Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 68% of U.S. towns · #510 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. What drives it
Its Register listings are the Knoebel, Lawrence L., Covered Bridge, the Kreigbaum Covered Bridge and the Richards Covered Bridge. Below: maps from 1892 on.
More historic than 68% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Ralpho Township is more historic than 68% of U.S. towns, #510 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. All 2 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its National Register listings ranks highest and its share of homes from before 1940 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 Ralpho Township’s 7.2 sits above most of its state (72% of Pennsylvania towns have fewer) while its 3 listings outnumber those of 65% 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 Ralpho Township’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Ralpho 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 Ralpho Township.
Another post office, Bear Gap, 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).
From Wikipedia’s history of Ralpho Township.
The Lawrence L. Knoebel Covered Bridge, Kreigbaum Covered Bridge, and Richards Covered Bridge are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs 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.
Nobody well known was born in Ralpho Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Ralpho Township is more historic than 68% of U.S. towns, #510 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.
Three places: the Knoebel, Lawrence L., Covered Bridge (listed 1979), the Kreigbaum Covered Bridge (1979) and the Richards Covered Bridge (1979).
12% of Ralpho Township’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 1976.
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 the National Register of Historic Places (3), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) 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.
