Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 73% of U.S. towns · #434 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. What drives it
Most of Manchester Township was built recently: 6% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1993. 4 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 32 buildings. Below: maps from 1963 on and the census since 1870.
Manchester Township dates its founding to 1814 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1870.
More historic than 73% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Manchester Township is more historic than 73% of U.S. towns, #434 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 Manchester Township’s 18.3 sits above most of its state (81% of Pennsylvania towns have fewer) while its 36 historic buildings outnumber those of 83% of U.S. towns.
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 →
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Manchester Township’s history is told.
Old hamlets and crossroads still carry their names on the map.
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.
From Wikipedia’s history of Manchester Township.
Settled in 1814, the village of Liverpool (now Manchester) was incorporated in 1869 in the eastern section of Manchester Township. During the Gettysburg campaign of the American Civil War, Liverpool's merchants were raided by the 17th Virginia Cavalry.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Manchester Township, cut from the printed page as they were published.
of West Manchester Township. (See history of Manchester Townshi \ B. SPR 1861, in West Manchester Township, and has been a resident of his native township all his life. He received a common school education and began business for himself at Baer's Station, on the Frederick division of the Pennsylvania Railroad when
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Gross' ancestors were among the first settlers of Manchester Township. They came to the neighborhood of Manchester 110 years ago, and their descendants in Manchester Township have always been upright, honorable men and good citizens.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Maniests. " All services in the first church were to be held "before candle light." This church is located on one of the land-marks of Manchester Township, now in the young village of Starview, two miles southeast of Mt. Wolf. It is widely known as "Hoover's Church." The exact time when the first log-church was built is not definitely known,
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
while advancing on York, and when at Weiglestown, sent Col. French, with a detachment of the Seventeenth Virginia Cavalry, across Manchester Township, to the mouth of the Conewago, to burn the railroad bridges there. They halted, for a time, at Liverpool and Mount Wolf. They took from the stores, boots, shoes, hats, and some other
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
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 SurveyEvery edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Manchester 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 Manchester Township.
Grew from 406 people in 1870 to 2,800 in 2020, 6 times over.
16 censuses, 1870–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Manchester Township’s Wikipedia page.
Nobody well known was born in Manchester Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
In 1814, according to Wikidata. Manchester Township’s post office opened in 1850, and the census of 1870 counted 406 people here.
Manchester Township is more historic than 73% of U.S. towns, #434 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.
4 listings: 3 buildings, among them the Willis House (listed 1979, the first), and 1 historic district, the Sinking Springs Farms, with 32 contributing buildings. 36 historic buildings in all.
6% of Manchester Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.4 points), against a typical 18% for a Pennsylvania town; the median home was built in 1993.
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 Wikimedia Commons (6), the National Register of Historic Places (4), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
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