The story
Read it all →How Kelly Township came to be
From Wikipedia’s history of Kelly Township.
The Slifer House was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1975.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
BHistory
History · Kelly Township
13% of Kelly Township’s homes were built before 1940
More historic than 60% of U.S. towns · #605 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. What drives it
Its Register listing is the Slifer House. Below: maps from 1965 on.
1on the National Register
13%homes built before 1940
Quick answers
About Kelly Township’s history
How historic is Kelly Township?
B
What drives the grade ↓More historic than 60% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
History grade
What drives Kelly Township’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Kelly Township is more historic than 60% of U.S. towns, #605 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. All 2 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its share of homes from before 1940 ranks highest and its National Register listings lowest.
B
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Kelly Township’s overall grade.
Founding eraNo founding year we can rely on, so the grade uses the other two–Homes built before 194013.4% of homes (±6.6) · typical PA town 17.7% · U.S. 8.4%BNational Register1 listing, 2.7 per 10,000 residents · typical PA town 2.1 · U.S. 2.4B
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 60%
NewerOlder
Pennsylvania towns of 2,500+ (1,035)Ahead of 42%
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 Kelly Township’s 2.7 sits near the middle of its state (60% of Pennsylvania towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on two of the three inputs, so a change in either one moves the letter more than it would with three. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±6.6 points).
Founding year: our sources. 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 Kelly Township’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
★ What stands out · Help out
Start Kelly Township’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Kelly Township’s history is told.
Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.Places that used to be
Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds
Two other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.
West Milton
Kelly Cross Roads
Kelly Point
18601940today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Central Oak HeightsKelly CrossroadsKelly Point
Gone or out of use
Pine Grove Schoolschool
1cemetery inside Kelly Township
Stoltzfus
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Timeline
Kelly Township, 1861 to 1965
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
- 19th century
- 1861
BuiltSlifer House is built - 1862Post officeThe West Milton post office opens
- 1864Post officeThe Kelly Cross Roads post office opens
- 1868Post officeThe Kelly Point post office opens
- 20th century
- 1903Post officeThe Kelly Point post office closes
- 1905Post officeThe Kelly Cross Roads post office closes
- 1965
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade
Kelly Township, decade by decade
2016
2016
2014
2012
2012
2008On the map
Kelly Township on the map, 1965 to 1973
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Kelly Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1965Lewisburg sheet · 1:24,000U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Kelly Township.
On the National Register
1 historic place in Kelly Township
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
1
each building in a district counts
first listed
1975
Slifer House
Buildings
Architectural styles listings
Victorian1
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Famous people
See all →Famous people close to Kelly Township
Nobody well known was born in Kelly Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Stories next door
History across the town line
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Questions about Kelly Township’s history
How does Kelly Township rank for history?
Kelly Township is more historic than 60% of U.S. towns, #605 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 Kelly Township?
One place: the Slifer House (listed 1975).
How old are the homes in Kelly Township?
13% of Kelly Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.6 points), against a typical 18% for a Pennsylvania town; the median home was built in 1984.
Memory lane
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
Start a conversation
Sources
Where this page comes from
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, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, 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.