Founding year: Wikipedia. First post office: 1895.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Glassport’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Glassport is more historic than 53% of U.S. towns, #715 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
B−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Glassport’s overall grade.
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 Glassport’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.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C− to B+. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±7.6 points). Two sources give 1894.
Founding year: Wikipedia (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 →
What stands out about Glassport’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Before Glassport was its own borough, the territory was part of Elizabeth Township, then of Lincoln Township, then Port Vue. In 1902, it became a separate municipality, comprising 1.52 square miles. The town was built around a mill called The United States Glass Company which was built in 1894. The factory came to be known as “the Glass House”. The area was originally laid out in a plot plan by the Glassport Land Company, a subsidiary of the United States Glass Co, and Glassport was named after this company. The United States Glass Company was located near the Monongahela River on Seventh Street. The company specialized in "pressed glass," tableware, and other glass products made from molds.
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Fire 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.
In 1894, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Glassport’s post office opened in 1895, and the census of 1910 counted 5,540 people here.
How does Glassport rank for history?
Glassport is more historic than 53% of U.S. towns, #715 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.
How old are the homes in Glassport?
38% of Glassport’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±7.6 points), against a typical 18% for a Pennsylvania town; the median home was built in 1947.
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 (6), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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 Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
1902
1931
2007
2007