From Mount Pleasant Township’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers
How Mount Pleasant Township began
When was Mount Pleasant Township founded?
1811
The Mount Pleasant Township post office opened in 1811, the earliest record of the town by name. Five smaller post offices, Mount Pleasant (1811), Rock Lake (1854) and Cascade (1858), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
First census: 554 in 18402020 census: 1,439215 years
How historic is Mount Pleasant Township?
B
More historic than 62% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first Mount Pleasant Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Mount Pleasant Township’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Mount Pleasant Township is more historic than 62% of U.S. towns. Its age holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
B
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Mount Pleasant Township’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 Mount Pleasant Township’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 (±6.2 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.
Founding year: the first post office (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 Mount Pleasant Township’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds
Five other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.
Mount Pleasant
1811–1828
Pleasant Mount
1828–today
Rock Lake
1854–1910
Cascade
1858–1863
Whites Valley
1871–1938
Niagara
1878–1909
18101920today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Belmont CornerCascadeNiagaraPleasant MountRudes CornerWhites Valley
Gone or out of use
Giles and Sikorsky AirportairportMonroe SchoolschoolRock Lake SchoolschoolStevenson Schoolschool
4cemeteries and burying grounds inside Mount Pleasant Township
Green GroveSaint James CatholicSaint Juliana'sWheeler Hill
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
On the map
Mount Pleasant Township on the map, 1892 to 1994
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Mount Pleasant Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1892Honesdale 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 Mount Pleasant Township.
People over time
Mount Pleasant Township, census by census
Peaked at 6,107 in 1960; 4,245 people lived here in 2020.
19 censuses, 1840–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Mount Pleasant Township’s Wikipedia page.
The story
How Mount Pleasant Township came to be
From Wikipedia’s history of Mount Pleasant Township.
Mount Pleasant borough is located at what was originally the junction of two Native American paths. With the coming of Europeans, those two paths—now known as Pennsylvania Routes 31 (east/west) and 819 (north/south)—became key access roads to the western wilderness and more populated areas in the east. The crossroads attracted settlers who established businesses to serve travelers passing through.
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.
The Mount Pleasant Township post office opened in 1811, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Mount Pleasant Township rank for history?
Mount Pleasant Township is more historic than 62% of U.S. towns. 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 Mount Pleasant Township?
21% of Mount Pleasant Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.2 points), against a typical 18% for a Pennsylvania town; the median home was built in 1981.
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 (6), the Library of Congress (6), 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) 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.
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