Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 17% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Most of Rye Township was built recently: 4% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1983. Below: old-book passages.
More historic than 17% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Rye Township is more historic than 17% 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 Rye 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 Rye Township’s history is told.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Rye Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Rye Township is a township in Perry County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 2,262 at the 2020 census.
Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 2,364 to 2,263 (-4%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Passages that mention Rye Township, cut from the printed page as they were published.
lying between Fishing Creek and Pine Hill, on which he built a sawmill, which was in use long after 1820. Jacob Sidle, an early settler of Fishing Creek, in 1820 was the owner of 480 acres, a sawmill and a gristmill. He then lived in the upper end of the valley, in Rye Township. Shortly after 1820 he took down his gristmill and moved it across Pine Hill to the present site of Dugan's mill.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
lying between Fishing Creek and Pine Hill, on which he built a sawmill, which was in use long after 1820. Jacob Sidle, an early settler of Fishing Creek, in 1820 was the owner of 480 acres, a sawmill and a gristmill. He then lived in the upper end of the valley, in Rye Township. Shortly after 1820 he took down his gristmill and moved it across Pine Hill to the present site of Dugan’s mill.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
tending from the Cumberland County line, at the crest of the Kittatinny or Blue Mountain, to the top of Cove Mountain, where it is bounded by Penn Township. It is located on the Susquehanna River, which is its eastern boundary, and extends westward a mile or more to Rye Township, from which its lands were taken for incorporation in 1865. It differs from every other town in the county from the fact that it is a "railroad town," its male citizens, with few exceptions, being employed by the Pennsylvania Railroad Company. It is not surrounded by any great amount of agri-
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
“Tn 1787 the township of Rye and that part of Greenwood lying south of the Half Falls Mountain were erected into a separate election district, with its voting place ‘at the Union schoolhouse, in the town of Petersburg, in Rye Township.’ “The next change was made by the Act of March 8, 1802, Juniata Greenwood and that part of Buffalo Township lying north of the Half Falls Mountain had their place of holding elections fixed ‘at the house now or lately occupied by, William Woods, at Millerstown, in the township of
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.
Nobody well known was born in Rye Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Another post office, Keystone, 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).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Rye Township is more historic than 17% 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.
4% of Rye Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.3 points), against a typical 18% for a Pennsylvania town; the median home was built in 1983.
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 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.
