Founding year: Wikidata. First post office: 1906.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Midland’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Midland is more historic than 38% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its age pulls it down.
C+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Midland’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 Midland’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (25% of Pennsylvania towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from D to B. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±8.7 points). Two sources give 1905.
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 →
What stands out about Midland’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Native American petroglyphs exist in the area surrounding Midland, including on Babbs Island, the Little Beaver Creek, and Shippingport Bridge.
In 1905, Pittsburgh agent T. K. Miller purchased land on behalf of a group of industrialists who would form the Midland Steel Company and with it, the borough of Midland as a company town in 1906. Other companies would begin operations in the town as well. In 1911, Midland Steel Company sold its operations to the Pittsburgh Crucible Steel Company, a division of the larger Crucible Steel Company of America. By the end of the First World War, Crucible employed 2,700 men.
Passages that mention Midland, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Genealogical and personal history of Beaver County, Pennsylvania1914 · page 750Read the page →
Read the text
great deal of grade and excavation contracting. He also acquired real estate holdings of value in this town, still retaining title to several properties. On October 31, 1912, he moved to his present home in the newly platted town of Midland, Pennsylvania, where he continues in the contracting business, on a larger scale than heretofore, employing forty men and keeping eleven teams in constant use. His judgment in moving to a town then in the first stage of growth and as yet not fully developed has been proven of the best, as he has been awarded the contracts for many
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Genealogical and personal history of Beaver County, Pennsylvania1914 · page 618Read the page →
Read the text
fied with the interests of a number of other corporations in official and other capacity, a partial list being as follows: Vice-president of the Crucible Steel Works of America, at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; president of the Pittsburgh Crucible Steel Works at Midland, Pennsylvania; president of the Midland Trust Company; president of the Midland Water Works; president of the Crucible Coal Company; and a director in the Beaver National Bank. It is a fact worthy of mention that in the history of steel making the Pittsburgh Crucible Steel Works at Midland, Penn-
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.
Timeline
Midland, 1901 to 1950
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
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.
In 1905, according to Wikidata. Midland’s post office opened in 1906, and the census of 1910 counted 1,244 people here.
How does Midland rank for history?
Midland is more historic than 38% 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.
How old are the homes in Midland?
39% of Midland’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±8.7 points), against a typical 18% for a Pennsylvania town; the median home was built in 1944.
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 Library of Congress (11), 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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