Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 88% of U.S. towns · #211 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. What drives it
3 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 5 buildings. Below: maps from 1902 on.
The Longswamp Township post office opened in 1822, the earliest record of the town by name. Five smaller post offices, Long Swamp (1822), Henningsville (1884) and Schweyers (1884), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
More historic than 88% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Longswamp Township is more historic than 88% of U.S. towns, #211 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. All 3 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 Longswamp Township’s 12.5 sits above most of its state (79% of Pennsylvania towns have fewer) while its 7 historic buildings outnumber those of 73% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: the first post office (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 →
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Five 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 Longswamp Township’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Longswamp 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 Longswamp Township.
From Wikipedia’s history of Longswamp Township.
A post office called Longswamp was established in 1822, and remained in operation until 1906. The community took its name from Longswamp Township.
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.
BuiltOld Main at the Lutheran Home at Topton is built
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.
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.
Nobody well known was born in Longswamp Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Longswamp Township post office opened in 1822, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Longswamp Township is more historic than 88% of U.S. towns, #211 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 Long-Hawerter Mill (listed 1990), the Mary Ann Furnace Historic District (1991) and the Old Main at the Lutheran Home at Topton (2015).
23% of Longswamp Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.8 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) 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.
