Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Photo: Dincher · CC BY-SA 3.0More historic than 86% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Its Register listing is the Bridge in Porter Township. Below: 2 old photos and papers and maps from 1921 on.
Porter Township dates its founding to 1772 (Wikidata).
More historic than 86% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Porter Township is more historic than 86% of U.S. towns. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its age ranks highest and its National Register listings lowest.
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 Porter Township’s 6.6 sits above most of its state (71% 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.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Porter Township’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Porter 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 Porter Township.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
In the archive1940 Census Enumeration District Maps - Pennsylvania - Lycoming County - Porter - ED 41-53
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
In the archiveBridge inFrom Wikipedia’s history of Porter Township.
Porter Township, named for David R. Porter, governor of Pennsylvania (1839–1845), was formed from part of Mifflin Township on May 6, 1840.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
2 decades in the archive, from the 1880s to the 1980s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
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 Porter Township’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.
Nobody well known was born in Porter Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
In 1772, according to Wikidata.
Porter Township is more historic than 86% 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.
One place: the Bridge in Porter Township (listed 1988).
16% of Porter Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.9 points), against a typical 18% for a Pennsylvania town; the median home was built in 1977.
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 (3), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps 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.
2009
