The story
Read it all →How New Garden Township came to be
From Wikipedia’s history of New Garden Township.
Merestone was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1995.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
C+History
History · New Garden Township
New Garden Township’s post office opened in 1802
More historic than 43% of U.S. towns · #828 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. What drives it
Most of New Garden Township was built recently: 7% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1994. Below: maps from 1904 on and the census since 1930.
1802first post office
0on the National Register
7%homes built before 1940
3famous people
Quick answers
How New Garden Township began, and where its name came from
When was New Garden Township founded?
1802
The New Garden Township post office opened in 1802, the earliest record of the town by name. Four smaller post offices, New Garden (1802), Chandlerville (1848) and Kaolin (1868), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
First census: 2,391 in 19302020 census: 11,363224 years
How did New Garden Township get its name?
New Garden Township was named for the New Garden Friends' Meeting House, an eighteenth-century brick house of worship of the Religious Society of Friends, within its territorial limits.
How historic is New Garden Township?
C+
What drives the grade ↓More historic than 43% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first New Garden Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Name: Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives New Garden Township’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, New Garden Township is more historic than 43% of U.S. towns, #828 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. Its age holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
C+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of New Garden Township’s overall grade.
Founding era1802, from the first post office: founded 1776–1849, an older era than 75% of U.S. townsA−Homes built before 19406.5% of homes (±2.8) · typical PA town 17.7% · U.S. 8.4%C+National RegisterNo listings counted · typical PA town 2.1 per 10,000 · U.S. 2.4C−
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 43%
NewerOlder
Pennsylvania towns of 2,500+ (1,035)Ahead of 20%
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 Garden 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 C− to B−. The pre-1940 share (±2.8 points) is firm at this size. 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 New Garden Township’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Lost villages4 post offices opened and closed inside today’s New Garden Township, and 4 old place names are still on the map.A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of New Garden Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.On the map since 19046 editions of the USGS map, 1904 to 1997. Watch New Garden Township change.Deep rootsA post office since 1802: 224 years of New Garden Township.
★ What stands out · Places that used to be
Lost post offices, old corners and burying grounds
Four other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.
New Garden
Chandlerville
Kaolin
Toughkenamon
Landenburg
Landenberg
18001910today
Hamlets and corners on the map
KaolinLandenbergNew GardenToughkenamon
2cemeteries and burying grounds inside New Garden Township
New Garden FriendsNew Garden Orthodox Friends
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Help out
Start New Garden Township’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how New Garden Township’s history is told.
Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.On the map
New Garden Township on the map, 1904 to 1997
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of New Garden Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1904Coatesville sheet · 1:62,500U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of New Garden Township.
Timeline
New Garden Township, 1737 to 1942
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
- 18th century
- 1737
Born hereWilliam Maclay is born here - 1788Born hereThomas R. Ross is born here
- 19th century
- 1802Post officeThe New Garden post office opens
- 1832Born hereJoseph Shortlidge is born here
- 1848Post officeThe Chandlerville post office opens
- 1868Post officeThe Kaolin post office opens
- 1869Post officeThe Chandlerville post office closes
- 20th century
- 1904
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey - 1925Post officeThe Kaolin post office closes
- 1942Post officeThe New Garden post office closes
By decade
No old photos in the archives yet
Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Be the first to add onePhotograph a print flat, in daylight, no flash.
Add from your albumPeople over time
New Garden Township, census by census
Between 2,391 and 11,984 people in every census since 1930.
10 censuses, 1930–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on New Garden Township’s Wikipedia page.
Famous people
See all →3 famous people were born in New Garden Township
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Stories next door
History across the town line
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Questions about New Garden Township’s history
What year was New Garden Township founded?
The New Garden Township post office opened in 1802, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does New Garden Township rank for history?
New Garden Township is more historic than 43% of U.S. towns, #828 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 New Garden Township?
7% of New Garden Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.8 points), against a typical 18% for a Pennsylvania town; the median home was built in 1994.
Memory lane
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
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 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.