Founding year: Wikidata. First post office: 1849.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Quarryville’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Quarryville is more historic than 60% of U.S. towns, #606 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. Its age holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
B
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Quarryville’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 Quarryville’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.
NoteThe founding year comes from Wikidata alone; no second source gives 1791.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C+ to A−. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±5.7 points).
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 →
What stands out about Quarryville’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The land which became Quarryville Borough was originally located within Providence Township and was the property of a John ("Swamp John") Groff. There was a stone quarry adjacent to the village where many of the workers lived. This village became larger as the work force grew, hence the town acquired the name "Quarryville". Locals say that one day the men went to lunch and returned to find the quarry half-full of water. The quarry site remains, now full of water.
Every September, the community is home to the Solanco Fair, which began in 1950 and takes place on the Solanco Fairgrounds.
The final scenes in the movie The Boys from Brazil (film) take place on a farm near Quarryville.
Passages that mention Quarryville, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania1883Read the page →
Read the text
There was no business nor tradesmen at Quarryville up to the fall of 1833. j In the earlier part of that year Jeremiah B. and I Lewis Haines had purchased from the Barrs a tract of twelve acres of ground, on which, during the I summer, they erected a frame store and dwellinghouse (now the " Railroad" Hotel). Previous to this, I and since 1830, Messrs. Haines and Slater Brown had
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania1883Read the page →
Read the text
At that time there was not a single house in what now comprises the village of Quarryville. At the I termination of his first quarter in teaching he returned to his father's, and remained working on the farm until the fall of 1815, when, at the solicitation of Christian Herr, he undertook to teach a sclioid in his ' neighborhood, in Lampeter townshiji. There he continued as a teacher until the spring of 1821, when he
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.
By decade
Quarryville, decade by decade
2 decades in the archive, from the 1880s to the 1920s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
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.
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.
In 1791, according to Wikidata. Quarryville’s post office opened in 1849, and the census of 1880 counted 346 people here.
How does Quarryville rank for history?
Quarryville is more historic than 60% of U.S. towns, #606 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 Quarryville?
19% of Quarryville’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.7 points), against a typical 18% for a Pennsylvania town; the median home was built in 1977.
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), Wikipedia, 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.
1929
2012
2012
2009