Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Photo: Nicholas · CC BY 2.0More historic than 88% of U.S. towns · #218 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. What drives it
3 places in town are on the National Register, among them two historic districts with 18 buildings between them. Below: maps from 1912 on and the census since 1850.
The Lower Chanceford Township post office opened in 1815, the earliest record of the town by name. Ten smaller post offices, Lower Chanceford (1815), Dixville (1832) and Castle Fin (1833), 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, Lower Chanceford Township is more historic than 88% of U.S. towns, #218 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 Lower Chanceford Township’s 68.3 sits above most of its state (87% of Pennsylvania towns have fewer) while its 21 historic buildings outnumber those of 80% 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.
11 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 Lower Chanceford Township’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Lower Chanceford 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 Lower Chanceford Township.
From Wikipedia’s history of Lower Chanceford Township.
The Muddy Creek Bridge, Maryland and Pennsylvania Railroad, Indian Steps Cabin, and McCalls Ferry Farm are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Lower Chanceford Township, cut from the printed page as they were published.
His father was a native of Virginia and liis mother of Chester County, Penn. His father came to Lower Chanceford Township in 1813; prior to this he was engaged in tanning in Harford County, Md. ; he purchased 190 acres of land in Lower Chanceford Township, and commenced farming.
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.
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 1,582 and 3,032 people in every census since 1850.
15 censuses, 1850–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Lower Chanceford Township’s Wikipedia page.
Nobody well known was born in Lower Chanceford Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Lower Chanceford Township post office opened in 1815, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Lower Chanceford Township is more historic than 88% of U.S. towns, #218 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 Indian Steps Cabin (listed 1990), the Muddy Creek Forks Historic District (1994) and the McCalls Ferry Farm (2000).
19% of Lower Chanceford Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.7 points), against a typical 18% for a Pennsylvania town; the median home was built in 1974.
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 Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (3), 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.
