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Brumbaugh Homestead east and northPhoto: Generic1139 · CC BY-SA 3.0
B+History
History · Penn Township

13% of Penn Township’s homes were built before 1940

More historic than 65% of U.S. towns. What drives it

Its Register listing is the Brumbaugh Homestead. Below: maps from 1901 on and the census since 2000.

1on the National Register
13%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

About Penn Township’s history

How historic is Penn Township?

B+

More historic than 65% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
The full story ↓
History grade

What drives Penn Township’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Penn Township is more historic than 65% of U.S. towns. All 2 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its National Register listings ranks highest and its share of homes from before 1940 lowest.

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HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Penn Township’s overall grade.
Founding eraAge sits out for Penn Township: no founding date holds up well enough to grade on–Homes built before 194012.7% of homes (±4.9) · typical PA town 17.7% · U.S. 8.4%B−National Register1 listing, 9.3 per 10,000 residents · typical PA town 2.1 · U.S. 2.4B
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 65%
NewerOlder

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 9.3 sits above most of its state (76% of Pennsylvania towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% 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 (±4.9 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.

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Penn Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Lost villages2 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Penn Township, and 4 old place names are still on the map.On the map since 19015 editions of the USGS map, 1901 to 1994. Watch Penn Township change.
★ What stands out · 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.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

Two other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.

Grafton
1873–1925
Aitch
1887–1973
Hesston
1925–today
18701950today
Hamlets and corners on the map
AitchBrumbaugh CrossingHesstonSnydertown
Gone or out of use
Brumbaugh Historical Housebuilding
8cemeteries and burying grounds inside Penn Township
AndersonAnderson FamilyFrankGroveJacobs ChurchOld Stone ChurchUpper ComerValley View

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

On the map

Penn Township on the map, 1901 to 1994

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Penn Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Penn Township on the 1901 USGS mapPenn Township on the 1963 USGS mapPenn Township on the 1972 USGS mapPenn Township on the 1981 USGS mapPenn Township on the 1994 USGS map1901Huntingdon 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

How Penn Township came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Penn Township.

Read it all →

"The Proprietaries of the Pennsylvania province, mindful of the rights of the natives and anxious to promote peace with them, would not grant land nor permit settlements to be made until the Indian title had been purchased. At a treaty held at Albany on the 6th day of July 1754, the Six Nations, consisting of the Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagas, Cayugas, Senecas and Tuscaroras, executed a deed to the Proprietaries for a large portion of the territory of the province including the whole of the valley of the Juniata [then Harrisburg to Pittsburgh]. Soon after this event the resident tribes sought a home elsewhere."

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Penn Township, 1873 to 1973

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1873Post officeThe Grafton post office opens
  3. 1887Post officeThe Aitch post office opens
  4. 20th century
  5. 1901On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  6. 1925Post officeThe Grafton post office closes
  7. 1925Post officeThe Hesston post office opens
  8. 1973Post officeThe Aitch post office closes
By decade

Penn Township, decade by decade

Today5 recent
Raystown lake Region late Fall - panoramio (57)2014Raystown lake Region late Fall - panoramio (57)Raystown lake Region late Fall - panoramio (56)2014Raystown lake Region late Fall - panoramio (56)Brumbaugh Homestead east and north2014Brumbaugh Homestead east and northPennsylvania State Route 262009Pennsylvania State Route 26Map of Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania Highlighting Penn Township2008Map of Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania Highlighting P…Map
On the National Register

1 historic place in Penn Township

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
1
each building in a district counts
first listed
1979
Brumbaugh Homestead
Brumbaugh Homestead
Buildings
Brumbaugh HomesteadBuilding

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

People over time

Penn Township, census by census

02004006008001,0001,20020002020Peak: 1,078

Between 1,054 and 1,078 people in every census since 2000.

3 censuses, 2000–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Penn Township’s Wikipedia page.

Famous people

Famous people close to Penn Township

Nobody well known was born in Penn Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.

See all →
Charles M. SchwabAmerican steel magnate · b. 1862
Christina CrosbyAmerican scholar and writer · b. 1953
David McMurtrie GreggUnion Army general · b. 1833
Joseph SaxtonAmerican inventor · b. 1799
Horace PorterUnited States Army Medal of Honor recipient and… · b. 1837
William A. WallaceAmerican politician · b. 1827
Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Union TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townMarklesburg1 historic placenot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townWoodbury Township1 historic placeA−Lincoln TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townCass TownshipIts storyBTodd Township3 historic placesnot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townWalker Township1 historic placeA−

Questions about Penn Township’s history

How does Penn Township rank for history?

Penn Township is more historic than 65% of U.S. towns. 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 Penn Township?

One place: the Brumbaugh Homestead (listed 1979).

How old are the homes in Penn Township?

13% of Penn Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.9 points), against a typical 18% for a Pennsylvania town; the median home was built in 1979.

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

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 (5), 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) 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.