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C+History
History · Muhlenberg Township

19% of Muhlenberg Township’s homes were built before 1940

More historic than 43% of U.S. towns · #819 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. What drives it

Below: 4 old photos and papers, maps from 1894 on, and the census since 1980.

0on the National Register
19%homes built before 1940
4old photos & papers
2famous people
From Muhlenberg Township’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

About Muhlenberg Township’s history

How historic is Muhlenberg Township?

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More historic than 43% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
History grade

What drives Muhlenberg Township’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Muhlenberg Township is more historic than 43% of U.S. towns, #819 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.

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HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Muhlenberg Township’s overall grade.
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 43%
NewerOlder
Pennsylvania towns of 2,500+ (1,035)Ahead of 21%

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 Muhlenberg 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 two of the three inputs, so a change in either one moves the letter more than it would with three. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±4.0 points).

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 →

What stands out about Muhlenberg Township’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

★ What stands out · Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

Three other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.

Reading
1778–today
Tuckerton
1854–1905
Temple
1857–today
Bernharts
1895–1950
Hyde Villa
1925–1928
17701900today
Hamlets and corners on the map
BenhartsBernhartsCherokee RanchClearview HeightsCollege HeightsFox ChaseFrush ValleyHeather KnollHyde ParkHyde VillaLaurel Commons Mobile Home ParkMuhlenbergMuhlenberg ParkRiver View ParkRivers BendSouth TempleTempleTuckerton
Gone or out of use
Leizes Bridgebridge
5cemeteries and burying grounds inside Muhlenberg Township
Alsace Lutheran ChurchGethsemaneGood ShepherdLaureldaleSaint Michaels Convent

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Help out

Start Muhlenberg Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Muhlenberg Township’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
On the map

Muhlenberg Township on the map, 1894 to 1999

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Muhlenberg Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Muhlenberg Township on the 1894 USGS mapMuhlenberg Township on the 1913 USGS mapMuhlenberg Township on the 1944 USGS mapMuhlenberg Township on the 1956 USGS mapMuhlenberg Township on the 1968 USGS mapMuhlenberg Township on the 1978 USGS mapMuhlenberg Township on the 1983 USGS mapMuhlenberg Township on the 1999 USGS map1894Reading 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 Muhlenberg Township.

The story so far

Muhlenberg Township, in brief

Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Muhlenberg Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.

Muhlenberg Township (pronounced "MYOO-len-burg") is a township in Berks County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 21,915 at the 2020 census, making it the third-most populous township in Berks County after Spring Township and Exeter Township. The township was named for U.S. Congressman Henry Augustus Muhlenberg, grandson of Henry Muhlenberg, and who is featured on the township seal.

Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 19,628 to 21,915 (+12%).

Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.

Timeline

Muhlenberg Township, 1778 to 1960

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 18th century
  2. 1778Post officeThe Reading post office opens
  3. 19th century
  4. 1848Born hereSarah Shearer is born here
  5. 1854Post officeThe Tuckerton post office opens
  6. 1857Post officeThe Temple post office opens
  7. 1862In the archiveTownship map of Berks County, Pennsylvania, from actual surveys
  8. 1880In the archive1940 Census Enumeration District Maps - Pennsylvania - Berks County - Muhlenberg - ED 6-6…
  9. 1894On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  10. 20th century
  11. 1905Post officeThe Tuckerton post office closes
  12. 1930In the archiveLeffler's Motel, on U.S. Route 222, 5 miles north of Reading Interchange of Penna. Turnpi…
  13. 1960Born hereDante Santoni is born here
By decade

Muhlenberg Township, decade by decade

3 decades in the archive, from the 1860s to the 1930s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1890s–1920snothing yet
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.
Add from your album
1940s–1990snothing yet
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.
Add from your album
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.

1940 Census Enumeration District Maps - Pennsylvania - Berks County - Muhlenberg - ED 6-61, ED 6-62, ED 6-63, ED 6-65, …
Retake this view1940 Census Enumeration District Maps - Pennsylvania - Berks County - Muhlenberg - ED 6-61, ED 6-62, ED 6-63, ED 6-65, …, 1880

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Muhlenberg Township’s page.

Retake this view · +15
People over time

Muhlenberg Township, census by census

05,00010,00015,00020,000198020002020Peak: 21,915

Between 12,638 and 21,915 people in every census since 1980.

5 censuses, 1980–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Muhlenberg Township’s Wikipedia page.

Famous people

2 famous people were born in Muhlenberg Township

Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.

See all →
Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Questions about Muhlenberg Township’s history

How does Muhlenberg Township rank for history?

Muhlenberg Township is more historic than 43% of U.S. towns, #819 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 Muhlenberg Township?

19% of Muhlenberg Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.0 points), against a typical 18% for a Pennsylvania town; the median home was built in 1969.

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

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 (7), 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.