Most of Milford Township was built recently: 8% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1984. 1 place in town is on the National Register, among them the Gifford Pinchot House, a National Historic Landmark, and a historic district with 3 buildings. Below: 9 old photos and papers, maps from 1913 on, and the census since 1870.
Founding year: Wikidata; Wikipedia’s history section gives the same year. First post office: 1854.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Milford Township’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Milford Township is more historic than 72% of U.S. towns. Its age holds the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
B+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Milford 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 Milford Township’s 19.4 sits above most of its state (82% of Pennsylvania towns have fewer) while its 3 historic buildings outnumber those of 65% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from B to A−. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±3.9 points). Two sources give 1796.
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 Milford Township’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
On the map
Milford Township on the map, 1913 to 1995
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Milford Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1913Milford sheet · 1:62,500
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Milford Township.
Timeline
Milford Township, 1796 to 1963
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
The area along the Delaware River where the community of Milford is located had long been settled by the Lenape, an Algonquian-speaking indigenous tribe that lived in the mid-Atlantic coastal areas at the time of European colonization. The English also called them the Delaware, after the river they named for colonial leader Thomas West, 3rd Baron De La Warr, the Delaware.
Milford was founded in 1796 by Judge John Biddis, one of Pennsylvania's first four circuit judges. He named the settlement after his ancestral home in Wales.
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.
In 1796, according to Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history of the town. Milford Township’s post office opened in 1854, and the census of 1870 counted 746 people here.
How does Milford Township rank for history?
Milford Township is more historic than 72% 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.
What is on the National Register in Milford Township?
One place: the Gifford Pinchot House (listed 1966).
How old are the homes in Milford Township?
8% of Milford Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±3.9 points), against a typical 18% for a Pennsylvania town; the median home was built in 1984.
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 (9), Wikidata (2), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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.
★ Landmark
1886
1886
1886
1886
1886
1886
1886
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