Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Photo: Nyttend · Public domainAmong the most historic 1% of U.S. towns · #54 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. What drives it
3 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 108 buildings. Below: 8 old photos and papers and maps from 1900 on.
Among the most historic 1% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Luzerne Township is among the most historic 1% of U.S. towns, #54 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. All 2 inputs put Luzerne Township near the top nationally; its National Register listings ranks highest.
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 Luzerne Township’s 205 sits above most of its state (91% of Pennsylvania towns have fewer) while its 111 historic buildings outnumber those of 90% 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.
Four 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 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.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Luzerne 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 Luzerne Township.
From Wikipedia’s history of Luzerne Township.
The Penn-Craft Historic District and Brown-Moore Blacksmith Shop 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 Survey
Date?Perkins House, Forty Fort
Date?Denison House, Wyoming Avenue, Forty Fort
Date?Forty Fort Meetinghouse, River Street, Forty Fort
Date?Shoemaker House, 1577 Wyoming Avenue, Forty Fort
Date?Benjamin Real Homestead, 318 River Street, Forty Fort
Date?William Culver House, 278 River Street, Forty Fort
Date?Father Snowden House, 991 Wyoming Avenue, Forty Fort
Date?The Tripp House, 1086 Wyoming Avenue, Forty FortNo then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Luzerne Township’s page.
Retake this view · +15The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Luzerne Township’s history is told.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Luzerne Township is among the most historic 1% of U.S. towns, #54 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 Penn-Craft Historic District (listed 1989), the Brown-Moore Blacksmith Shop (1992) and the Thomas H. Thompson House (1995).
34% of Luzerne Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±11.5 points), against a typical 18% for a Pennsylvania town; the median home was built in 1950.
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 Library of Congress (8), the National Register of Historic Places (3), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, 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.
