Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 81% of U.S. towns · #312 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. What drives it
3 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 5 buildings. Below: maps from 1900 on and the census since 2000.
The St. Thomas Township post office opened in 1824, the earliest record of the town by name. Two smaller post offices, Stone Bridge (1873) and Edenville (1882), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
More historic than 81% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, St. Thomas Township is more historic than 81% of U.S. towns, #312 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its National Register listings 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 St. Thomas Township’s 13.4 sits above most of its state (80% of Pennsylvania towns have fewer) while its 8 historic buildings outnumber those of 74% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: the first post office (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 St. Thomas 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 St. Thomas 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 St. Thomas Township.
From Wikipedia’s history of St. Thomas Township.
The Franklin Furnace Historic District, Chambersburg and Bedford Turnpike Road Company Toll House, and Woodland are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention St. Thomas Township, cut from the printed page as they were published.
A. G. Stark in commanding the company till the campaign was over. He came back to his father's home and remained a short time. In 1865 he went to Waynesboro, learned the blacksmith's trade, and worked two years with Wash McGinly. He then came to St. Thomas Township, and lived with his father until the spring of 1869, when he moved to Charles Gillan' s hotel and worked at blacksmithing three years. He then moved his family to Five Forks, went to Altoona and worked in the railroad shop five months. November 7, 1872, he moved to St. Thomas, bought property and two lots, and has since lived
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.
Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
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.
Between 5,775 and 5,935 people in every census since 2000.
3 censuses, 2000–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on St. Thomas Township’s Wikipedia page.
Nobody well known was born in St. Thomas Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The St. Thomas Township post office opened in 1824, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
St. Thomas Township is more historic than 81% of U.S. towns, #312 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.
Three places: the Woodland (listed 1973), the Chambersburg and Bedford Turnpike Road Company Toll House (1978) and the Franklin Furnace Historic District (1991).
13% of St. Thomas Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±8.2 points), against a typical 18% for a Pennsylvania town; the median home was built in 1976.
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 (3), 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.
