Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Photo: Famartin · CC BY-SA 4.0More historic than 82% of U.S. towns · #297 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. What drives it
Most of Northampton Township was built recently: 4% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1980. 5 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 140 buildings. Below: 3 old photos and papers, maps from 1949 on, and the census since 1930.
Northampton Township dates its founding to 1722 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1930.
More historic than 82% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Northampton Township is more historic than 82% of U.S. towns, #297 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. Its age holds the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
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 Northampton Township’s 37.1 sits above most of its state (85% of Pennsylvania towns have fewer) while its 148 historic buildings outnumber those of 92% 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 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.
Seven other post offices 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).
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Northampton Township’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of Northampton Township.
Northampton Township was originally settled by English colonists who came with William Penn on his voyage to Pennsylvania. They named it after Northampton, the county town of Northamptonshire, England. Northampton Township was incorporated in 1722.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
In the archiveThe Cornell Farm
In the archive1940 Census Enumeration District Maps - Pennsylvania - Bucks County - Northampton - ED 9-…
In the archiveAtlas of Bucks Co., Penna
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey3 decades in the archive, from the 1840s to the 1890s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Northampton Township. 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 Northampton Township.
No 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 Northampton Township’s page.
Retake this view · +15Grew from 1,375 people in 1930 to 39,915 in 2020, more than tenfold.
10 censuses, 1930–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Northampton Township’s Wikipedia page.
Nobody well known was born in Northampton Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
In 1722, according to Wikidata. Northampton Township’s post office opened in 1826, and the census of 1930 counted 1,375 people here.
Northampton Township is more historic than 82% of U.S. towns, #297 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.
5 listings: 4 buildings, among them the Hampton Hill (listed 1973, the first), and 1 historic district, the Churchville Historic District, with 140 contributing buildings. 148 historic buildings in all.
4% of Northampton Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±1.0 points), against a typical 18% for a Pennsylvania town; the median home was built in 1980.
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 (5), 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.
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