Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 55% of U.S. towns · #676 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. What drives it
Most of Lower Makefield Township was built recently: 4% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1984. Below: maps from 1947 on and the census since 1880.
More historic than 55% 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 Makefield Township is more historic than 55% of U.S. towns, #676 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 Makefield Township’s 9.9 sits above most of its state (77% of Pennsylvania towns have fewer) while its 33 historic buildings outnumber those of 82% 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.
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 Lower Makefield Township’s history is told.
Lost half of its people between 1880 and 1900, then grew more than tenfold.
14 censuses, 1880–2010.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Lower Makefield Township’s Wikipedia page.
From Wikipedia’s history of Lower Makefield Township.
The Dolington Village Historic District, John and Phineas Hough House, Amos Palmer House, Slate Hill Cemetery, Benjamin Taylor Homestead, and Village of Edgewood Historic District 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.
BuiltAmos Palmer House 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.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Lower Makefield 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 Makefield 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.
Nobody well known was born in Lower Makefield Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Lower Makefield Township is more historic than 55% of U.S. towns, #676 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.
6 listings: 3 buildings, among them the Benjamin Taylor Homestead (listed 1975, the first), 1 historic district, the Village of Edgewood Historic District, with 28 contributing buildings, and 1 site. 33 historic buildings in all.
4% of Lower Makefield Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±1.3 points), against a typical 18% for a Pennsylvania town; the median home was built in 1984.
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 (3), the National Register of Historic Places (5), Wikipedia, 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.
