Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 59% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Below: maps from 1892 on and the census since 1970.
More historic than 59% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Fell Township is more historic than 59% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull 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 Fell Township’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.
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 →
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Fell Township’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Fell 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 Fell Township.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Fell Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Fell Township is a township in Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 2,345 at the 2020 census.
Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 2,178 to 2,338 (+7%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Passages that mention Fell Township, cut from the printed page as they were published.
The Reynolds family settled in Connecticut in 1750, having come to this country from England. George Reynolds, grandfather of George F., was among the first settlers of Lackawanna County, having built the first saw mill in Fell Township in 1824, which was later destroyed by fire. He also erected the first frame house in the township and improved a tract of 300 acres.
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.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Between 2,178 and 2,953 people in every census since 1970.
6 censuses, 1970–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Fell Township’s Wikipedia page.
Nobody well known was born in Fell Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Another post office, Simpson, 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).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Fell Township is more historic than 59% of U.S. towns. 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.
31% of Fell Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±8.6 points), against a typical 18% for a Pennsylvania town; the median home was built in 1958.
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 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 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.
