Farmhouse and the Walt Disney Elementary School. Below: 4 old photos and papers, maps from 1947 on, and the census since 1890.
Falls Township dates its founding to 1692 (Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history agree). The census first counted it in 1890.
More historic than 71% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Falls Township is more historic than 71% of U.S. towns, #451 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 Falls Township’s 4.6 sits above most of its state (66% of Pennsylvania towns have fewer) while its 16 historic buildings outnumber those of 78% 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.
Three other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Falls Township’s history is told.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
In the archiveRoad from Philadela. to New York, seg. 4-5
In the archive1940 Census Enumeration District Maps - Pennsylvania - Bucks County - Falls - ED 9-37, ED…
In the archiveAtlas of Bucks Co., Penna
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
In the archiveLooking W on bypassed segment. - Lincoln Highway, Running from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh…From Wikipedia’s history of Falls Township.
Dutch settlements here were established as early as 1616. A number of colonists came to Falls Township before William Penn founded Pennsylvania in 1681, including William Biles.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
4 decades in the archive, from the 1800s to the 1990s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
20252025-01-23 14 29 43 View northwest up an icy Delaware…
20252025-01-23 14 29 41 View northwest up an icy Delaware…
20252025-01-23 14 29 36 View northwest up an icy Delaware…
20232023-09-20 14 45 31 View from the Interstate 295 brid…
20232023-09-20 14 45 27 View from the Interstate 295 brid…
20232023-09-20 14 44 45 View from the Interstate 295 brid…
20232023-09-20 14 44 44 View from the Interstate 295 brid…
2014Bucks county - Falls TownshipEvery edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Falls Township. 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 Falls Township.
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 Falls Township’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.
Between 1,789 and 36,083 people in every census since 1890.
14 censuses, 1890–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Falls Township’s Wikipedia page.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
In 1692, according to Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history of the town. Falls Township’s post office opened in 1794, and the census of 1890 counted 2,463 people here.
Falls Township is more historic than 71% of U.S. towns, #451 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.
Three places: the Pennsbury Manor (listed 1969), the Sotcher Farmhouse (1977) and the Walt Disney Elementary School (2007).
2% of Falls Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate), against a typical 18% for a Pennsylvania town; the median home was built in 1962.
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 (12), the National Register of Historic Places (3), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
