The Old Forge post office opened in 1850, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 1899. Three smaller post offices, Lackawanna (1841), Rendham (1890) and Lackawanna (1913), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
First census: 5,630 in 19002020 census: 8,497176 years
How historic is Old Forge?
B−
More historic than 47% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first Old Forge post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Wikidata: 1899.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Old Forge’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Old Forge is more historic than 47% of U.S. towns, #782 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
B−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Old Forge’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 Old Forge’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 is a Census survey estimate (±6.0 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date; Wikidata’s 1899 falls in the same era, so the grade doesn’t depend on which one is used.
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 Old Forge’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The history of Old Forge can be traced back to 1789 and Rev. Dr. William Hooker Smith, a Presbyterian minister and doctor, who was an army surgeon in the American Revolutionary War. During the 1820s, Charles Drake operated the only stagecoach inn between Wilkes-Barre and Carbondale. Drake's son, Ebenezer, secured a post office for Old Forge in 1848, where he served as postmaster until 1885. On May 26, 1871, Old Forge Township was designated, as it previously had been part of Lackawanna Township. Old Forge Borough was incorporated on May 2, 1899.
8, 1 778, a saw mill was erected on the same creek by Timothy Keys. He was killed by Indians on that date. Samuel Miller built a saw mill and a small log grist mill on Mill Creek in 1782. N. Hurlbut erected, at Old Forge, in 1805, a carding machine, the first one erected in the county. Quite a village sprang up in what is now known locally as Draketown. Old Forge, as a centre, when Luzerne county embraced the counties of Bradford, Lackawanna, Susquehan-
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History and directory of Newton and Ransom townships, Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania1912 · page 101Read the page →
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The first post-office in Newton townshi]) was established in 1835, at Bald ]\lount. The mail was carried on horse baclc from Old Forge to Falls, making a trip once a week. About 1857, Chauncey Sherwood, and a few others, made an effort to have it changed to twice a week, in which they were successful.
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History and directory of Newton and Ransom townships, Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania1912 · page 80Read the page →
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(j) Old Forge borough organized from part of Old Forge township since 1890. (j) Taylor borough organized from part of Lackawanna and Old Forge townships since 1890.
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Jubilee history commemorative of the fiftieth anniversary of the creation of Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania ..1928 · page 786Read the page →
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helpful environment for three years. His first position of an executive nature came with his assumption of the management of the grist mill at Jermyn. In 1896, or six years before his father’s death, he became manager of the Jermyn mining properties at Old Forge, where he has had his business headquarters for many years. In addition to many private and corporate interests, Mr. Jermyn is president of the Traders’ Coal Company of Laflin, Pa., and president of the Archbald Bank of Archbald, Pa., of which he was also the founder. He is also the owner and presi-
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.
Timeline
Old Forge, 1841 to 1970
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
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.
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.
The Old Forge post office opened in 1850, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1899.
How does Old Forge rank for history?
Old Forge is more historic than 47% of U.S. towns, #782 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 Old Forge?
28% of Old Forge’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.0 points), against a typical 18% for a Pennsylvania town; the median home was built in 1960.
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), 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.
![The first post-office in Newton townshi]) was established in 1835, at Bald ]\lount. The mail was carried on horse baclc from Old Forge to Falls, making a trip once a week. About 1857, Chauncey Sherwood, and a few others, made an effort to have it changed to twice a week, in which they were successf…](https://images.townratings.com/story/15462/bk-a962d6141fe427aa-l.jpg)
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