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C+History
History · Smithfield Township

1 of Smithfield Township’s places is on the National Register

More historic than 40% of U.S. towns · #863 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. What drives it

Its Register listing is the Shrawder-Sittig House. Most of Smithfield Township was built recently: 6% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1986. Below: maps from 1944 on and the census since 2000.

1on the National Register
6%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory
Photo: Jerrye & Roy Klotz, MD · CC BY-SA 4.0
Quick answers

About Smithfield Township’s history

How historic is Smithfield Township?

C+

More historic than 40% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
The full story ↓
History grade

What drives Smithfield Township’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Smithfield Township is more historic than 40% of U.S. towns, #863 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.

C+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Smithfield Township’s overall grade.
Founding eraNo founding year we can rely on, so the grade uses the other two–Homes built before 19406.1% of homes (±2.7) · typical PA town 17.7% · U.S. 8.4%CNational Register1 listing, 1.3 per 10,000 residents · typical PA town 2.1 · U.S. 2.4B−
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 40%
NewerOlder
Pennsylvania towns of 2,500+ (1,035)Ahead of 17%

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 Smithfield Township’s 1.3 sits near the middle of its state (54% of Pennsylvania towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% of U.S. towns.

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 (±2.7 points) is firm at this size.

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 →

What stands out about Smithfield Township’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Smithfield Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Lost villages2 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Smithfield Township, and 5 old place names are still on the map.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Smithfield Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Smithfield Township’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

Two other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.

Craig's Meadow
1826–1849
Marshalls Creek
1849–today
North Water Gap
1901–1931
Shawnee On Delaware
1909–today
Minisink Hills
1931–today
18201920today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Craigs MeadowMarshalls CreekMinisink HillsNorth Water GapShawnee on Delaware
Gone or out of use
Brown SchoolschoolEllenberger SchoolschoolShawnee on Delaware Post Officepost office
4cemeteries and burying grounds inside Smithfield Township
Franklin HillSaint Marks ChurchSaint Pauls LutheranShawnee Presbyterian Church

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

The story

How Smithfield Township came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Smithfield Township.

Read it all →

"In 1746, the first action was taken for the formation of Smithfield Township, the first municipal division north of the Blue Mountains. The petition contained the names of twenty-seven landholders." The township comprised all the settlements above the mountains. Originally in Bucks County, Smithfield Township was erected in 1748. "In 1752, when Northampton County was set off from Bucks County, it comprised all of Smithfield which included what is now Lehigh, Carbon, Monroe, Pike and Wayne" Counties.

The Shawnee-Minisink Site was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2007. Worthington Hall was listed in 1978 and delisted in 1986 after being demolished.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Smithfield Township, 1826 to 1944

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1826Post officeThe Craig's Meadow post office opens
  3. 1849Post officeThe Craig's Meadow post office closes
  4. 1849Post officeThe Marshalls Creek post office opens
  5. 20th century
  6. 1901Post officeThe North Water Gap post office opens
  7. 1931Post officeThe North Water Gap post office closes
  8. 1944On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Smithfield Township, decade by decade

Today1 recent
Fort Depuy August 4 20232023Fort Depuy August 4 2023
On the map

Smithfield Township on the map, 1944 to 1993

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Smithfield Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Smithfield Township on the 1944 USGS mapSmithfield Township on the 1968 USGS mapSmithfield Township on the 1973 USGS mapSmithfield Township on the 1983 USGS mapSmithfield Township on the 1993 USGS map1944East Stroudsburg sheet · 1:24,000

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Smithfield Township.

On the National Register

1 historic place in Smithfield Township

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
1
each building in a district counts
first listed
2023
Shrawder-Sittig House
Shrawder-Sittig House
Buildings
All 1 listings
Shrawder-Sittig HouseBuilding · listed 2023

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

People over time

Smithfield Township, census by census

02,0004,0006,0008,00020002020Peak: 8,001

Between 5,672 and 8,001 people in every census since 2000.

3 censuses, 2000–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Smithfield Township’s Wikipedia page.

Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

East Stroudsburg2 historic placesADelaware Water Gap1 historic placenot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townStroud TownshipIts storyC−Upper Mount Bethel TownshipIts storyB−

Questions about Smithfield Township’s history

How does Smithfield Township rank for history?

Smithfield Township is more historic than 40% of U.S. towns, #863 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.

What is on the National Register in Smithfield Township?

One place: the Shrawder-Sittig House (listed 2023).

How old are the homes in Smithfield Township?

6% of Smithfield Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.7 points), against a typical 18% for a Pennsylvania town; the median home was built in 1986.

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
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Sources

Where this page comes from

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 (1), Wikidata (1), 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.