Founding year: Wikidata. First post office: 1829.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Millersville’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Millersville is more historic than 70% of U.S. towns, #483 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. Its age holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
B+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Millersville’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 Millersville’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.
NoteThe founding year comes from Wikidata alone; no second source gives 1764.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C+ to A. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±6.6 points).
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 Millersville’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Originally farmland in then Manor Township owned by John Miller, Millerstown was a crossroads for goods and sales brought from the local farming communities into Lancaster City. Later the town's name was changed to "Millersville", and it was incorporated as a separate borough in Lancaster County. Millersville is the location of the first teachers' academy in the state, established in 1854. Later, in 1855, it was chartered as a state normal school, and presently is Millersville University of Pennsylvania, which is part of the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education.
Passages that mention Millersville, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania1883Read the page →
Read the text
teen dollars. Timber was cut down and large tracts were rapidly cleared and converted into highlypro(luctive fields, and orchards were planted. The village of Millersville was laid out' before the Revolution, and a tavern was erected on the site of the present "Black Horse" about 1769 or 1770. The toil and industry of the Swiss and German settlers in Manor m,ou made that town.hii, the nu.st higlily-
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania1883Read the page →
Read the text
• Manor's Population in 1880. -The census of 1880 gave the i>opuhitioii uf Maiiur tuwnsliio at oO.JS. Ol' this number about 1200 were in the village of Millersville. Millersville district had 2043 inhabitant-, Indiantown district had 1797, and New Manor district had 121:5. It will thu> be seen that the village of Mlllcr^ville had ahnn-i <uie-fourtli uf tlie inhabitants of the tuwuship.
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.
By decade
Millersville, decade by decade
3 decades in the archive, from the 1890s to the 1920s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
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 1764, according to Wikidata. Millersville’s post office opened in 1829, and the census of 1850 counted 498 people here.
How does Millersville rank for history?
Millersville is more historic than 70% of U.S. towns, #483 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.
How old are the homes in Millersville?
17% of Millersville’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.6 points), against a typical 18% for a Pennsylvania town; the median home was built in 1966.
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 (5), 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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