Founding year: Wikidata. First post office: 1833.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives New Beaver’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, New Beaver is more historic than 55% 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 New Beaver’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 New Beaver’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.
NoteThe founding year comes from Wikidata alone; no second source gives 1849.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C+ to B+. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±4.5 points).
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 New Beaver’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Big Beaver Township was established as one of the thirteen original townships in Lawrence County during its incorporation in 1849. Initially, Big Beaver Township included what is now the borough of Wampum, but Wampum became a separate borough on February 19, 1876, the same year that the Wampum Cement and Lime Company began operations. The cement plant was located outside Wampum in what remained as Big Beaver Township.
There were five schools in Big Beaver Township in 1875. There were approximately 266 enrolled students. The average attendance was 170 and the school term was seven months.
In 1849, according to Wikidata. New Beaver’s post office opened in 1833, and the census of 1970 counted 1,426 people here.
How does New Beaver rank for history?
New Beaver is more historic than 55% 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 New Beaver?
14% of New Beaver’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.5 points), against a typical 18% for a Pennsylvania town; the median home was built in 1973.
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 (4), 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.
2024
2014
2014
2008
