Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Photo: Hshuvaeva · CC BY-SA 3.0More historic than 49% of U.S. towns · #762 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. What drives it
Its Register listings are the Gwynedd Hall and the Kastner, Jacob, Loghouse. Most of Lower Gwynedd Township was built recently: 8% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1979. Below: maps from 1893 on and the census since 1930.
More historic than 49% 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 Gwynedd Township is more historic than 49% of U.S. towns, #762 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
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 Gwynedd Township’s 1.6 sits near the middle of its state (55% of Pennsylvania towns have fewer) while its 2 listings outnumber those of 60% 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.
Three 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 Gwynedd Township’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Lower Gwynedd 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 Gwynedd Township.
From Wikipedia’s history of Lower Gwynedd Township.
Gwynedd was founded in 1698 by Welsh Quakers. The township was then split into Lower Gwynedd and Upper Gwynedd in 1891.
Gwynedd Hall and the Jacob Kastner Loghouse are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
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.
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.
Grew from 1,847 people in 1930 to 12,076 in 2020, 6 times over.
10 censuses, 1930–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Lower Gwynedd Township’s Wikipedia page.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Lower Gwynedd Township is more historic than 49% of U.S. towns, #762 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.
Two places: the Gwynedd Hall (listed 1985) and the Kastner, Jacob, Loghouse (1996).
8% of Lower Gwynedd Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±3.3 points), against a typical 18% for a Pennsylvania town; the median home was built in 1979.
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 (2), 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) 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.
