Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 61% of U.S. towns · #589 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. What drives it
4 places in town are on the National Register. Below: maps from 1902 on and the census since 2000.
The Rapho Township post office opened in 1850, the earliest record of the town by name. Six smaller post offices, Mastersonville (1846), Rapho (1850) and Sporting Hill (1851), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
More historic than 61% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Rapho Township is more historic than 61% of U.S. towns, #589 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. Its National Register listings hold 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 Rapho Township’s 17.3 sits above most of its state (81% of Pennsylvania towns have fewer) while its 21 historic buildings outnumber those of 80% of U.S. towns.
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 →
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Six other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.
Abraham Gibbel Family Cemetery · Becker Graveyard · Chiques Church of the Brethren Cemetery · Clearview Mennonite Church Cemetery · Earhart Cemetery · East Fairview Church of the Brethren Cemetery · Eby United Brethren Cemetery · Erisman Mennonite Cemetery · Frick / Erisman Graveyard · Gantz Menonite Church Cemetery · Gibble Graveyard · Givler Cemetery · Greiner Cemetery · Henry Eshelman Farm Cemetery · Hernle Cemetery · Hernley Mennonite Cemetery · Horst Cemetery · Hossler Cemetery · Kauffman Cemetery · Keener Cemetery · Longenecker Graveyard · Mastersonville Brethren in Christ Cemetery · Mount Hope Mennonite Cemetery · Newtown United Methodist Cemetery · Nissley Cemetery · Pleasant View Cemetery · Ruhls United Methodist Church Cemetery · Shearer Cemetery · Shelly Gravesite · Shenk Cemetery · Shumaker Cemetery · Stauffer Graveyard · Witmer Cemetery
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Rapho Township’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Rapho 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 Rapho Township.
From Wikipedia’s history of Rapho Township.
This township was named after Raphoe, County Donegal, Ireland.
The Kauffman's Distillery Covered Bridge, Mount Hope Estate, Forry's Mill Covered Bridge, and Siegrist's Mill 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.
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyWeddings 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. Boundary changes and added documentation are counted with their listing.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Between 8,578 and 12,058 people in every census since 2000.
3 censuses, 2000–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Rapho Township’s Wikipedia page.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Rapho Township post office opened in 1850, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Rapho Township is more historic than 61% of U.S. towns, #589 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.
4 listings: 1 building, among them the Mount Hope Estate (listed 1980, the first), and 3 structures. 21 historic buildings in all.
12% of Rapho Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±3.6 points), against a typical 18% for a Pennsylvania town; the median home was built in 1988.
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 Wikidata (3), the National Register of Historic Places (4), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), 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.
