Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Photo: Shuvaev · CC BY-SA 3.0More historic than 93% of U.S. towns · #142 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. What drives it
6 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 9 buildings. Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1893 on, and the census since 1930.
Springfield Township dates its founding to 1681 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1930.
More historic than 93% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Springfield Township is more historic than 93% of U.S. towns, #142 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 Springfield Township’s 8.6 sits above most of its state (75% of Pennsylvania towns have fewer) while its 18 historic buildings outnumber those of 79% 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.
Six other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Springfield Township’s history is told.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Born hereGeorge M. Ottinger is born here
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
In the archiveWhitemarsh 1913From Wikipedia’s history of Springfield Township.
Four locations in Springfield Township, Black Horse Inn, Carson College for Orphan Girls, Springfield Mill, and Yeakle and Miller Houses, are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Springfield Township, cut from the printed page as they were published.
The Springfield Township Presbyterian Church was on the east side of the turnpike, near the railroad, in Flourtown. It is a two-story stone building 36 by 50 feet, was built in 1857, and the only house of worship in the township.
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.
One decade in the archive so far: the 1910s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
20252025-09-15 15 59 19 Aerial view centered on the borde…
2023Phil-Mont Christian Academy, the former Springfield T…
2017Springfield Township Montgomery County
2016Oreland Mill Road Townhouses
2013Sandy Run Quarry
2012Yeakle and Miller Houses, Erdenheim PA 500
2012Springfield Township Building
20091687THolmeMapWissaEvery edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Springfield 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 Springfield Township.
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 Springfield Township’s page.
Retake this view · +15The 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.
Between 5,541 and 22,394 people in every census since 1930.
10 censuses, 1930–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Springfield Township’s Wikipedia page.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
In 1681, according to Wikidata. Springfield Township’s post office opened in 1805, and the census of 1930 counted 5,541 people here.
Springfield Township is more historic than 93% of U.S. towns, #142 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.
6 listings: 5 buildings, among them the Springfield Mill (listed 1976, the first), and 1 historic district, the Carson College for Orphan Girls, with 9 contributing buildings. 18 historic buildings in all.
20% of Springfield Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±3.0 points), against a typical 18% for a Pennsylvania town; the median home was built in 1954.
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 (9), the Library of Congress (1), the National Register of Historic Places (6), 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 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.
1919
