Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 67% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Below: maps from 1932 on and old-book passages.
The Harford Township post office opened in 1813, the earliest record of the town by name. Two smaller post offices, Hartford (1811) and Oakley (1854), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
More historic than 67% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Harford Township is more historic than 67% 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 Harford Township’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: the first post office (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 Harford Township’s history is told.
Two other post offices 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).
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 SurveyWikipedia doesn’t have a history of Harford Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Harford is an unincorporated community located in Harford Township, Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania, United States.
Its first post office opened in 1813. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 1,430 to 1,254 (-12%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Passages that mention Harford Township, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Van Winkle's Branch and Nine Partners Creek, in the eastern part, have their principal sources in other townships. Upper Bell Brook rises near the center of Harford Township, in the vicinity of Beaver Meadow, memorable as the birthplace of the settlement. (See diagram.) The brook reached the Tunkhannock in Lenox near the early location of Elisha Bell. Spring Brook, which flows into Martin's Creek at Oakley, was visited by a remarkable flood in the summer of 1870.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Van Winkle’s Branch and Nine Partners Creek, in the eastern part, have their principal sources in other townships. Upper Bell Brook rises near the center of Harford Township, in the vicinity of Beaver Meadow, memorable as the birthplace of the settlement. (See diagram.) The brook reached the Tunkhannock in Lenox near the early location of Elisha Bell. Spring Brook, which flows into Martin’s Creek at Oakley, was visited by a remarkable flood in the summer of 1870.
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.
Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Harford 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 Harford Township.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Harford Township post office opened in 1813, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Harford Township is more historic than 67% 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.
25% of Harford Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±11.3 points), against a typical 18% for a Pennsylvania town; the median home was built in 1979.
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 U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System 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.
