From Plains Township’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers
How Plains Township began
When was Plains Township founded?
1872
The Plains Township post office opened in 1872, the earliest record of the town by name. Five smaller post offices, Plainsviile (1828), Plains (1872) and Hainsville (1881), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
2020 census: 9,808154 years
How historic is Plains Township?
B−
More historic than 50% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first Plains Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).
History grade
What drives Plains Township’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Plains Township is more historic than 50% of U.S. towns, #749 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
B−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Plains Township’s overall grade.
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 Plains 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.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C− to B. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±5.8 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.
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 →
What stands out about Plains Township’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
10cemeteries and burying grounds inside Plains Township
Anshei EmmesHoly Resurrection Russian OrthodoxOld Sacred Heart SlovakSacred HeartSaint Francis of AssisiSaint JosephSaint Mary's Byzantine CatholicSaint StanislausSaints Peter and PaulSaints Peter and Paul Ukrainian Catholic
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Help out
Start Plains Township’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Plains Township’s history is told.
Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Plains Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1893Pittston sheet · 1:62,500
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Plains Township.
The story so far
Plains Township, in brief
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Plains Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Plains is a census-designated place (CDP) in Plains Township, Pennsylvania, United States. The population of the CDP was 4,335 at the 2010 census, out of 9,961 in the entire township.
Its first post office opened in 1872. Its population held steady between the last two censuses: 9,961 in 2010, 9,808 in 2020.
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
From the old history books
What they wrote about Plains Township in 1909
Passages that mention Plains Township, cut from the printed page as they were published.
A history of Wilkes-Barré, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania1909 · page 50Read the page →
Read the text
Jacob's Plains — originally so named for an Indian chief, to whom further reference will be made in Chapter TV — lie on the left bank of the river within the present limits of Plains Township. Nearly the whole of Jacob's Plains la}- within the bounds of the original town, or township, of Wilkes-Barre, prior to the erection of Plains Township in 1851. Wilkes-Barre Flats lie within the limits of the city, below the bend of the river, and extend about a mile to the line of Hanover Towaiship ; whence they continue, under the name of Upper Hanover Flats,
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.
Timeline
Plains Township, 1828 to 1972
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
The Plains Township post office opened in 1872, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Plains Township rank for history?
Plains Township is more historic than 50% of U.S. towns, #749 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.
How old are the homes in Plains Township?
32% of Plains Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.8 points), against a typical 18% for a Pennsylvania town; the median home was built in 1964.
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, 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.
1892
2026
2026
2026
2026