Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Photo: Smallbones · Public domainIts Register listing is the Dunbar-Creigh House. Below: maps from 1930 on and the census since 1850.
Landisburg dates its founding to 1793 (Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history agree). The census first counted it in 1850.
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 Landisburg’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of Landisburg.
Landisburg was platted in 1793. The community was named for its founder, James Landis.
The Dunbar-Creigh House was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
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 SurveyPassages that mention Landisburg, cut from the printed page as they were published.
1854, the Pennsylvania Legislature passed an act incorporating the Duncannon, Landisburg & Broad Top Railroad Company, with a capital of $Soo,ooo, and authorizing the construction of a railroad from a point at or near Duncannon, Terry County, to a point on Broad Top Mountain, in Bedford County, passing through Sherman's Valley via Shermansdale, Landisburg and Bixler's Mills, and through East Waterford, Juniata County. The act incorporating this line was signed by Governor William Bigler, himself a native
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
The first attempt to build a local road was made when, on May 5, 1854, the Pennsylvania Legislature passed an act incorporating the Duncannon, Landisburg & Broad ‘Top Railroad Company, with a capital of $800,000, and authorizing the construction of a railroad from a point at or near Duncannon, Perry County, to a point on Broad Top Mountain, in Bedford County, passing through Sherman’s Valley via Shermansdale, Landisburg and Bixler’s Mills, and through East Waterford, Juniata County. The act incorporating
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Long before Perry County was created, in fact, in 1793, what is now the Borough of Landisburg was laid out in lots by Abraham Landis, a resident of Cocalico Township, Lancaster County, who had on May 2, 1787, taken out a warrant for 116 acres of land lying along Montour’s Run. Landisburg was a part of the tract. A man named John McClure made the survey. The size of the lots was 6oxt50, and they were disposed of by_tlottery. Originally each lot was subject to a “quit rent” of seven shillings and six pence, with a requirement to build a two-story house within three
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
and Methodist church buildings and transformed them into school buildings. In 1831, in response to a petition of the people, an act was passed by the state legislature, providing for the appointment of trustees of the public schoolhouse of the town of Landisburg, and empowering these trustees to examine teachers for said school, to visit same once a month, and to dismiss the teacher for misconduct, want of capacity, or negligence. John McClure, a surveyor, was an early teacher, teaching at various times and being the first teacher in the new school building in 1837.
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.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Landisburg. 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 Landisburg.
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 178 and 416 people in every census since 1850.
18 censuses, 1850–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Landisburg’s Wikipedia page.
In 1793, according to Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history of the town. Landisburg’s post office opened in 1811, and the census of 1850 counted 416 people here.
One place: the Dunbar-Creigh House (listed 1980).
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 (4), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, 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 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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