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Payne's FollyPayne's Folly · Photo: Smallbones · CC0
B+History
History · Fawn Township

16% of Fawn Township’s homes were built before 1940

More historic than 66% of U.S. towns · #531 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. What drives it

Its Register listing is the Payne's Folly. Below: maps from 1955 on and the census since 1850.

1on the National Register
16%homes built before 1940
Quick answers

About Fawn Township’s history

How historic is Fawn Township?

B+

More historic than 66% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
History grade

What drives Fawn Township’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Fawn Township is more historic than 66% of U.S. towns, #531 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. All 2 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its share of homes from before 1940 ranks highest and its National Register listings lowest.

B+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Fawn Township’s overall grade.
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 66%
NewerOlder
Pennsylvania towns of 2,500+ (1,035)Ahead of 49%

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 Fawn Township’s 3.3 sits near the middle of its state (62% of Pennsylvania towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% of U.S. towns.

How sure. Graded on two of the three inputs, so a change in either one moves the letter more than it would with three. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±4.4 points).

Founding year: our sources. 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 Fawn Township’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

★ What stands out · Help out

Start Fawn Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Fawn Township’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Places that used to be

Lost post offices and old corners

Three other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.

Bald Eagle
1850–1903
Gatchellville
1863–1913
New Park
1871–today
McDermott
1888–1903
18501940today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Bald EagleGatchellvilleMcDermottNew Park

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

The story

How Fawn Township came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Fawn Township.

Read it all →

Payne's Folly was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1986. Also in Fawn Township is part of the Muddy Creek Forks Historic District.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Fawn Township, 1850 to 1955

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1850Post officeThe Bald Eagle post office opens
  3. 1863Post officeThe Gatchellville post office opens
  4. 1871Post officeThe New Park post office opens
  5. 20th century
  6. 1903Post officeThe Bald Eagle post office closes
  7. 1913Post officeThe Gatchellville post office closes
  8. 1955On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Fawn Township, decade by decade

On the map

Fawn Township on the map, 1955 to 1992

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Fawn Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Fawn Township on the 1955 USGS mapFawn Township on the 1969 USGS mapFawn Township on the 1976 USGS mapFawn Township on the 1992 USGS map1955Airville 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 Fawn Township.

On the National Register

1 historic place in Fawn Township

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
1
each building in a district counts
first listed
1986
Payne's Folly
Buildings

Architectural styles listings

Georgian1

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

People over time

Fawn Township, census by census

05001,0001,5002,0002,5003,0001850190019502000Peak: 3,099

Between 1,043 and 3,099 people in every census since 1850.

15 censuses, 1850–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Fawn Township’s Wikipedia page.

Famous people

Famous people close to Fawn Township

Nobody well known was born in Fawn Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.

See all →
Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Questions about Fawn Township’s history

How does Fawn Township rank for history?

Fawn Township is more historic than 66% of U.S. towns, #531 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 Fawn Township?

One place: the Payne's Folly (listed 1986).

How old are the homes in Fawn Township?

16% of Fawn Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.4 points), against a typical 18% for a Pennsylvania town; the median home was built in 1988.

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

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 (4), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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.