Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 32% of U.S. towns · #930 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. What drives it
Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1902 on, and the census since 2000.
The Penn Township post office opened in 1851, the earliest record of the town by name. Seven smaller post offices, Mount Hope (1831), Penn (1851) and White Oak (1855), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
More historic than 32% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Penn Township is more historic than 32% of U.S. towns, #930 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
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.
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 →
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Seven other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.
Dohner Farm Cemetery · Eby Cemetery · Erb Cemetery · Erb Mennonite Church Cemetery · Gibbel Farm Cemetery · Graybill Church of the Brethren Cemetery · Grebiel / Seemuller Graveyard · Harnley - Longenecker Graveyard · Hershey Cemetery · Hoffer Gravesite · Hope Episcopal Church Cemetery · Kauffman's Mennonite Church Cemetery · Keller Graveyard · Kreider Family Cemetery · Kreiders Church of the Brethren Cemetery · Lime Rock Mennonite Church Cemetery · Lutz Graveyard · Manheim Fairview Cemetery · Moore Miller Graveyard · Penryn Cemetery · White Oak Church of the Brethren Cemetery · White Oak Mennonite Cemetery · Zug Family Cemetery
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Penn Township’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of Penn Township.
The Kauffman's Distillery Covered Bridge and Mount Hope Estate are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
In the archive1940 Census Enumeration District Maps - Pennsylvania - Lancaster County - Penn - ED 36-13…
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyOne decade in the archive so far: the 1880s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Penn Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
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.
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Penn Township’s page.
Retake this view · +15Between 7,312 and 10,224 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.
Nobody well known was born in Penn Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Penn Township post office opened in 1851, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Penn Township is more historic than 32% of U.S. towns, #930 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.
13% of Penn Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±3.8 points), against a typical 18% for a Pennsylvania town; the median home was built in 1984.
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
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 (2), 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.
2025