Founding year: the first Sinking Spring post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Sinking Spring’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Sinking Spring is more historic than 56% of U.S. towns, #656 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. Its age holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
B
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Sinking Spring’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 Sinking Spring’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.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C+ to B+. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±6.8 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.
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 →
What stands out about Sinking Spring’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The Indigenous people who first inhabited this area were the Lenni Lenape (meaning the "original people"). The tribe in this immediate area was the Minsi or Wolf tribe. Inhabitants in the Sinking Spring area reportedly called the main spring the sunken spring. White settlers later called it the "sinking spring."
Penn Avenue is the main thoroughfare of Sinking Spring. There is a stone monument in the 3800 block of Penn Avenue. The borough, which has a large number of underground streams that carve out limestone and form sinkholes, was incorporated on March 13, 1913.
Passages that mention Sinking Spring, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Historical and biographical annals of Berks County, Pennsylvania, embracing a concise history of the county and a genealogical and biographical record of representative families, comp. by Morton L. Montgomery ..1909 · page 38Read the page →
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allowed to slumber for seventeen years. In 1853, Reading & Columbia.— Whilst the Lebanon the idea was conceived that Lebanon and Reading, Valley and East Penn railroads were being conas municipal organizations, should encourage the enstructed, the subject of extending a railroad from terprise by a large subscription of the stock, the Sinking Spring (a station on the former) to Colformer, two thousand shares, and the latter, six umbia was discussed with earnestness. In this bethousand. half an Act was passed on May 19, 1857, incorporat- A supplementary Act was accordingly passed on ing the "Reading & Columbia Railroad Company," April 5, 1853, with a provision that the subject of and naming fifteen commissioners. The first pro-
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Berks county in Pennsylvania1886 · page 460Read the page →
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Reading and Columbia. — Whilst the Lebanon Valley and the East Penn Railroads were being constructed, the subject of extending a railroad from Sinking Spring — a point on the former — to Columbia was discussed with earnestness. In this behalf au Act of Assembly was passed on May 19, 1857, incorporating the " Reading and Columbia Railroad Company,"
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History of Berks county in Pennsylvania1886 · page 1174Read the page →
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St. John's Church (Lutheran and Reformed). This fine church edifice is located on a beautiful site in the village of Sinking Spring. It stands on a tract of land of one and a half acres, devised to the society by Christian Ruth, October 30, 1793. The corner-stone was laid, May 3, 1794.. The church was a plain brick building, forty-eight by fifty-six feet, two-
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Historical and biographical annals of Berks County, Pennsylvania, embracing a concise history of the county and a genealogical and biographical record of representative families, comp. by Morton L. Montgomery ..1909 · page 310Read the page →
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Springmont, in Spring township, along the turnpike near Sinking Spring, was laid out by Benjamin Knowles in 1895, and embraced 950 lots. Arlington Place was laid out in Union township, along Schuylkill road, near Monocacy, in 1895.
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
Sinking Spring, decade by decade
2 decades in the archive, from the 1780s to 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 Sinking Spring. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1943Wernersville sheet · 1:62,500
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Sinking Spring.
Every building
Sinking Spring, building by building, 1920
Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a sheet.
The Sinking Spring post office opened in 1827, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Sinking Spring rank for history?
Sinking Spring is more historic than 56% of U.S. towns, #656 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.
How old are the homes in Sinking Spring?
15% of Sinking Spring’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.8 points), against a typical 18% for a Pennsylvania town; the median home was built in 1973.
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 (7), the Library of Congress (1), 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, Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) 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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