Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 26% of U.S. towns · #971 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. What drives it
Most of Summit Township was built recently: 9% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 2000. Below: maps from 1899 on and the census since 1980.
More historic than 26% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Summit Township is more historic than 26% of U.S. towns, #971 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. 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 Summit Township’s 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: 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 Summit 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 Summit 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 Summit Township.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Summit Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Summit Township is a township in Erie County, Pennsylvania. The population was 7,339 at the time of the 2020 census, up from 6,603 at the 2010 census.
Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 6,603 to 7,342 (+11%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Passages that mention Summit Township, cut from the printed page as they were published.
road, by whicli the French transported goods from Presque Isle to Waterford, and over which the army passed that defeated Braddock near Pittsburgh, in 1755, crossed the township from north to south, and most of it is still used as a public thoroughfare. Summit Township has no villages, and but one post office. A post office was kept at Jackson's Station some years after the opening of the railroad, which was moved to Whiteford's Corners. After a lingering existence, it was abandoned about eight years ago, and again revived under the name of Godard in 1882. Another was maintained for a time a
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Summit Township had at one period as many as four saw mills on Walnut Creek, all of which have been abandoned. There are now two saw mills in the township, one near W. A. Bean's, owned by Joseph Topper & Son, and one near Jackson's Station, owned by Mr. Haibach. At Whiteford's Corners there is a grocery, schoolhouse and a neat collection of buildings. Close by is a favorite picnic grove, on the line of the railroad. The township contains two cheese factories, the Excelsior, near the railroad, on the public road from the Lake Pleasant road to the Waterford Plank Road, and Bean's, near the residence of
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.
Between 5,284 and 7,339 people in every census since 1980.
5 censuses, 1980–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Summit Township’s Wikipedia page.
Nobody well known was born in Summit Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Summit Township is more historic than 26% of U.S. towns, #971 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.
9% of Summit Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.3 points), against a typical 18% for a Pennsylvania town; the median home was built in 2000.
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), 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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