Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
John Williams House · Photo: Jerrye & Roy Klotz, MD · CC BY-SA 4.0More historic than 68% of U.S. towns · #500 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. What drives it
Its Register listing is the John Williams House. Below: 2 old photos and papers and maps from 1904 on.
More historic than 68% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Monroe Township is more historic than 68% of U.S. towns, #500 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. All 2 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its share of homes from before 1940 ranks highest and its National Register listings 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 Monroe Township’s 1.5 sits near the middle of its state (55% of Pennsylvania towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: our sources. 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.
Five 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 Monroe Township’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Monroe 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 Monroe Township.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Monroe Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Monroe Township is a township in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 5,823 at the 2010 census.
Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 5,823 to 6,230 (+7%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
In the archive1940 Census Enumeration District Descriptions - Pennsylvania - Cumberland County - ED 21-…
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyOne decade in the archive so far: the 1850s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
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 Monroe Township’s page.
Retake this view · +15The 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.
Nobody well known was born in Monroe Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Monroe Township is more historic than 68% of U.S. towns, #500 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.
One place: the John Williams House (listed 1977).
19% of Monroe Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±7.3 points), against a typical 18% for a Pennsylvania town; the median home was built in 1979.
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 (4), the National Register of Historic Places (1), U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, 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.
Date?
2022
2007