Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 63% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Below: maps from 1911 on and the census since 2000.
More historic than 63% 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 more historic than 63% of U.S. towns. 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 Perry 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: 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 first neighbors to add old photos shape how Perry Township’s history is told.
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.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Perry Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Perry Township is a township in Mercer County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 1,332 at the 2020 census, down from 1,453 in 2010.
Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 1,453 to 1,332 (-8%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Passages that mention Perry Township, cut from the printed page as they were published.
to inanition. In 1830 a grist-mill was built a short distance above it. It had a large overshot wheel, twenty-four feet in diameter, which operated two sets of millstones — a marvel of mechanical ingenuity at the time. An old mill, presumably a saw-mill, was built in 1842 in Perry Township upon the Long farm. The only fulling-mill in the region was the one built in 1803 by Benoni Tuttle near the Axtell grist-mill. Tuttle sold it to John Robinson, who in turn disposed it to oblivion, the business becoming unprofitable.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Perry Township was originally a portion of old Sandy Creek. On the 18th of December, 1850, owing to the fact that great inconvenience had been encountered in collecting taxes over so large a territory, and in securing an easily accessible place of voting, a large number of petitions were presented in court praying that the township be subdivided into four parts, each part to be a separate township. Joseph Kerr, James A. Leech and Francis Beatty were accordingly appointed commissioners to ascertain the practicability of the sought for alteration, and to lay out a system of boundaries. They reported
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
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 SurveyBetween 1,332 and 1,471 people in every census since 2000.
3 censuses, 2000–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Perry Township’s Wikipedia page.
Nobody well known was born in Perry Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Old hamlets and crossroads still carry their names on the map.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Perry Township is more historic than 63% 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.
35% of Perry Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±9.3 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 (6), U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
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