Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
The Rockdale Township post office opened in 1822, the earliest record of the town by name. Six smaller post offices, Rockdale (1822), Chapinville (1855) and Millers Station (1863), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
More historic than 86% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Rockdale Township is more historic than 86% of U.S. towns. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its share of homes from before 1940 ranks highest and its National Register listings 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 Rockdale Township’s 8.3 sits above most of its state (74% of Pennsylvania towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% 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 Rockdale Township’s history is told.
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 SurveyWikipedia doesn’t have a history of Rockdale Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Rockdale is an unincorporated community in Jefferson County, in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania.
Its first post office opened in 1822. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 1,506 to 1,363 (-9%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Passages that mention Rockdale Township, cut from the printed page as they were published.
John Chapin, Hiram Drake, Lewis Larkin, Abraham Bennett and Asahel Hamilton were among the earliest members. The first meetings were held in a log schoolhouse, in Rockdale Township, close to the line; then in John Chapin’s house, this township, until 1858, when meetings were commenced and continued in a schoolhouse until 1868. In that year a frame church, 28x43, was.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
its name subsequently changed to the New York, Pennsylvania & Ohio Railroad, and in March, 1883, it was leased to the New York, Lake Erie & Western Company for ninety-nine years. It enters Crawford County from the north, near the center of Rockdale Township, and following the general course of French Creek, passes through Rockdale, Cambridge, Woodcock and Mead Townships. About three miles below Meadville, it crosses the creek and takes a southwest direction across the northern portions of Union, Greenwood and East Fallowfield, slightly touching the southern line of Sadsbury. At Stony
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.
Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Rockdale 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 Rockdale Township.
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.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Rockdale Township post office opened in 1822, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Rockdale Township is more historic than 86% 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.
One place: the Bridge in Rockdale Township (listed 1988).
27% of Rockdale Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±8.2 points), against a typical 18% for a Pennsylvania town; the median home was built in 1979.
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 (1), U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, 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.
