Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 70% of U.S. towns · #464 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. What drives it
Its Register listings are the Hogback Bridge, the Clearfield Armory and the Joseph F. and Anna B. Schrot Farm. Its Register listings are the Hogback Bridge, the Clearfield Armory and the Joseph F. and Anna B. Schrot Farm. Below: maps from 1929 on and old-book passages.
More historic than 70% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Lawrence Township is more historic than 70% of U.S. towns, #464 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. All 2 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its National Register listings ranks highest and its share of homes from before 1940 lowest.
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 Lawrence Township’s 8.1 sits above most of its state (74% of Pennsylvania towns have fewer) while its 6 historic buildings outnumber those of 72% of U.S. towns.
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 →
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Four other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Lawrence Township’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of Lawrence Township.
Lawrence was mostly built as a miner's village for the Montour #4 Mine, which opened in 1914. Montour #4 closed in 1980 after flooding.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Lawrence Township, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Lawrence Township and one in Ferguson Township. After marriage he engaged in fanning in Lawrence Township and moved from there to Ferguson Township, where he spent fourteen years and then settled in Goshen township, in January, 1907, purchasing what was known as the Thompson Read farm. He has done a large amount of im-
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
1873. It has practically no inhabitants and no separate township organization, but for the purpose of taxation, is annexed as a part of Lawrence Township. The township is bounded on the north by Huston Township, on the east by Lawrence Township, on the south by Pike Township and on the west by Union Township. It consists
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.
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Lawrence Township. 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 Lawrence Township.
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.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Lawrence Township is more historic than 70% of U.S. towns, #464 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.
Three places: the Hogback Bridge (listed 1988), the Clearfield Armory (1989) and the Joseph F. and Anna B. Schrot Farm (2011).
12% of Lawrence Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.3 points), against a typical 18% for a Pennsylvania town; the median home was built in 1972.
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).
From the National Register of Historic Places (3), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, 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.
