On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Penn Township is more historic than 42% of U.S. towns, #837 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
C+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Penn 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 Penn Township’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 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 (±5.5 points).
Founding year: our sources. 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 Penn 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 and burying grounds
Five other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.
Dickinson
1828–1989
Mount Rock
1837–1907
Huntsdale
1882–1955
Hays Grove
1890–1913
Longsdorf
1891–1916
18201920today
Hamlets and corners on the map
BrushtownCobblesvilleCumminsvilleDickinsonHays GroveHockersvilleHuntsdaleLongsdorfMount Rock
7cemeteries and burying grounds inside Penn Township
Centerville Lutheran ChurchDickinson Presbyterian ChurchHays GroveHuntsdale Church of the BrethrenLongsdorfsMeadow View Mennonite ChurchSouth Fairview First Church of God
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Help out
Start Penn Township’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Penn Township’s history is told.
Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Penn Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1919Newville 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 Penn Township.
The story so far
Penn Township, in brief
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Penn Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Penn Township is a township in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, United States, established on October 23, 1860, from Upper Dickinson Township. The population was 2,924 at the 2010 census.
Its population held steady between the last two censuses: 2,924 in 2010, 2,874 in 2020.
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Timeline
Penn Township, 1828 to 1989
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Penn Township is more historic than 42% of U.S. towns, #837 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 Penn Township?
18% of Penn Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.5 points), against a typical 18% for a Pennsylvania town; the median home was built in 1982.
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 (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.
2015
