Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Photo: VitaleBaby at en.wikipedia · Public domainAmong the most historic 1% of U.S. towns. What drives it
5 places in town are on the National Register, among them two historic districts with 211 buildings between them. Below: 1 old photo or paper and maps from 1902 on.
Among the most historic 1% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Perry Township is among the most historic 1% of U.S. towns. All 2 inputs put Perry Township near the top nationally; its National Register listings ranks highest.
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 Perry Township’s 819 sits above most of its state (96% of Pennsylvania towns have fewer) while its 212 historic buildings outnumber those of 94% of U.S. towns.
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 →
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Perry Township’s history is told.
Two other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
From Wikipedia’s history of Perry Township.
The Star Junction Historic District and Whitsett Historic District are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Also listed are the Alliance Furnace, Providence Quaker Cemetery and Chapel, and Layton Bridge.
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.
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
In the archiveOld company store in Star JunctionOne decade in the archive so far: the 1980s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Perry 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 Perry 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 Perry Township’s page.
Retake this view · +15Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Perry Township is among the most historic 1% 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.
5 listings: 1 building, 2 historic districts, the Whitsett Historic District and the Star Junction Historic District, with 211 contributing buildings, 1 site, and 1 structure. 212 historic buildings in all.
31% of Perry Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±8.0 points), against a typical 18% for a Pennsylvania town; the median home was built in 1967.
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 (12), the National Register of Historic Places (5), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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.
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