Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 74% of U.S. towns · #417 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. What drives it
Its Register listing is the Legislative Route 1 Sycamore Allee. Below: 3 old photos and papers, maps from 1892 on, and the census since 1850.
Halifax Township dates its founding to 1784 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1850.
More historic than 74% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Halifax Township is more historic than 74% of U.S. towns, #417 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its age ranks highest and its National Register listings lowest.
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 Halifax Township’s 3.0 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.
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 Halifax Township’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Halifax 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 Halifax Township.
Another post office, Powls Valley, 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).
From Wikipedia’s history of Halifax Township.
The Legislative Route 1 Sycamore Allee is located along both sides of the road south of Halifax and on the east side of the road north of Halifax; it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2007.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
In the archiveView looking NW at Wiconisco Canel Aqueduct no. 3. - Wiconisco Canal Aqueduct No. 3, Span…One decade in the archive so far: the 1990s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
2025Halifax, PA post office, June 2025
2025Halifax Borough, PA municipal building, June 2025
2025Halifax Area Historcial Society, PA, June 2025
2023Agromyza vockerothi - inat
2013Halifax Entrance Signage
2009Halifax, Pennsylvania
2009Halifax, Pennsylvania
2009Halifax, Pennsylvania
2009Halifax, Pennsylvania
2009Halifax, Pennsylvania
2009Halifax, Pennsylvania
2009Halifax, Pennsylvania
2009Halifax, PennsylvaniaNo 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 Halifax Township’s page.
Retake this view · +15The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Between 436 and 911 people in every census since 1850.
18 censuses, 1850–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Halifax Township’s Wikipedia page.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
In 1784, according to Wikidata. Halifax Township’s post office opened in 1849, and the census of 1850 counted 436 people here.
Halifax Township is more historic than 74% of U.S. towns, #417 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.
One place: the Legislative Route 1 Sycamore Allee (listed 2007).
16% of Halifax Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.9 points), against a typical 18% for a Pennsylvania town; the median home was built in 1980.
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 (15), the Library of Congress (1), 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.
1999
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