Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 86% of U.S. towns · #241 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. What drives it
Its Register listings are the Nook, The and the Diamond Silk Mill. Below: maps from 1908 on and the census since 1850.
Spring Garden Township dates its founding to 1750 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1850.
More historic than 86% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Spring Garden Township is more historic than 86% of U.S. towns, #241 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its age ranks highest and its share of homes from before 1940 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 Spring Garden Township’s 2.9 sits near the middle of its state (61% of Pennsylvania towns have fewer) while its 4 historic buildings outnumber those of 68% 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.
Old hamlets and crossroads still carry their names on the map.
Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Spring Garden Township’s history is told.
Lost two-thirds of its people between 1890 and 1900, then grew more than tenfold.
18 censuses, 1850–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Spring Garden Township’s Wikipedia page.
From Wikipedia’s history of Spring Garden Township.
The historic Francis Farquhar house, known as The Nook, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.
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 SurveyWeddings 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 Spring Garden Township. 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 Spring Garden Township.
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 Spring Garden Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
In 1750, according to Wikidata. the census of 1850 counted 2,435 people here.
Spring Garden Township is more historic than 86% of U.S. towns, #241 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.
Two places: the Nook, The (listed 1982) and the Diamond Silk Mill (1992).
15% of Spring Garden 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 1957.
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 the National Register of Historic Places (2), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia) 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.
