Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Lane House · Photo: Smallbones · CC0More historic than 98% of U.S. towns. What drives it
2 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 124 buildings. Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1885 on, and the census since 1840.
Mercersburg dates its founding to 1780 (Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history agree). The census first counted it in 1840.
More historic than 98% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Mercersburg is more historic than 98% of U.S. towns. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its share of homes from before 1940 ranks highest and its age lowest.
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 Mercersburg’s 725 sits above most of its state (96% of Pennsylvania towns have fewer) while its 125 historic buildings outnumber those of 91% 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 country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving. Boundary changes and added documentation are counted with their listing.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Mercersburg’s history is told.
Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.
1885Sheet 1 of 2Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
From Wikipedia’s history of Mercersburg.
The land currently known as Mercersburg was previously territory of the Massawomeck people who were part of the Iroquois Nation.
Mercersburg was platted in 1780. The borough was named after Hugh Mercer, a general and hero in the American Revolutionary War. A post office has been in operation at Mercersburg since 1812.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Mercersburg, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Mercersburg College was incorporated by the court of common pleas of Franklin County, Penn., October 80, 1865, receiving a liberal charter ‘for the education of youth in the learned languages, the arts, sciences and useful literature." The original corporators, styled the board of regents of Mercersburg College, nine in number, were Rev. Henry Harbaugh, D. D., Prof E. E. Higbee, Adam B. Wingerd, Rev. Thomas G. Apple, Rev. Peter S. Davis, Rev. Walter E. Krebs, Rev. Cyrus Cort, David Zeller and Jacob Reed. Rev. H. Harbaugh, D. D., was chosen president, Prof. E. E. Higbee,
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Mercersburg College was incorporated by the court of common pleas of Franklin County, Penn., October 30, 1865, receiving a liberal charter ' ' for the education of youth in the learned languages, the arts, sciences and useful literature." The original corporators, styled the board of regents of Mercersburg College, nine in number, were Rev. Henry Harbaugh, D. D., Prof. E. E. Higbee, Adam B. Wingerd, Rev. Thomas G. Apple, Rev. Peter S. Davis, Rev. Walter E. Krebs, Rev. Cyrus Cort, David Zeller and Jacob Reed. Rev. H. Harbaugh, D. D. , was chosen president, Prof. E. E. Higbee,
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Mercersburg was formerly a more active business place than at present. The building up of rival towns in other parts of the county, with excellent railroad facilities, has had the effect to diminish its trade; and yet the natural elements of soil and climate are wholly in its favor. With proper efforts, the close proximity of Cove Gap, with its natural advantages and historical associa tions, ought to make Mercersburg a summer resort of great importance.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
As the sun sank behind the western hills the judges called time. His task was done. The field was subsequently surveyed, and measured something over twelve acres and a half. It is located near the village of Mercersburg, Franklin Co., Penn. The product of this remarkable day's cradling was 865 dozen shocks of wheat, yielding, when thresbed, 262 bushels of grain. The labor of four men was required to bind after him.
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.
Born hereWilliam Findlay is born here
Born hereJames Findlay is born here
Born hereJane Irwin Harrison is born here
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
In the archiveMrs. Coolidge attends the graduation of her oldest son at the Mercersburg Academy
In the archiveOptician's office2 decades in the archive, from the 1920s to the 1940s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Mercersburg. 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 Mercersburg.
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 Mercersburg’s page.
Retake this view · +15Between 897 and 1,763 people in every census since 1840.
19 censuses, 1840–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Mercersburg’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Mercersburg’s post office has been open since 1812. Another post office, Messersburg, 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.
In 1780, according to Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history of the town. Mercersburg’s post office opened in 1802, and the census of 1840 counted 1,143 people here.
Mercersburg is more historic than 98% 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.
Two places: the Lane House (listed 1972) and the Mercersburg Historic District (1978).
49% of Mercersburg’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.3 points), against a typical 18% for a Pennsylvania town; the median home was built in 1942.
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 (7), the Library of Congress (2), the National Register of Historic Places (2), 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), the USGS Geographic Names Information System, Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) 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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