Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 76% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Below: 8 old photos and papers, maps from 1892 on, and the census since 1880.
Hallstead dates its founding to 1787 (Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history agree). The census first counted it in 1880.
More historic than 76% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Hallstead is more historic than 76% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
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 Hallstead’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.
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.
Peaked at 1,580 in 1960; 1,174 people lived here in 2020.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Hallstead’s Wikipedia page.
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.
1892Sheet 1 of 1Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
From Wikipedia’s history of Hallstead.
Hallstead was settled in 1787. What is now Hallstead was incorporated as Great Bend Village on November 28, 1874. In 1887, it was renamed to Hallstead Borough in honor of William F. Hallstead, president of the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Hallstead, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Franklin, Washington, Grant. Cross Street intersects these streets at right angles, making a well-laidout town. The Susquehanna River flows between the two boroughs of Great Bend and Hallstead. A few years ago there was a good depot and a railroad bridge, across which the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad ran trains ; but the bridge and depot have burned down, and the Delaware, Lacka-
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Rose Hill Cemetery, so named in honor of Benjamin H. Rose, who gave the land, is handsomely located on a little eminence west of Hallstead, having the old burial-place in the Presbyterian yard, the winding Susquehanna, the two villages of Hallstead and Great Bend and the surrounding mountain, all in view. The ponderous trains of the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad rush heedlessly
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.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
In the archive1940 Census Enumeration District Descriptions - Pennsylvania - Susquehanna County - ED 58…
In the archive1940 Census Enumeration District Maps - Pennsylvania - Susquehanna County - Great Bend - …
In the archivePanorama view from "Inspiration Point", Du Bois Drive, Mount Manotonome, Hallstead, Pa
In the archiveHallstead PA Presby PHS249
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey4 decades in the archive, from the 1850s to the 1920s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
2025Franklin Avenue Park, Hallstead, PA, April 2025
2011Hallstead, Pa. , September 19, 2011 -- A sign in from…
2009Hallstead, Pennsylvania pet food
2009Hallstead, Pennsylvania
2009Hallstead, Pennsylvania
2009Hallstead, Pennsylvania
2009Hallstead, Pennsylvania
2009Hallstead, Pennsylvania
2009Hallstead, Pennsylvania
2009Hallstead, PennsylvaniaEvery edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Hallstead. 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 Hallstead.
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 Hallstead’s page.
Retake this view · +15Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Hallstead’s post office has been open since 1885. Another post office, Great Bend Village, 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).
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
In 1787, according to Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history of the town. Hallstead’s post office opened in 1861, and the census of 1880 counted 546 people here.
Hallstead is more historic than 76% of U.S. towns. 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.
44% of Hallstead’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±8.7 points), against a typical 18% for a Pennsylvania town; the median home was built in 1949.
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 (18), 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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