Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
1 place in town is on the National Register, among them a historic district with 3,344 buildings. Below: maps from 1904 on and the census since 1920.
The Mount Lebanon post office opened in 1855, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 1912. Another post office, Castle Shannon (1875), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The 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.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Mount Lebanon’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Mount Lebanon. 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 Mount Lebanon.
From Wikipedia’s history of Mount Lebanon.
The first European settlers arrived in 1773–1774, having purchased the land from the descendants of William Penn; other pioneers soon bought land from the state government.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Between 2,258 and 39,157 people in every census since 1920.
11 censuses, 1920–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Mount Lebanon’s Wikipedia page.
Mount Lebanon had its own post office from 1855 to 1917. Another post office, Castle Shannon, 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.
The Mount Lebanon post office opened in 1855, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1912.
One place: the Mt. Lebanon Historic District (listed 2014).
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). How TownRatings grades history →
From 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.
