Founding year: Wikidata. First post office: 1882.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Grove City’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Grove City is more historic than 70% of U.S. towns, #468 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 Grove City’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 Grove City’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.
NoteThe founding year comes from Wikidata alone; no second source gives 1798.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from B− to A. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±5.4 points).
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 →
What stands out about Grove City’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
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.
1891Sheet 1 of 1
Edition
Sheets
BrickWoodStone
Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
On the map
Grove City on the map, 1913 to 1981
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Grove City. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1913Mercer 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 Grove City.
In 1798, Valentine Cunningham and his family from Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania settled along Wolf Creek, building a gristmill with fellow American Revolutionary War veteran and settler Robert Glenn on the creek in 1799 and naming the area Pine Grove. About a mile north, another community was drafted surrounding a gristmill, named Slabtown. In the early years of the 19th century, Cunningham built a sawmill and schoolhouse in Pine Grove, while Robert Moore built up the area around Slabtown with a sawmill and small businesses. By 1837, Cunningham's sons J.G. and Charles returned to Pine Grove to continue its expansion, formally laying it out around this time.
Passages that mention Grove City, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Mercer County, Pennsylvania1888 · page 503Read the page →
Read the text
The flourishing town of Grove City, located in Pine Township, in the southeastern part of the county, was formerly called Pine Grove, and was laid out in 1844-45 by J. G. and Charles Cunningham. That name was chosen by Valentine Cunningham, WTlliam Miller and others, because of the clump of pine trees which stood on the hill west of the present town. The name of Pine Grove was dropped by the post-office department in November, 1882, and the more significant one of Grove City substituted. It was incorporated, by decree of the court of quarter sessions, on the 4th of January, 1883, and the first elec-
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Mercer County, Pennsylvania1888 · page 509Read the page →
Read the text
Grove City has had a very rapid growth. In 1880 the village had a population of 485, which has so increased in the past eight years that the borough now claims over 1,000 inhabitants. In fact Grove City is one of the live, enterprising modern towns of Mercer 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.
Timeline
Grove City, 1798 to 1962
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
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.
In 1798, according to Wikidata. Grove City’s post office opened in 1882, and the census of 1890 counted 1,160 people here.
How does Grove City rank for history?
Grove City is more historic than 70% of U.S. towns, #468 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 Grove City?
31% of Grove City’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.4 points), against a typical 18% for a Pennsylvania town; the median home was built in 1953.
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 US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), 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.
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