Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Photo: Historic American Engineering Record · Public domainAmong the most historic 1% of U.S. towns. What drives it
4 places in town are on the National Register, among them two historic districts with 243 buildings between them. Below: 11 old photos and papers, maps from 1902 on, and the census since 1980.
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, Marion Township is among the most historic 1% of U.S. towns. All 2 inputs put Marion 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 Marion Township’s 1,401 sits above most of its state (98% of Pennsylvania towns have fewer) while its 244 historic buildings outnumber those of 94% 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.
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 Marion 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 Marion Township.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Marion Township’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of Marion Township.
The S Bridge (Womelsdorf, Pennsylvania), Peter Spicker House, Stouchsburg Historic District, and Tulpehocken Creek 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.
BuiltTulpehocken Creek Historic District is built
In the archive1940 Census Enumeration District Descriptions - Pennsylvania - Berks County - ED 6-50, ED…
In the archiveTownship map of Berks County, Pennsylvania, from actual surveys
In the archive1940 Census Enumeration District Maps - Pennsylvania - Berks County - Marion - ED 6-53
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyBuiltS Bridge is built3 decades in the archive, from the 1850s to the 1880s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Date?Historic American Buildings Survey, Cervin Robinson, …
Date?Historic American Buildings Survey, Cervin Robinson, …
Date?Historic American Buildings Survey, Cervin Robinson, …
Date?Historic American Buildings Survey, Cervin Robinson, …
Date?Historic American Buildings Survey, Cervin Robinson, …
Date?Historic American Buildings Survey, Cervin Robinson, …
Date?Historic American Buildings Survey, Cervin Robinson, …
Date?Historic American Buildings Survey, Cervin Robinson, …No 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 Marion Township’s page.
Retake this view · +15Between 1,341 and 1,688 people in every census since 1980.
4 censuses, 1980–2010.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Marion Township’s Wikipedia page.
Nobody well known was born in Marion Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Another post office, Stouchburg, 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).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Marion Township is among the most historic 1% of U.S. towns. 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: 1 building, among them the Peter Spicker House (listed 1983, the first), 2 historic districts, the Stouchsburg Historic District and the Tulpehocken Creek Historic District, with 243 contributing buildings, and 1 structure. 244 historic buildings in all.
32% of Marion Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±9.2 points), against a typical 18% for a Pennsylvania town; the median home was built in 1980.
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 (11), 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) 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.
