Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Below: 4 old photos and papers, maps from 1935 on, and old-book passages.
Franklin Township dates its founding to 1772 (Wikidata). Its post office opened in 1829.
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 Franklin Township’s history is told.
Two 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).
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
In the archive1940 Census Enumeration District Maps - Pennsylvania - Lycoming County - Franklin - ED 41…
In the archiveScene on the Allegheny
In the archiveWoodwork, checkerboard table for Y.M.C.A
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyFrom Wikipedia’s history of Franklin Township.
Franklin Township, named for Benjamin Franklin, was formed from part of Moreland Township in 1822. It included what is now Jordan Township until that was formed 32 years later. Another portion of Franklin Township was cut away in 1828 to form Penn Township.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Franklin Township, cut from the printed page as they were published.
two in the county which extend through from one county on the north to another county on the south. Franklin Township was detached from Moreland in 1822 and for thirty-two years included all the territory now within the limits of the township of Jordan and for six years a portion of what is now Penn.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Lairdsville is the only village in Franklin Township and the only postoffice. It is located on Little Muncy Creek on an alluvial flat and is in the center of a very prosperous community. It was settled at an early day by Germans who had come from the original counties of the state to find a home among the hills in the lower end of Lycoming County.
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.
3 decades in the archive, from the 1880s to the 1910s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Franklin 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 Franklin 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 Franklin Township’s page.
Retake this view · +15Nobody well known was born in Franklin Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
In 1772, according to Wikidata. Franklin Township’s post office opened in 1829.
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). How TownRatings grades history →
From Wikimedia Commons (6), the Library of Congress (3), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, 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.
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