Founding year: Wikipedia. First post office: 1885.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Norwood’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Norwood is more historic than 83% of U.S. towns, #282 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. All 2 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its share of homes from before 1940 ranks highest and its National Register listings lowest.
A−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Norwood’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 Norwood’s 1.7 sits near the middle of its state (56% of Pennsylvania towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% of U.S. towns.
NoteThe founding year comes from Wikipedia alone; no second source gives 1750.
How sure. Graded on two of the three inputs, so a change in either one moves the letter more than it would with three. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±7.6 points).
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 →
What stands out about Norwood’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The Morton Morton House is located at the confluence of the Muckinipattis Creek and Darby Creek. It was built circa 1750 by Morton Morton (1701–1781), the great-grandson of Marten Martenson, who was a settler in New Sweden in 1654. Morton Morton was also a first cousin to John Morton, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence.
The Morton Morton House was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2000.
Norwood.— Early in 1872, John Cochran, of Chester, purchased one hundred and fifty acres of land of the estate of Rebecca Gessner. The grounds were laid out into lots, and the proposed town named Norwood, the title being derived from a hovel of the like name, written by Rev. Henry Ward Beecher, then recently published. On June 1, 1873, the first public sale of lots was made, which was the first effort made, of which we
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.
By decade
Norwood, decade by decade
3 decades in the archive, from the 1880s to the 1930s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
In 1750, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Norwood’s post office opened in 1885, and the census of 1880 counted 194 people here.
How does Norwood rank for history?
Norwood is more historic than 83% of U.S. towns, #282 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.
What is on the National Register in Norwood?
One place: the Morton Morton House (listed 2000).
How old are the homes in Norwood?
33% of Norwood’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±7.6 points), against a typical 18% for a Pennsylvania town; the median home was built in 1951.
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 (12), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, 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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