From Paradise Township’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers
How Paradise Township began
When was Paradise Township founded?
1812
The Paradise Township post office opened in 1812, the earliest record of the town by name. Five smaller post offices, Williamstown (1819), Bellemonte (1849) and Leaman Place (1860), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
2020 census: 5,672214 years
How historic is Paradise Township?
A−
More historic than 79% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first Paradise Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).
History grade
What drives Paradise Township’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Paradise Township is more historic than 79% of U.S. towns, #336 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its age ranks highest and its National Register listings lowest.
A−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Paradise Township’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 Paradise Township’s 1.8 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.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from B+ to A−. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±6.2 points). 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 Paradise Township’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds
Five other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.
Paradise
1812–today
Williamstown
1819–1862
Bellemonte
1849–1908
Leaman Place
1860–1934
Kinzers
1873–today
Iva
1885–1910
Vintage
1889–1941
18101920today
Hamlets and corners on the map
BellemontHarristownIvaKinzersLeaman PlaceParadiseVintageVintage Station
Gone or out of use
Bellemont Post Officepost officeKinzers Post Officepost officeParadise Post Officepost office
7cemeteries and burying grounds inside Paradise Township
All Saints EpiscopalCarpentersFrantzKinzers MennoniteLeacock PresbyterianParadise MennoniteShertz
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
On the map
Paradise Township on the map, 1912 to 1989
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Paradise Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1912Quarryville sheet · 1:62,500
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Paradise Township.
Timeline
Paradise Township, 1812 to 1941
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Paradise Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Paradise is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, United States, with a ZIP code of 17562. The population was 1,129 at the 2010 census. Paradise, like Intercourse, is a popular site in Pennsylvania Dutch Country for tourists who like the name of the town; they are together often named in lists of "delightfully named towns" in Pennsylvania Dutchland, along with Blue Ball, Lititz, Bareville, Fertility, Bird-in-Hand and Mount Joy. It was the setting of the 1994 comedy film Trapped in Paradise.
Its first post office opened in 1812. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 5,131 to 5,672 (+11%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
By decade
Paradise Township, decade by decade
3 decades in the archive, from the 1850s to the 1940s. 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.
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 Paradise Township post office opened in 1812, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Paradise Township rank for history?
Paradise Township is more historic than 79% of U.S. towns, #336 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 Paradise Township?
One place: the Leaman Place Covered Bridge (listed 1980).
How old are the homes in Paradise Township?
22% of Paradise Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.2 points), against a typical 18% for a Pennsylvania town; the median home was built in 1981.
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 (9), the Library of Congress (2), the National Register of Historic Places (1), U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, 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.
1941
1941
1941
2026
2023
2019
2010
2008