Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 92% of U.S. towns · #149 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. What drives it
Its Register listings are the Nesquehoning High School and the Grotto, The-Our Lady of Lourdes Shrine. Below: maps from 1889 on and the census since 1880.
Nesquehoning dates its founding to 1827 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1880.
More historic than 92% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Nesquehoning is more historic than 92% of U.S. towns, #149 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its share of homes from before 1940 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 Nesquehoning’s 6.0 sits above most of its state (70% of Pennsylvania towns have fewer) while its 2 listings outnumber those of 60% 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 Nesquehoning’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Nesquehoning. 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 Nesquehoning.
From Wikipedia’s history of Nesquehoning.
The former Nesquehoning High School was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2003.
The Grotto, Our Lady of Lourdes Shrine at the Shrine of St. Therese of Lisieux in New Columbus, Nesquehoning, PA is listed as a Traditional Cultural Property at the US National Register of Historic Places
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Nesquehoning, cut from the printed page as they were published.
The boroughs of Mauch Chunk, East Mauch Chunk, Summit Hill and Lansford are situated in this township. Nesquehoning is now the only town of any great importance in the district which has not been incorporated. Excepting that many of its workmen own their own homes, most of the real estate in the township belongs to the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company, and the mining and shipping of coal is the pre-
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
The boroughs of Mauch Chunk, East Mauch Chunk, Summit Hill and Lansford are situated in this township. Nesquehoning is now the only town of any great importance in the district which has not been incorporated. Excepting that many of its workmen own their own homes, most of the real estate in the township belongs to the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company, and the mining and shipping of coal is the pre-
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
The Nesquehoning Valley Railroad Company, the line of which extends from Nesquehoning Junction, near Mauch Chunk, to Tamanend, Schuylkill county, a distance of nearly seventeen miles, was organized on May 14, 1861.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
this place to Mauch Chunk in 1827. The first of these planes was placed in operation in 1846. The second connected with the mines at Coal Dale. The building of the Nesquehoning Valley Railroad, which was begun in 1861, together with other causes, operated to draw life from the older town on the mountain and bestow it upon the younger rival, Lansf ord, in the valley below. Upon the completion of this railroad, which
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.
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
Born hereGene Snitsky is born hereThe 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.
Between 957 and 3,364 people in every census since 1880.
8 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Nesquehoning’s Wikipedia page.
Nesquehoning’s post office has been open since 1838. Another post office, Hauto, 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 1827, according to Wikidata. Nesquehoning’s post office opened in 1838, and the census of 1880 counted 957 people here.
Nesquehoning is more historic than 92% of U.S. towns, #149 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.
Two places: the Nesquehoning High School (listed 2003) and the Grotto, The-Our Lady of Lourdes Shrine (2019).
56% of Nesquehoning’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±7.9 points), against a typical 18% for a Pennsylvania town; the median home was built in 1938.
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 (6), the National Register of Historic Places (2), 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 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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