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Long-RangePhoto: Nicholas · CC BY 2.0
B−History
History · Lower Mount Bethel Township

26% of Lower Mount Bethel Township’s homes were built before 1940

More historic than 54% of U.S. towns · #691 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. What drives it

Below: maps from 1891 on and the census since 2000.

0on the National Register
26%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory
Photo: Nicholas · CC BY 2.0
Quick answers

About Lower Mount Bethel Township’s history

How historic is Lower Mount Bethel Township?

B−

More historic than 54% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
History grade

What drives Lower Mount Bethel Township’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Lower Mount Bethel Township is more historic than 54% of U.S. towns, #691 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. 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 Lower Mount Bethel Township’s overall grade.
Founding eraAge sits out for Lower Mount Bethel Township: no founding date holds up well enough to grade on–Homes built before 194026.1% of homes (±9.9) · 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 54%
NewerOlder
Pennsylvania towns of 2,500+ (1,035)Ahead of 33%

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 Mount Bethel Township’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 two of the three inputs, so a change in either one moves the letter more than it would with three. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±9.9 points).

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 →

What stands out about Lower Mount Bethel Township’s past

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

Lost villages4 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Lower Mount Bethel Township, and 5 old place names are still on the map.A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Lower Mount Bethel Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.On the map since 18917 editions of the USGS map, 1891 to 1994. Watch Lower Mount Bethel Township change.
★ What stands out · Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

Four other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.

Martins Creek
1810–today
Middaghs
1854–1903
Mineral Spring
1866–1870
Sandts Eddy
1870–1904
Riverton
1871–1874
18101920today
Hamlets and corners on the map
GruvertownMartins CreekMount PleasantRivertonSandts Eddy
Gone or out of use
Bethel SchoolschoolGravel Hill SchoolschoolHarmony FerrylocaleMartins Creek AirportairportSandts Eddy StationbuildingValley Schoolschool
1cemetery inside Lower Mount Bethel Township
Church Hill

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

Help out

Start Lower Mount Bethel Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Lower Mount Bethel Township’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

Lower Mount Bethel Township on the map, 1891 to 1994

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

Lower Mount Bethel Township on the 1891 USGS mapLower Mount Bethel Township on the 1936 USGS mapLower Mount Bethel Township on the 1943 USGS mapLower Mount Bethel Township on the 1953 USGS mapLower Mount Bethel Township on the 1968 USGS mapLower Mount Bethel Township on the 1973 USGS mapLower Mount Bethel Township on the 1994 USGS map1891Delaware Water Gap 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 Lower Mount Bethel Township.

The story so far

Lower Mount Bethel Township, in brief

Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Lower Mount Bethel Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.

Lower Mount Bethel Township is a township in Northampton County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population of Lower Mount Bethel Township was 2,921 at the 2020 census. Lower Mount Bethel Township is part of the Lehigh Valley metropolitan area, which had a population of 861,899 and was the 68th-most populous metropolitan area in the U.S. as of the 2020 census.

Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 3,101 to 2,921 (-6%).

Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.

Timeline

Lower Mount Bethel Township, 1810 to 1903

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1810Post officeThe Martins Creek post office opens
  3. 1854Post officeThe Middaghs post office opens
  4. 1866Post officeThe Mineral Spring post office opens
  5. 1870Post officeThe Mineral Spring post office closes
  6. 1891On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  7. 20th century
  8. 1903Post officeThe Middaghs post office closes
By decade

No old photos in the archives yet

Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.

Be the first to add onePhotograph a print flat, in daylight, no flash.
Add from your album
People over time

Lower Mount Bethel Township, census by census

05001,0001,5002,0002,5003,0003,50020002020Peak: 3,228

Between 2,921 and 3,228 people in every census since 2000.

3 censuses, 2000–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Lower Mount Bethel Township’s Wikipedia page.

Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Plainfield TownshipIts storyB−Washington TownshipIts storyCUpper Mount Bethel TownshipIts storyB−Forks TownshipIts storyC−

Questions about Lower Mount Bethel Township’s history

How does Lower Mount Bethel Township rank for history?

Lower Mount Bethel Township is more historic than 54% of U.S. towns, #691 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.

How old are the homes in Lower Mount Bethel Township?

26% of Lower Mount Bethel Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±9.9 points), against a typical 18% for a Pennsylvania town; the median home was built in 1970.

Memory lane

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

Town Square →
Start a conversation
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 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.