Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 71% of U.S. towns · #456 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. What drives it
Its Register listing is the Bridge between Monroe and Penn Townships. Below: 2 old photos and papers and maps from 1893 on.
Monroe Township dates its founding to 1794 (Wikidata). Its post office opened in 1869.
More historic than 71% 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 71% of U.S. towns, #456 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its age 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 2.4 sits near the middle of its state (59% of Pennsylvania towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% of U.S. towns.
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 →
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
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.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
In the archiveRainbow Motor Court, located 1 mile north of Selinsgrove, Penna., on U.S. Routes 11 and 1…
In the archiveBridge between Monroe and Penn Townships, originalFrom Wikipedia’s history of Monroe Township.
The Bridge between Monroe and Penn Townships was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1988.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
2 decades in the archive, from the 1930s to the 1980s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
2024US 522 truss bridge over Penns Creek, Selinsgrove, PA…
2015View of Monroe Township, Snyder County, Pennsylvania
2015Sunbury Generation LP building
2015North Old Trail
2015Cliffs in Snyder County, Pennsylvania
2014Dairy Queen
2009Bridge between Monroe and Penn Townships marker Oct 09
2009Bridge between Monroe and Penn Townships Oct 09No 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.
Another post office, Shreiner, 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).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
In 1794, according to Wikidata. Monroe Township’s post office opened in 1869.
Monroe Township is more historic than 71% of U.S. towns, #456 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 Bridge between Monroe and Penn Townships (listed 1988).
14% of Monroe Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.9 points), against a typical 18% for a Pennsylvania town; the median home was built in 1978.
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 (10), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, 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.
