Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 70% of U.S. towns · #479 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. What drives it
Its Register listing is the Fort Pittston School. Below: 18 old photos and papers, maps from 1891 on, and the census since 1860.
Pittston dates its founding to 1853 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1860.
More historic than 70% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Pittston is more historic than 70% of U.S. towns, #479 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its age 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 Pittston’s 1.3 sits near the middle of its state (54% of Pennsylvania towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: Wikidata (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.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Pittston. 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 Pittston.
4 decades in the archive, from the 1860s to the 1900s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
1860sWyomingValleyForts
1864Letter signed Joseph A. Fardell, Scranton, Pennsylvan…Document
1871Map of about 8000 acres of land on Spring Brook in th…Map
1890Dome) burned out of the solid rock by gas in no. 6 sh…
1890Bridge over the Susquehanna
1890Campbell's Ledge, on the Susquehanna near Pittston, Pa
1892Pittston and West Pittston, Pennsylvania
1892Pittston and West Pittston, Pennsylvania
1892Pittston-1Peaked at 18,497 in 1920; 7,591 people lived here in 2020.
17 censuses, 1860–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Pittston’s Wikipedia page.
From Wikipedia’s history of Pittston.
During the Revolutionary War, the Wyoming Valley became a battleground between the British and the Americans. On July 3, 1778, a force of British provincial soldiers, with the assistance of about 500 Iroquois, attacked and killed about 300 Patriot soldiers at the Battle of Wyoming.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Pittston, cut from the printed page as they were published.
MABCT TOWNSHIP Was formed of territory taken from Pittston, Ransom and old Forge townships, January 19, 1880, and named in honor of the sturdy old pioneer and first settler in this region, Zebulou Marey, a name that figures extensively in the first account of the peojile of Pittston township. A census was taken at its formation and found to be 1,159 inhabitants, which in 1890 had increased to 2,904. and the rapidity of the growth of the population since the recent opening of her collieries is specially marked in the giowth of the village of Duryea, which by actual count in June, 1892, had
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
mit, Pa., and Elihu, the subject of this sketch. The last named was reared on the farm and educated in the common schools, and at the age of twenty, began working at the carpenter's trade on the Pennsylvania Gravity Railroad, and later was employed about the mines and railroad in and about Pittston. He was then inside and outside foreman at the Everhart Colliery near Pittston, for eighteen years, after which he removed in 1883 to Mill Creek, since when he has been employed as foreman for different companies, and has held his present position two years. Mr.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
The Miners' Savings Bank, which is now ( 1928) located on the corner of Main and Broad streets, in Pittston, was founded November i, 1869, four years after the close of the Civil War, incorporated with a capital of fifty thousand dollars, and organized for the purpose of doing a general banking business. The old location was just two doors south of the present site, but the directors later purchased a piece of adjoining land and
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.
In the archiveWyomingValleyFortsIn the archiveMap of about 8000 acres of land on Spring Brook in the towns of Pittston and Covington, C…In the archiveDome) burned out of the solid rock by gas in no. 6 shaft of the Pennsylvania Coal Co
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
In the archiveSt. John the Evangelist Church (Pittston, Pennsylvania - 1900 postcard)Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.
1891Sheet 1 of 16Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
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 Pittston’s page.
Retake this view · +15The 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.
Pittston’s post office has been open since 1858.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
In 1853, according to Wikidata. Pittston’s post office opened in 1858, and the census of 1860 counted 3,682 people here.
Pittston is more historic than 70% of U.S. towns, #479 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.
One place: the Fort Pittston School (listed 2022).
42% of Pittston’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.4 points), against a typical 18% for a Pennsylvania town; the median home was built in 1947.
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 (9), the Library of Congress (9), 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), the USGS Geographic Names Information System, Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) 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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