Jim Thorpe dates to 1818, and 58% of its homes were built before 1940
More historic than 97% of U.S. towns · #91 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. What drives it
8 places in town are on the National Register, among them 2 National Historic Landmarks and two historic districts with 30 buildings between them. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1922 on, and the census since 1960.
Founding year: Wikidata; Wikipedia’s history section gives the same year. First post office: 1819.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Jim Thorpe’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Jim Thorpe is more historic than 97% of U.S. towns, #91 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 Jim Thorpe’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 Jim Thorpe’s 81.5 sits above most of its state (88% of Pennsylvania towns have fewer) while its 37 historic buildings outnumber those of 83% 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 (±8.7 points). Two sources give 1818.
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 Jim Thorpe’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Jim Thorpe was founded in 1818 as Mauch Chunk (), a name derived from the term Mawsch Unk, meaning Bear Place in Unami, the language of the native Lenape, possibly a reference to Bear Mountain, an extension of Mauch Chunk Ridge that resembled a sleeping bear, or perhaps the original profile of the ridge, which has since been changed heavily by 220 years of mining. The company town was founded by Josiah White and his two partners, founders of the Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company (LC&N). The town would be the lower terminus of a gravity railroad, the Summit Hill & Mauch Chunk Railroad, which would bring coal to the head of the LC&N Lehigh Canal for transshipment to the confluence of the Delaware River, 43 kilometres (26.7 mi) downstream at Easton. It would thereby ship LC&N's coal to Philadelphia, Trenton, New York City, and other large cities in New Jersey and Delaware, and by ocean to t…
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 1818, according to Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history of the town. Jim Thorpe’s post office opened in 1819, and the census of 1960 counted 5,945 people here.
How does Jim Thorpe rank for history?
Jim Thorpe is more historic than 97% of U.S. towns, #91 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 Jim Thorpe?
8 listings, 2 of them National Historic Landmarks: 5 buildings, among them the Asa Packer Mansion (a National Historic Landmark since 1985) and the Carbon County Jail (listed 1974, the first), 2 historic districts, the Old Mauch Chunk Historic District and the Mauch Chunk Cemetery, with 30 contributing buildings, and 1 site. 37 historic buildings in all.
How old are the homes in Jim Thorpe?
58% of Jim Thorpe’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 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 (1), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (8), 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) 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.
★ Landmark
★ Landmark
