Founding year: Wikidata. First post office: 1864.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Mahanoy Township’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Mahanoy Township is more historic than 57% of U.S. towns, #646 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 Mahanoy Township’s overall grade.
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 Mahanoy 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.
NoteThe founding year comes from Wikidata alone; no second source gives 1859.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C− to B+. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±7.3 points).
Founding year: Wikidata (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 →
What stands out about Mahanoy Township’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
2cemeteries and burying grounds inside Mahanoy Township
Old Saint Joseph'sPeddlars Grave
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
On the map
Mahanoy Township on the map, 1892 to 1999
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Mahanoy Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1892Mahanoy 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 Mahanoy Township.
Mahanoy City lies in a valley in the Pennsylvania Coal Region and was a major center of anthracite production; the area was embroiled in the Molly Maguires incidents. In 2010, the borough erected the Molly Maguire Historic Park, which features a Zenos Frudakis statue of a hooded miner on a gallows about to be hanged. The borough's principal industries remain the mining and shipping of coal, although the demand for it has steadily declined since its peak in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. In 1930 the St. Nicholas Breaker was built and went into operation in 1932. A controlled explosion destroyed the breaker in March 2018.
In 1948, Mahanoy City became the first municipality in the country to have cable television.
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
In 1859, according to Wikidata. Mahanoy Township’s post office opened in 1864, and the census of 1870 counted 5,533 people here.
How does Mahanoy Township rank for history?
Mahanoy Township is more historic than 57% of U.S. towns, #646 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 Mahanoy Township?
70% of Mahanoy Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±7.3 points), against a typical 18% for a Pennsylvania town; the median home was built in 1938.
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 Wikimedia Commons (12), 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.
c. 1930
c. 1930
c. 1930
c. 1930
c. 1930
c. 1942
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