Jersey Shore dates to 1800, and 62% of its homes were built before 1940
Among the most historic 1% of U.S. towns · #55 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. What drives it
1 place in town is on the National Register, among them a historic district with 286 buildings. Below: 6 old photos and papers, maps from 1885 on, and the census since 1840.
Founding year: Wikidata. First post office: 1805.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Jersey Shore’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Jersey Shore is among the most historic 1% of U.S. towns, #55 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its share of homes from before 1940 ranks highest and its age lowest.
A+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Jersey Shore’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 Jersey Shore’s 694 sits above most of its state (95% of Pennsylvania towns have fewer) while its 286 historic buildings outnumber those of 95% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from A to A+. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±16.5 points). Two sources give 1800.
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 Jersey Shore’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Every building
Jersey Shore, building by building, 1885–1913
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.
Jersey Shore was incorporated as a borough on March 15, 1826. The history of Jersey Shore begins about 50 years before it was incorporated and on the opposite bank of the West Branch Susquehanna River in what is now Nippenose Township. Colonel John Henry Antes arrived in 1772 and established a homestead along the banks of Antes Creek. Antes also built a gristmill and his fortified home, Fort Antes, provided a safe haven for the early settlers against raids conducted by Loyalist and Indian forces during the American Revolution. Settlers who had sought refuge at Fort Antes and had returned to the right bank of the West Branch to milk their cows were among the first killed when Fort Antes was attacked just prior to the Big Runaway. These pioneers on the north side of the river were counted among the Fair Play Men, a group of squatters who lived outside the jurisdiction of the colonial and …
Passages that mention Jersey Shore, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Lycoming County, Pennsylvania1929 · page 159Read the page →
Read the text
Jersey Shore.—Although the settlement of that part of Lycoming County in the neighborhood of the present borough of Jersey Shore was not made until some time after that in the vicinity of Muncy, the two municipalities were incorporated at the same time, March 15, 1826.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Going north to the river we find many places that show plications and faults. Near Jersey Shore Station, above and below the river bridge, occur rolls and plications in the strata. Above Jersey Shore to Pine creek, just below the Beech Creek railroad bridge, can be observed in John Sebring's lime quarry some interesting plications and rolls on a grand scale in a vertical cliff of (No. VI) Lower Helderberg or Lewistown limestone. Above and along Pine creek are many exposures in the Chemung measures (No. VIII), which are quite precipitous. Just above Cammal station, in the railroad cut, is a good opportunity to observe the characteristics of the peculiar mode of deposition of the calcareous breccia or cornstone.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Lycoming County, Pennsylvania1929 · page 147Read the page →
Read the text
Another exposure of these measures is seen above Antes Fort, or Jersey Shore station, on the Pennsylvania Railroad, where there is one exposure below the river bridge which is much contorted, and again a little further up they are resting on the edge of yellow shales showing on the opposite bank of Antes Creek a portion of measures concealed, while in the railroad cut, just above the station, is a large boulder of calciferous sandstone with large nodules of black chert scattered
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Jersey Shore Station, or Antes Fort, is not an incorporated borough, although it is regularly laid out with streets and alleys. The streets running east and west are named First, Second, and Third; north and south, Pine, Main, and "Walnut. It has three stores, kept, respectively, by Michael Curts, W. E. Gheen, and Bailey Brothers: one hotel, by W. M. Wright, a grain and tobacco warehouse, by W. E.
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
Jersey Shore, 1800 to 1921
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 1800, according to Wikidata. Jersey Shore’s post office opened in 1805, and the census of 1840 counted 525 people here.
How does Jersey Shore rank for history?
Jersey Shore is among the most historic 1% of U.S. towns, #55 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.
What is on the National Register in Jersey Shore?
One place: the Jersey Shore Historic District (listed 1975).
How old are the homes in Jersey Shore?
62% of Jersey Shore’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±16.5 points), against a typical 18% for a Pennsylvania town; the median home was built in 1938.
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 (6), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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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