Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 90% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Its Register listing is the Merit Underwear Company. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1949 on, and the census since 1880.
The Shoemakersville post office opened in 1833, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 1921.
More historic than 90% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Shoemakersville is more historic than 90% 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 Shoemakersville’s 7.2 sits above most of its state (72% 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.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Shoemakersville’s history is told.
Peaked at 2,124 in 2000; 1,360 people lived here in 2020.
11 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Shoemakersville’s Wikipedia page.
From Wikipedia’s history of Shoemakersville.
Shoemakersville was named for the first settlers, Henry and Charles Shoemaker. It was a thriving apparel manufacturing town.
The Merit Underwear Company factory was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1996.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
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 SurveyEvery edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Shoemakersville. 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 Shoemakersville.
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.
Nobody well known was born in Shoemakersville itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Shoemakersville post office opened in 1833, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1921.
Shoemakersville is more historic than 90% 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 Merit Underwear Company (listed 1996).
44% of Shoemakersville’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±9.4 points), against a typical 18% for a Pennsylvania town; the median home was built in 1947.
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 (6), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
Date?
2018
2015
2015
2013
2013
