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B+History
History · Loretto

Loretto dates to 1799, and 26% of its homes were built before 1940

More historic than 67% of U.S. towns. What drives it

Below: maps from 1902 on and the census since 1850.

1799founded
0on the National Register
26%homes built before 1940
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Photo: Geowizerd · CC BY-SA 3.0
Quick answers

How Loretto began

When was Loretto founded?

1799

Loretto dates its founding to 1799 (Wikipedia’s history). The census first counted it in 1850.

First census: 193 in 18502020 census: 1,196227 years

How historic is Loretto?

B+

More historic than 67% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
Founding year: Wikipedia. First post office: 1825.The full story ↓
History grade

What drives Loretto’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Loretto is more historic than 67% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.

B+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Loretto’s overall grade.
Founding era1799, from Wikipedia: founded 1776–1849, an older era than 75% of U.S. townsA−Homes built before 194025.8% of homes (±12.9) · typical PA town 17.7% · U.S. 8.4%A−National RegisterNo listings counted · typical PA town 2.1 per 10,000 · U.S. 2.4C−
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 67%
NewerOlder

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 Loretto’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (25% of Pennsylvania towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.

How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from B− to A−. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±12.9 points). Two sources give 1799.

Founding year: Wikipedia (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 →

What stands out about Loretto’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Loretto are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.On the map since 19023 editions of the USGS map, 1902 to 1972. Watch Loretto change.Boom and bustPeaked at 1,661 in 1970; 1,196 people lived here in 2020.Deep rootsEstablished in 1799: 227 years of Loretto.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Loretto’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Loretto’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
On the map

Loretto on the map, 1902 to 1972

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Loretto. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Loretto on the 1902 USGS mapLoretto on the 1961 USGS mapLoretto on the 1972 USGS map1902Patton sheet · 1:62,500

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Loretto.

People over time

Loretto, census by census

02004006008001,0001,2001,4001,6001,8001850190019502000Peak: 1,661

Peaked at 1,661 in 1970; 1,196 people lived here in 2020.

18 censuses, 1850–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Loretto’s Wikipedia page.

The story

How Loretto came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Loretto.

Read it all →

Loretto was founded in 1799 by Demetrius Augustine Gallitzin as an English-speaking Catholic settlement west of the Allegheny Front. He named it after the town of Loreto, Italy, site of a Catholic place of pilgrimage. Loretto was built adjoining the original settlement founded by Captain Michael McGuire, a Revolutionary War veteran, in 1788. In his will, Captain McGuire donated land to the Catholic Church on which Prince Gallitzin built St. Michael's Church in 1799.

Federal Correctional Institution, Loretto, is a U.S. federal prison located 0.5 miles (0.80 km) southeast of Loretto, on the site of a former Catholic seminary.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

From the old history books

What they wrote about Loretto in 1907

Passages that mention Loretto, cut from the printed page as they were published.

Loretto is about seven miles in an easterly direction from Ebensburg, and was incorporated as the borough of Loretto by the Act of March 8, 1845.
History of Cambria County, Pennsylvania1907 · page 209Read the page →
Read the text

Loretto is about seven miles in an easterly direction from Ebensburg, and was incorporated as the borough of Loretto by the Act of March 8, 1845.

Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
John Storm, or Sturm, is said to have erected a grist mill on the Clearfield creek, near Loretto in 1792, now Seibert's mill, Dawson Station, on the railroad. Along what is undoubtedly the main branch,, which, as before stated, rises near Kaylor's, was the first permanent settlement of white men, v…
History of Cambria County, Pennsylvania1907 · page 217Read the page →
Read the text

John Storm, or Sturm, is said to have erected a grist mill on the Clearfield creek, near Loretto in 1792, now Seibert's mill, Dawson Station, on the railroad. Along what is undoubtedly the main branch,, which, as before stated, rises near Kaylor's, was the first permanent settlement of white men, viz : that of Captain Michael McGuire, who, in 1787, moved his family to a clearing and started a colony, with which Demetrius Augustine Gallitzin, i)rince and priest,

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.

Timeline

Loretto, 1799 to 1970

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 18th century
  2. 1799
    FoundingLoretto is established
  3. 19th century
  4. 1825Post officeThe Loretto post office opens
  5. 1844Born hereAugustin Flanagan is born here
  6. 20th century
  7. 1902On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  8. 1970CensusPopulation peaks at 1,661
By decade

Loretto, decade by decade

Today5 recent
Loretto, Pennsylvania sign2016Loretto, Pennsylvania signImmergrun2011ImmergrunDimitriusGallitzinAltoona42011DimitriusGallitzinAltoona4Immergrun Golf Course Building2010Immergrun Golf Course BuildingLoretto012008Loretto01
Places that used to be

Places now gone and burying grounds

Loretto’s post office has been open since 1825.

Gone or out of use
Loretto Post Officepost office
3cemeteries and burying grounds inside Loretto
Franciscan FriarOriginal Sisters of MercySaint Michael

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Questions about Loretto’s history

What year was Loretto founded?

In 1799, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Loretto’s post office opened in 1825, and the census of 1850 counted 193 people here.

How does Loretto rank for history?

Loretto is more historic than 67% of U.S. towns. 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.

How old are the homes in Loretto?

26% of Loretto’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±12.9 points), against a typical 18% for a Pennsylvania town; the median home was built in 1956.

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
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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 (5), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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.