From Maxatawny Township’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers
How Maxatawny Township began
When was Maxatawny Township founded?
1829
The Maxatawny Township post office opened in 1829, the earliest record of the town by name. Five smaller post offices, Maxatawny (1829), Rodrockville (1833) and Monterey (1847), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
2020 census: 7,181197 years
How historic is Maxatawny Township?
A
More historic than 91% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first Maxatawny Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).
History grade
What drives Maxatawny Township’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Maxatawny Township is more historic than 91% of U.S. towns, #163 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its National Register listings ranks highest and its age lowest.
A
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Maxatawny 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 Maxatawny Township’s 33.0 sits above most of its state (84% of Pennsylvania towns have fewer) while its 26 historic buildings outnumber those of 81% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from A− to A. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±6.4 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.
Founding year: the first post office (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 Maxatawny Township’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Maxatawny Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Maxatawny is an unincorporated community and census-designated place located on U.S. Route 222 in Maxatawny Township, Pennsylvania, United States, five miles east of Kutztown. It is in the Lehigh watershed and Schaefer Run flows through it to the Little Lehigh Creek. Maxatawny has a post office, with the ZIP code of 19538. Traffic speed on US 222 is reduced to 35 miles-per-hour passing through the village, which borders Lehigh County.
Its first post office opened in 1829. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 7,906 to 7,181 (-9%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Timeline
Maxatawny Township, 1829 to 1965
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Maxatawny Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1965Topton sheet · 1:24,000
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Maxatawny Township.
Then & now
Stand where they stood
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Retake this view1940 Census Enumeration District Descriptions - Pennsylvania - Berks County - ED 6-50, ED 6-51, ED 6-52, ED 6-53, ED 6-…, 1850
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Maxatawny Township’s page.
The Maxatawny Township post office opened in 1829, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Maxatawny Township rank for history?
Maxatawny Township is more historic than 91% of U.S. towns, #163 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.
What is on the National Register in Maxatawny Township?
5 listings: 3 buildings, among them the Hottenstein Mansion (listed 1972, the first), and 1 historic district, the Boyer-Mertz Farm, with 9 contributing buildings. 26 historic buildings in all.
How old are the homes in Maxatawny Township?
25% of Maxatawny Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.4 points), against a typical 18% for a Pennsylvania town; the median home was built in 1975.
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 (5), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (4), 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.
2023
2023
2012
