Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 41% of U.S. towns · #843 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. What drives it
Its Register listing is the South Road Bridge, Northern Central Railway. Most of Springfield Township was built recently: 6% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1987. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1908 on, and the census since 1930.
More historic than 41% 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 41% of U.S. towns, #843 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls 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 Springfield Township’s 1.6 sits near the middle of its state (55% of Pennsylvania towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% of U.S. towns.
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 →
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 Springfield Township’s history is told.
Two 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).
Every 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.
From Wikipedia’s history of Springfield Township.
The South Road Bridge, Northern Central Railway was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1995.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Springfield Township, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Swartz, Joseph Steils and Adam Ness, elders of the church, leased to Jacob Koller, John Williams, John Snyder and others, school directors of Springfield Township, leased the schoolhouse erected on the church lands. The property on which the schoolhouse stood, at.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
to medicine. He had charge of some countrychurches, organized the churches at Dover and Quicker 8, and preached at Shuster's church, in Springfield Township, from 1770 to 1787. The record shows baptisms administered by him at Bermudian, 1758- 1762; Kruetz Creek and "Chockely" 1760; Carlisle, in 1762; in the school house at
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 Maps - Pennsylvania - York County - Springfield - ED 67-…
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyOne decade in the archive so far: the 1880s. 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 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.
Grew from 1,351 people in 1930 to 6,028 in 2020, 4 times over.
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.
Springfield Township is more historic than 41% of U.S. towns, #843 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.
One place: the South Road Bridge, Northern Central Railway (listed 1995).
6% 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 1987.
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 (6), 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), 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.
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