Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 45% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1902 on, and the census since 1900.
Speers dates its founding to 1860 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1900.
More historic than 45% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Speers is more historic than 45% 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 Speers’ 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: Wikidata (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 Speers’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Speers. 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 Speers.
Peaked at 1,479 in 1960; 1,088 people lived here in 2020.
13 censuses, 1900–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Speers’ Wikipedia page.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Speers yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Speers is a borough that is located in Washington County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 1,087 at the time of the 2020 census.
Speers was established in 1860. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 1,154 to 1,088 (-6%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Passages that mention Speers, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Speers' Baptist Church is on the banks of the Monongahela River, at Speers' Ferry. The church was organized in 1795. Its \
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.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
In the archive1940 Census Enumeration District Descriptions - Pennsylvania - Washington County - ED 63-…
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyOne decade in the archive so far: the 1850s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Speers’ page.
Retake this view · +15Nobody well known was born in Speers itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Speers had its own post office from 1882 to 1920.
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.
In 1860, according to Wikidata. Speers’ post office opened in 1882, and the census of 1900 counted 369 people here.
Speers is more historic than 45% 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.
25% of Speers’ homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.3 points), against a typical 18% for a Pennsylvania town; the median home was built in 1953.
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 (2), 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.
2010
