Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 69% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Its Register listings are the Mt. Pleasant Iron Works House, the Bridge in Metal Township and the Carrick Furnace. Below: maps from 1939 on and the census since 2000.
The Metal Township post office opened in 1884, the earliest record of the town by name. Two smaller post offices, Richmond Furnace (1872) and Metal (1884), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
More historic than 69% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Metal Township is more historic than 69% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its age 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 Metal Township’s 18.0 sits above most of its state (81% of Pennsylvania towns have fewer) while its 3 listings outnumber those of 65% of U.S. towns.
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 →
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Two other post offices 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).
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Metal Township’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of Metal Township.
Metal Township was so named on account of deposits of metal ores within its borders.
The Bridge in Metal Township, Carrick Furnace, and Mt. Pleasant Iron Works House 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.
Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Metal 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 Metal Township.
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.
Between 1,721 and 1,866 people in every census since 2000.
3 censuses, 2000–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Metal Township’s Wikipedia page.
Nobody well known was born in Metal Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Metal Township post office opened in 1884, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Metal Township is more historic than 69% 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.
Three places: the Mt. Pleasant Iron Works House (listed 1974), the Bridge in Metal Township (1988) and the Carrick Furnace (1991).
22% of Metal Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±9.1 points), against a typical 18% for a Pennsylvania town; the median home was built in 1971.
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 the National Register of Historic Places (3), 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.
