Founding year: Wikidata. First post office: 1870.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Tower City’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Tower City is more historic than 57% of U.S. towns. 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 Tower City’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 Tower City’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 (±5.5 points). Two sources give 1868.
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 →
What stands out about Tower City’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Tower City was founded by and named for Charlemagne Tower, a New York–born lawyer who had come to Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania in 1846 to work with the legal issues regarding land claims to large coal and mineral deposits in that area. His first Pennsylvania practice was located in Orwigsburg, and then relocated to Pottsville in 1850 when it was made the Schyulkill County seat.
Not long after Tower came to Pottsville, he began furiously purchasing and clearing liens to lands containing large anthracite deposits in and around Schuylkill County. This was part of an elaborate land grab scheme devised by Tower and his partner, Alfred Munson of Utica, NY.
Passages that mention Tower City, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania ... including a genealogical and biographical record of many families and persons in the county1907 · page 535Read the page →
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P. J. McMahan for one year and nine months. On Apr. 8, 1902, he took charge of the parish of Sts. Peter and Paul at Tower City, where he has since continued. This church was started in 1896 by Rev. F. M. Ward, who remained in charge for four years and three months. He was succeeded by Father Corcoran, who was pastor until succeeded by Father Wilson. The congregation numbers fiftyseven families — over 300 persons in all — ^and is in a prosperous and harmonious condition. Sir)ce coming to Tower City Father Wilson
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania ... including a genealogical and biographical record of many families and persons in the county1907 · page 516Read the page →
Read the text
of celebrating the first mass in the church edifice which he in part was influential in building at that place. Two years after his arrival at Wayne he was appointed pastor of the Church of Saints Peter and Paul at Tower City, Pa. His stay there was from Dec. 7, 1896, to Apr. 24, 1901, and in the time he cleared the parish debt, bought the ground for, built and paid for the parish house, remodeled the church and cleared it of debt. From Tower City he came to Tremont as assistant pastor to the Rev. John J. McDevitt, and upon the latter's death,
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Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania1916 · page 188Read the page →
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In 1900, ufHDn the organization of the Citizens' Water Company of Tower City, Mr. Kaufman was made president and is still serving in that capacity, and also as superintendent. In 1896 he established the Greenwood cemetery in Porter township, near Tower City, one of the finest burial places in Schuylkill county, which he still owns, and which is cared for in the manner typical of everything handled by him. Mr. Kaufman owns considerable real estate, timber and farming land, in the vicinity of Tower City. He is a member and past master of Swatara Lodge, No. 267, F. & A. AL, of Tremont, Penn-
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Charles C. Borbach was bom Jan. 24, 1855, in Prussia, had the thorough training and education customary there, and was engaged in farm work until he came to this country, in the year 1886. Landing at New York City, he continued on to Pennsylvania without delay, settling first at Tower City, in Schuylkill county, where he was employed for a year in the mines. Removing thence to Cumbola, he was at that location until 1895, when he settled in Pottsville and engaged in the hotel business at the corner of East Market and Railroad streets, conducting the "Sterling House." After doing business 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.
Timeline
Tower City, 1868 to 1930
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
In 1868, according to Wikidata. Tower City’s post office opened in 1870, and the census of 1890 counted 2,053 people here.
How does Tower City rank for history?
Tower City is more historic than 57% of U.S. towns. 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 Tower City?
71% of Tower City’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.5 points), against a typical 18% for a Pennsylvania town; the median home was built in 1938.
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 (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, 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.
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