Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 55% of U.S. towns · #680 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. What drives it
Its Register listings are the Harmon's Covered Bridge and the Kintersburg Covered Bridge. Below: maps from 1902 on and the census since 1850.
The Rayne Township post office opened in 1862, the earliest record of the town by name. Six smaller post offices, Rayne (1862), Gilpin (1863) and Kimmel (1865), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
Rayne Township was named in honor of Robert Rayne, an early settler on Rayne Run.
More historic than 55% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Rayne Township is more historic than 55% of U.S. towns, #680 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 Rayne Township’s 7.2 sits above most of its state (72% of Pennsylvania towns have fewer) while its 2 listings outnumber those of 60% 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.
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 Rayne Township’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Rayne 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 Rayne Township.
From Wikipedia’s history of Rayne Township.
Rayne Township was created from Washington and Green Townships in 1845. It was named in honor of Robert Rayne, an early settler on Rayne Run.
The Kintersburg Covered Bridge was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979.
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.
Between 1,184 and 3,485 people in every census since 1850.
18 censuses, 1850–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Rayne Township’s Wikipedia page.
Nobody well known was born in Rayne Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Rayne Township post office opened in 1862, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Rayne Township is more historic than 55% of U.S. towns, #680 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.
Two places: the Harmon's Covered Bridge (listed 1979) and the Kintersburg Covered Bridge (1979).
13% of Rayne Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.8 points), against a typical 18% for a Pennsylvania town; the median home was built in 1972.
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 (2), 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.
