Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Photo: Acroterion · CC BY-SA 4.0More historic than 56% of U.S. towns · #665 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. What drives it
Below: 3 old photos and papers, maps from 1892 on, and the census since 1880.
Frackville dates its founding to 1861 (Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history agree). The census first counted it in 1880.
More historic than 56% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Frackville is more historic than 56% of U.S. towns, #665 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. 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 Frackville’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: 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.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Frackville’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Frackville. 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 Frackville.
From Wikipedia’s history of Frackville.
Frackville was settled in 1861. It was incorporated more than a decade later in 1876, when the villages of Frackville and Mountain City merged to form the borough of Frackville. The name "Mountain City", however, is still a common nickname for the borough. A diner and beer distributor were both named after it.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Frackville, cut from the printed page as they were published.
nous Coal Company, a position he still retains. He is also interested in the Cambridge Slate Company, of Slatington, of which he is a director and secretary. In 1883 he took up his residence in Frackville, where he has since been identified with various movements and institutions for the advancement of the moral and material interests of the community. He was one of the founders of the Broad Mountain Building and Loan association, organized in 1887, and one of the best in the state, and has been president of the
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
the public schools of St. Clair, where he lived with his grandfather, Richard Dennis Schoener, and at the age of sixteen years he began life as a stage driver for his uncle, A. J. Schoener, on the line running from Shenandoah to Frackville. He continued in that occupation for about ten years, when the aggressions of the Pennsylvania railroad made the business unprofitable and the line was discontinued. He then embarked in the restaurant business in Shenandoah and continued in that until he started his present place of business in 1906. Mr. Schoener is a pro-
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Mr. Frack also kept a general store at St. Clair. In 1849 he bought a tract of 166 acres from James C. Stephens, part of which is now included in the borough of Frackville, and moved his family thereon from St. Clair in the year 1852. The only building on the place was a sawmill, which Mr. Frack converted in 1852 into a dwelling and hotel, conducting the same himself until 1861. In the latter year he laid off part of his land into town lots, including all that part of the present borough lying east of the north and south alley between Balliet and Nice streets, and at once opened up all the
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.
Born hereBen Houser is born here
In the archiveFrackville PA B Eye view 1889
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
In the archiveFrackville PA St Petes Reformed PHS2212 decades in the archive, from the 1880s to the 1920s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
2025Frackville, PA municipal building, June 2025
2025Frackville, PA Free Public Library, June 2025
2025Arch Street Park, Frackville, PA, June 2025
2016Lithuanian museum in
2015Water Tower in Frackville, Schuylkill Co PA
2015Frackville, Schuylkill Co PA 02
2015Frackville, Schuylkill Co PA 01
2012Frackville, Shenandoah, and Mahanoy City, Pennsylvania
2012Frackville, Shenandoah, and Mahanoy City, PennsylvaniaFire 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.
1898Sheet 1 of 2Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
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 Frackville’s page.
Retake this view · +15Peaked at 8,035 in 1940; 3,860 people lived here in 2020.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Frackville’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Old hamlets and crossroads still carry their names on the map.
Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
In 1861, according to Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history of the town. the census of 1880 counted 1,707 people here.
Frackville is more historic than 56% of U.S. towns, #665 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.
52% of Frackville’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±7.2 points), against a typical 18% for a Pennsylvania town; the median home was built in 1938.
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), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), 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.
1889