Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 33% of U.S. towns · #917 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. What drives it
Below: maps from 1894 on and the census since 1930.
More historic than 33% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Ridley Township is more historic than 33% of U.S. towns, #917 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. 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 Ridley Township’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: 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 Ridley Township’s history is told.
Two 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).
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Ridley 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 Ridley Township.
From Wikipedia’s history of Ridley Township.
Ridley Township derives its name from Ridley, Cheshire, England, from where John Simcock, one of the original settlers, emigrated. The first mention of Ridley in court records is from 1684 when tax collectors were appointed for the township.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Ridley Township, cut from the printed page as they were published.
" Your Petitioners therefore Pray that your Honours would be Pleased to take your Petitioners Case into Consideration and order that all that part of Ridley Township aforesaid lying to the Westward of the Eastermost line of the land late of Thomas Dell, the Elder, & Thomas Dell, y" younger, deceas"*, may be Joined to the Township of Nether Providence, and that the same may Always hereafter be deemed Taken and Esteemed to be part of the said Township of Nether Providence and your Petitioners as in Duty Bound Shall Pray."
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.
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.
Between 8,326 and 39,085 people in every census since 1930.
10 censuses, 1930–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Ridley Township’s Wikipedia page.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Ridley Township is more historic than 33% of U.S. towns, #917 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.
13% of Ridley Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.9 points), against a typical 18% for a Pennsylvania town; the median home was built in 1957.
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 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.
