Founding year: Wikidata. First post office: 1831.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Montoursville’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Montoursville is more historic than 66% of U.S. towns, #528 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
B+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Montoursville’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 Montoursville’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 B− to A−. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±10.1 points). Two sources give 1820.
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 Montoursville’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
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.
Otstawonkin was a native village located at the mouth of Loyalsock Creek on the West Branch Susquehanna River. The Great Shamokin Path ran along the west bank of the river, where late 20th century archeology has shown the village was mostly located. During the 1730s and 1740s, it became an important stopping point for Moravian missionaries who preached in frontier Pennsylvania. For example, Count Zinzendorf, a missionary guided by Conrad Weiser with the permission of Oneida chief Shikellamy, came to Otstonwakin in 1742.
Passages that mention Montoursville, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Lycoming County, Pennsylvania1929 · page 238Read the page →
Read the text
He built the first grist mill in Montoursville for General John Burrows, known as the “State Mill,” in 1828, and assisted in the construction of the Shamokin dam in the river at Sunbury.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Lycoming County, Pennsylvania1929 · page 523Read the page →
Read the text
canal was that of freighting. Every little town along the waterway had its quota of freight boats. During the heyday of its ascendancy there were one hundred boats in the little village of Montoursville alone and others were owned in the various towns in proportionate numbers. Muncy was a famous boating place and a boat building yard was located at Port Penn and here some of the staunchest boats on the canal were turned out.
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
Montoursville, decade by decade
2 decades in the archive, from the 1880s to the 1940s. 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.
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.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Montoursville. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1953Warrensville 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 Montoursville.
Then & now
Stand where they stood
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Retake this view1940 Census Enumeration District Maps - Pennsylvania - Lycoming County - Montoursville - ED 41-39, ED 41-40, 1880
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Montoursville’s page.
In 1820, according to Wikidata. Montoursville’s post office opened in 1831, and the census of 1850 counted 228 people here.
How does Montoursville rank for history?
Montoursville is more historic than 66% of U.S. towns, #528 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 Montoursville?
25% of Montoursville’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±10.1 points), against a typical 18% for a Pennsylvania town; the median home was built in 1956.
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 (16), 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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