Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 42% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Below: maps from 1894 on and the census since 1920.
The Trainer post office opened in 1882, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 1919.
Trainer is named after the Linwood Mills owner David Trainer Sr. The borough of Trainer was originally part of Lower Chichester Township and was incorporated as a borough in 1919.
More historic than 42% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Trainer is more historic than 42% of U.S. towns. 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 Trainer’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: 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 Trainer’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Trainer. 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 Trainer.
From Wikipedia’s history of Trainer.
Trainer is named after the Linwood Mills owner David Trainer Sr. The borough of Trainer was originally part of Lower Chichester Township and was incorporated as a borough in 1919.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Trainer, cut from the printed page as they were published.
by John Price, the then owner of the land. In 1790, Samuel Price, his son, owned the mill, which was operated by George Pearson. In 1806, Samuel Price having died previous to 1802, David Trainer, the father of the present owner, purchased the grist-mill, and in 1811 a John K. Pine built a saw-mill near by on his late father's estate ; but subsequent to 1813, David Trainer, Sr., in connection with Gideon
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
In 1837 the old grist-mill was changed into a cotton-factory, and an addition, eighty by forty feet, two stories in height, erected, which was operated by David Trainer, Jr., and John Hastings, Jr., until 1842, when, the firm having lost heavily in that year through the failure of the commission house with whom they dealt, the partnership was dissolved, and under discouraging prospects David Trainer contin-
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.
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyBetween 1,367 and 2,358 people in every census since 1920.
11 censuses, 1920–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Trainer’s Wikipedia page.
Nobody well known was born in Trainer itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Trainer had its own post office from 1882 to 1902.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Trainer post office opened in 1882, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1919.
Trainer is more historic than 42% 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.
21% of Trainer’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±10.1 points), against a typical 18% for a Pennsylvania town; the median home was built in 1957.
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 (4), 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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2023
2007