Founding year: the first Throop post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Wikidata: 1893.
History grade
What drives Throop’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Throop is more historic than 50% of U.S. towns, #743 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
B−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Throop’s overall grade.
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 Throop’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.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C− to B+. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±7.4 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date; Wikidata’s 1893 falls in the same era, so the grade doesn’t depend on which one is used.
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 →
What stands out about Throop’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Throop. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1889Scranton sheet · 1:62,500
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Throop.
People over time
Throop, census by census
Peaked at 8,027 in 1930; 4,065 people lived here in 2020.
13 censuses, 1900–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Throop’s Wikipedia page.
The story so far
Throop, in brief
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Throop yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Throop ( TROOP) is a borough in Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania, United States, adjoining Scranton. Formerly, coal mining and silk manufacturing provided employment for the people of Throop, who numbered 2,204 in 1900 and 5,133 in 1910. In 1940, 7,382 people lived in Throop. The population was 4,078 at the 2020 census.
Its first post office opened in 1882. Its population held steady between the last two censuses: 4,088 in 2010, 4,065 in 2020.
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
From the old history books
What they wrote about Throop in 1928
Passages that mention Throop, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Jubilee history commemorative of the fiftieth anniversary of the creation of Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania ..1928 · page 1139Read the page →
Read the text
The Throop State Bank.—Among the smaller but sound banking institutions of Lackawanna County is the Throop State Bank of Throop. It was organized in 1920 and the following men have since served as its officers: August Ollendick, president; Dr. J. J. McDonnell, vice president ; and G. J. Evan, cashier.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Jubilee history commemorative of the fiftieth anniversary of the creation of Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania ..1928 · page 1180Read the page →
Read the text
Following the two years at Cornell, Mr. Stevenson assisted his father in the building of the Storrs branch of the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad Company, and also in the construction of the Pancoast Colliery and the opening of the mines at Throop, Pa. He was next employed by the Pennsylvania Coal Company in planning for the change of the old Pennsylvania Gravity Railroad between Pittston and Hawley to the steam road known as the Erie & Wyoming Valley. During the interval between the preliminary surveys for this change and the beginning of construction,
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.
Timeline
Throop, 1882 to 1930
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
The Throop post office opened in 1882, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1893.
How does Throop rank for history?
Throop is more historic than 50% of U.S. towns, #743 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.
How old are the homes in Throop?
33% of Throop’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±7.4 points), against a typical 18% for a Pennsylvania town; the median home was built in 1948.
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 (4), 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, Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) 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.
2026
2015
2015
2011