Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Its Register listing is the Starrucca Viaduct. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1885 on, and the census since 1880.
The Lanesboro post office opened in 1829, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 1888.
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 Lanesboro’s history is told.
Peaked at 876 in 1890; 508 people lived here in 2020.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Lanesboro’s Wikipedia page.
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.
1885Sheet 1 of 1Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
From Wikipedia’s history of Lanesboro.
Lanesboro was named for Martin Lane, an early settler who first called it Lanesville. The name was changed to Lanesboro by his son Jesse Lane. Lanesboro was incorporated as a borough in 1889.
The Starrucca Viaduct was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1975.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Lanesboro, cut from the printed page as they were published.
The old “ Harmony Road” was laid out in 1812, from the Susquehanna River at Lanesboro, to Dimock’s Corners in Herrick, where it intersected the Great Bend and Coshecton turnpike. The Jackson turnpike, or as it is known by its charter, the Lenox and Harmony turnpike, was laid out in 1836, from the Tunkhannock Creek in Lenox, to the Susquehanna River at Lanesboro; and must intersect the old Harmony Road near the northern Methodist Episcopal church in Jackson. It was on this road,
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Post-Offices. — Concerning the post-offices and postmasters at Lanesboro', the reader will find imformation in the paragraph entitled " Lanesboro'." At Brandt, in 1869, a post-office was established, called Harmony Centre. The name of the office was changed to Brandt in 1875. H. W. Brandt was commissioned postmaster in 1869, and Raphael Kessler in 1886.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Lanesboro'. — When Martin Lane settled here he called the place Lanesville, and subsequently his son, Jesse Lane, changed the name to Lanesboro'. The Lanesville post-office was established in 1820, when Martin Lane was commissioned postmaster. His successors were Silas Comfort, commissioned in 1822; William Hilborn, in 1825; Charles Hatch, in 1827.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
the deep gorges, and the general uneven surface, may be interested in a brief description of the observations of a newspaper correspondent on the occasion of a carriage ride of five miles up that remarkable creek. Half a mile above the village of Lanesboro we came to the small wooden bridge across the river leading up the river to Windsor. Turning a short angle at this point, we passed up the creek under the broad high arch of the Starucca viaduct of the Erie Railway.
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.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
BuiltStarrucca Viaduct is built
In the archive1940 Census Enumeration District Descriptions - Pennsylvania - Susquehanna County - ED 58…
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyOne decade in the archive so far: the 1850s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Lanesboro. 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 Lanesboro.
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Lanesboro’s page.
Retake this view · +15The 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.
Nobody well known was born in Lanesboro itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Lanesboro post office opened in 1829, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1888.
One place: the Starrucca Viaduct (listed 1975).
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), Wikidata (1), 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, 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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