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A−History
History · Fulton Township

26% of Fulton Township’s homes were built before 1940

More historic than 80% of U.S. towns · #320 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. What drives it

1 place in town is on the National Register, among them the Robert Fulton Birthplace, a National Historic Landmark. Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1912 on, and the census since 2000.

1on the National Register
26%homes built before 1940
2old photos & papers
From Fulton Township’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

About Fulton Township’s history

How historic is Fulton Township?

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More historic than 80% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
History grade

What drives Fulton Township’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Fulton Township is more historic than 80% of U.S. towns, #320 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.

A−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Fulton Township’s overall grade.
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 80%
NewerOlder
Pennsylvania towns of 2,500+ (1,035)Ahead of 69%

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 Fulton Township’s 3.1 sits near the middle of its state (61% 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 (±7.1 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 Fulton Township’s past

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

★ What stands out · Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

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

Goshen
1831–1853
Pleasant Grove
1841–1935
Fulton House
1853–1919
Peter's Creek
1853–1892
Wakefield
1853–1916
Lyles
1857–1908
Goshen
1860–1920
McSparran
1887–1937
Peter's Creek
1897–1913
18301930today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Black BaronEldoraGoshenJenkins CornerMcSparranNew TexasPeach BottomPenn HillPleasant GroveWakefield
Gone or out of use
Fulton House Post Officepost officeGoshen Post Officepost officeNew Texas Post Officepost officePeters Creek Post Officepost officePleasant Grove Post Officepost officeWakefield Post Officepost office
11cemeteries and burying grounds inside Fulton Township
Ballance MeetingBethel Mennonite ChurchBlakeBoydLittle Britain PresbyterianOld African Methodist EpiscopalOld Little Britain PresbyterianPenn HillPleasant Grove MethodistRigbyRock Springs Baptist Church

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

Help out

Start Fulton Township’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
On the map

Fulton Township on the map, 1912 to 1999

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

Fulton Township on the 1912 USGS mapFulton Township on the 1943 USGS mapFulton Township on the 1955 USGS mapFulton Township on the 1969 USGS mapFulton Township on the 1976 USGS mapFulton Township on the 1999 USGS map1912Quarryville sheet · 1:62,500

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Fulton Township.

The story

How Fulton Township came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Fulton Township.

Read it all →

The Robert Fulton Birthplace is within the township; it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1966.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Fulton Township, 1831 to 1964

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1831Post officeThe Goshen post office opens
  3. 1841Post officeThe Pleasant Grove post office opens
  4. 1853Post officeThe Goshen post office closes
  5. 1853Post officeThe Fulton House post office opens
  6. 20th century
  7. 1912On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  8. 1919Post officeThe Fulton House post office closes
  9. 1935Post officeThe Pleasant Grove post office closes
  10. 1964LandmarkRobert Fulton Birthplace named a National Historic Landmark
By decade

Fulton Township, decade by decade

Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

Shorty's Place, Needmore
Retake this viewShorty's Place, Needmore

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Fulton Township’s page.

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

1 historic place in Fulton Township

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving. One is a National Historic Landmark, the highest tier.

place listed
1
National Historic Landmark
1
Robert Fulton Birthplace
historic buildings protected
1
each building in a district counts
first listed
1966
Robert Fulton Birthplace
Buildings★ landmark
All 1 listings

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

People over time

Fulton Township, census by census

05001,0001,5002,0002,5003,0003,50020002020Peak: 3,227

Between 2,826 and 3,227 people in every census since 2000.

3 censuses, 2000–2020.

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

Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Questions about Fulton Township’s history

How does Fulton Township rank for history?

Fulton Township is more historic than 80% of U.S. towns, #320 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 Fulton Township?

One place: the Robert Fulton Birthplace (listed 1966).

How old are the homes in Fulton Township?

26% of Fulton Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±7.1 points), against a typical 18% for a Pennsylvania town; the median home was built in 1978.

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 the Library of Congress (2), 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.