Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Photo: Doug Kerr from Albany, NY, United States · CC BY-SA 2.0More historic than 86% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Its Register listing is the S. R. Thompson House. Below: 21 old photos and papers, maps from 1886 on, and the census since 1880.
New Wilmington dates its founding to 1797 (Wikipedia’s history). The census first counted it in 1880.
More historic than 86% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, New Wilmington is more historic than 86% of U.S. towns. All 2 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 New Wilmington’s 4.2 sits near the middle of its state (65% of Pennsylvania towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: Wikipedia (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.
3 decades in the archive, from the 1890s to the 1920s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
1890Gymnasium, Westminster College
1890Conservatory, Westminster College
1890South campus, Westminster College
1890Hillside Dormitory, Westminster College
1890Campus view, Westminster College
1890Science Hall, Westminster College
1890Rooms, Ferguson Hall, Westminster College
1890Lounge, Ferguson Hall, Westminster College
1890Old Main Memorial building, Westminster College
1890Old Main Memorial building, Westminster College
1890Old Main Memorial building, Westminster College
1890Browsing Room, McGill Library, Westminster College
1890Across the campus from Old Main, Westminster College
1890Robert Gracey Ferguson Hall, Women's Dormitory, Westm…
1890Robert Audley Browne Hall, Women's Dormitory, Westmin…
1890Ralph Gibson McGill Memorial Library, Westminster Col…Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.
1886Sheet 1 of 1Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of New Wilmington. 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 New Wilmington.
From Wikipedia’s history of New Wilmington.
The town of New Wilmington was established in 1797–1798. In 1824, the first house was built and other buildings were soon erected. In 1847, an Amish settlement was established between New Wilmington and Volant. On April 4, 1863, New Wilmington was established as a half-borough, and on April 9, 1873, it was made a full borough.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention New Wilmington, cut from the printed page as they were published.
recorded, but it is known that they were frequent and earnest. They took definite shape January 1, 1852, in a joint resolution of these two Presbyteries, that a college should be established, and it was afterwards decided that it should be in New Wilmington. Of course the resolutions to establish a college could not be adopted and finally disposed of without’ settling the question as to the locality, and no project of the kind was ever discussed without exciting local interest; and so, before the choice fell on the quiet town of New Wilmington, the claims of Wolf Creek, New Bedford, Poland,
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
‘ William M. Francis came from Baltimore, Maryland, in 1839, and located in the then small village of New Wilmington. In February, 1841, he purchased a piece of and south of town, and built a house upon it, which has since been his residence. In the Winters of 1858-59-60, Mr. Francis reprepresented Lawrence county in the State Senate, and was Speaker of the Senate in 1860.
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.
In the archiveGymnasium, Westminster College
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
In the archiveWestminster College bookplate
In the archiveNew Wilmington PA 2nd UP PHS421
Born herePaul Minner is born hereNo then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on New Wilmington’s page.
Retake this view · +15The 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 628 and 2,774 people in every census since 1880.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on New Wilmington’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
In 1797, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. New Wilmington’s post office opened in 1828, and the census of 1880 counted 628 people here.
New Wilmington is more historic than 86% 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.
One place: the S. R. Thompson House (listed 1985).
35% of New Wilmington’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±9.0 points), against a typical 18% for a Pennsylvania town; the median home was built in 1954.
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 Library of Congress (16), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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, Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) 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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