Founding year: Wikipedia. First post office: 1880.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Schwenksville’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Schwenksville is more historic than 42% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
C+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Schwenksville’s overall grade.
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 Schwenksville’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.
NoteThe founding year comes from Wikipedia alone; no second source gives 1684.
How sure. Graded on two of the three inputs, so a change in either one moves the letter more than it would with three. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±4.7 points).
Founding year: Wikipedia (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 →
What stands out about Schwenksville’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
General George Washington and the Continental Army camped in and around Schwenksville – September 26 to 29 and October 4 to 8, 1777 – prior to and immediately following the October 4 Battle of Germantown. Washington's headquarters probably was at the Henry Kelly House (demolished), just southwest of the town that he called "Pawling's Mill." The bulk of the Army camped on the opposite side of the Perkiomen Creek, at Pennypacker Mills.
Passages that mention Schwenksville, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Montgomery County, Pennsylvania1923 · page 133Read the page →
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people. In 1897 it was razed and ceremony was had around the corner stone, the contents of which were divided between the Lutherans and Reformed churches. The present church was built in the village of Schwenksville, and consecrated April 21, 1889. The parsonage was erected in 1909, and was given by a member; the following inscription gives the facts: "This parsonage was erected A. D. 1909 by Mary S.
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History of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania1884 · page 1033Read the page →
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1868 the Perkiomen Railroad was completed from the Schuylkill to Skippack Station, as it was then called, about three-fourths of a mile below the present Schwenksville depot; the following year to Mine Run, at the upper end of the village, and not until September, 1874, to the Lehigh Valley. Of all the several improvements, this, of course, promoted its greatest prosperity. The railroad depot was built here
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Montgomery County, Pennsylvania1923 · page 134Read the page →
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Church, below Souderton, was built in 1858. New Jerusalem Reformed Church, in Perkiomen township, known as the Keely's church, was jointly Lutheran and Reformed. In 1835 a new church was built. It is four miles from Trappe, one mile from Schwenksville. Pottstown Reformed Church was established 1765, and its history, which is connected with that of the Lutherans, is somewhat obscure, but the reader is referred to the Lutheran church history for such information as could be secured.
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History of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania1884 · page 1032Read the page →
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Schwenksville. — Thisflourishing village is situated on the west side of the Perkiomen Creek, and in the northwest portion ofthe township. It contains two hotels, four stores, a bank, printing-office, bakery, clothing manufactory, railroad-station, lumber, coal and marble-yards, church, school, creamery and sixty-three houses. The census of 1880 gives three hundred and three inhabitants, of which about one-
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.
By decade
Schwenksville, decade by decade
One decade in the archive so far: the 1890s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings 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 Schwenksville. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1943Perkiomenville sheet · 1:31,680
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Schwenksville.
Then & now
Stand where they stood
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Retake this viewSchwenksville, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, 1894, 1894
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Schwenksville’s page.
In 1684, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Schwenksville’s post office opened in 1880, and the census of 1880 counted 303 people here.
How does Schwenksville rank for history?
Schwenksville is more historic than 42% 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.
How old are the homes in Schwenksville?
18% of Schwenksville’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.7 points), against a typical 18% for a Pennsylvania town; the median home was built in 1969.
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 (6), 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.
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