Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Most of Harleysville was built recently: 8% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1984. Below: maps from 1888 on and the census since 1990.
The Harleysville post office opened in 1844, the earliest record of the town by name.
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 Harleysville’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Harleysville. 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 Harleysville.
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 SurveyFrom Wikipedia’s history of Harleysville.
The land that became Harleysville was originally Lenape territory. The Lenape were Indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands. Their land, Lenapehoking (Lënapehòkink), stretched along the eastern seaboard from Delaware to Connecticut. Some of their roads through the woods eventually became Pennsylvania Route 63 and Route 113.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Harleysville, cut from the printed page as they were published.
ville, one and a half miles in length, was completed in 1868, and from the latter place to Souderton, on the North Pennsylvania Railroad, in 1865. The villages are Harleysville, Lederachsville and Mainland, each possessing a post-office. The population of Lower Salford, in ISOO, was 524; in 1840, 1141; and in 1880, 1828. The real estate for taxable purposes, in 1882, was valued at .fl,059,225, and including the
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Harleysville is situated on the turnpike from Sumneytown to Spring House, in the northern portion of the township. It is but a mere hamlet, with some small factories running periodically. The first and only house here in time of the Revolutionary War was that of Nicholas Schwenk, a blacksmith, who owned here in 1776 one hundred and fifty acres of land. Samuel Harley built a tavern here in 1790, conducted a large general store, and was many years a leading factor and is credited with founding the village, for whom it was also named. It had a post
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.
The 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 7,405 and 9,899 people in every census since 1990.
4 censuses, 1990–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Harleysville’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Harleysville post office opened in 1844, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
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). How TownRatings grades history →
From Wikimedia Commons (5), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia) 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.
2024
2014
2014
2011
2011