Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 71% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Below: 1 old photo or paper from 1880 on and old-book passages.
The Richlandtown post office opened in 1839, the earliest record of the town by name.
More historic than 71% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Richlandtown is more historic than 71% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull 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 Richlandtown’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.
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.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Richlandtown’s history is told.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Richlandtown yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Its first post office opened in 1839. Its population held steady between the last two censuses: 1,327 in 2010, 1,353 in 2020.
Passages that mention Richlandtown, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Richlandtown, two miles and a half north-east of Quakertown, is a village of twenty-five houses. Among the earliest settlers at this point were John Smith, a soldier of the Revolution, John Berger, Philip Gruver, and Daniel Walp. Walp built the first house, a frame, in 1804, but the oldest dwelling now standing was built by Abraham Oberholtzer more than half a century ago, and now owned by William Freed. This place was first called " Three Lanes Ends," and then, in succession, Ducktown, Frogtown, Flatland, and the
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.
One decade in the archive so far: the 1880s. 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 Richlandtown’s page.
Retake this view · +15Nobody well known was born in Richlandtown itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Richlandtown’s post office has been open since 1839.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
The Richlandtown post office opened in 1839, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Richlandtown is more historic than 71% 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.
32% of Richlandtown’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±13.2 points), against a typical 18% for a Pennsylvania town; the median home was built in 1982.
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 (4), 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.
1880
2023
2023
2014