Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 53% of U.S. towns · #704 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. What drives it
Its Register listings are the August, Wendell, Forge and the Jeremiah Sturgeon Chapel. Most of Pine Township was built recently: 8% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1979. Below: maps from 1913 on and the census since 2000.
More historic than 53% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Pine Township is more historic than 53% of U.S. towns, #704 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls 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 Pine Township’s 4.2 sits near the middle of its state (65% of Pennsylvania towns have fewer) while its 2 listings outnumber those of 60% 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 Pine Township’s history is told.
Another post office, Klondike, 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).
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Pine 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 Pine Township.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Pine Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Pine Township is a township in Mercer County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 4,808 at the 2020 census, down from 5,150 in 2010.
Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 5,150 to 4,806 (-7%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Passages that mention Pine Township, cut from the printed page as they were published.
The flourishing town of Grove City, located in Pine Township, in the southeastern part of the county, was formerly called Pine Grove, and was laid out in 1844-45 by J. G. and Charles Cunningham. That name was chosen by Valentine Cunningham, WTlliam Miller and others, because of the clump of pine trees which stood on the hill west of the present town. The name of Pine Grove was dropped by the post-office department in November, 1882, and the more significant one of Grove City substituted. It was incorporated, by decree of the court of quarter sessions, on the 4th of January, 1883, and the first elec-
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Mills. — Among the most interesting landmarks of any community are its early mills, the remains of which, still standing on the primitive location, often recall memories of past usefulness to the speculative observer. Probably the first one erected in Pine Township was built in 1806, by James Graham. It was a grist-mill, and was located on Wolf Creek, the waters of which supplied the motor power for the operation of the unwieldy mill-stones that ground the grain. A saw-mill, probably the earliest concern of the kind, was erected near the same spot in 1812, by Robert Moore. The wright in charge
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.
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.
Between 4,493 and 5,150 people in every census since 2000.
3 censuses, 2000–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Pine Township’s Wikipedia page.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Pine Township is more historic than 53% of U.S. towns, #704 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.
Two places: the August, Wendell, Forge (listed 1996) and the Jeremiah Sturgeon Chapel (2025).
8% of Pine Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±3.4 points), against a typical 18% for a Pennsylvania town; the median home was built in 1979.
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), the National Register of Historic Places (2), Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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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