The story
Read it all →How Upper Bern Township came to be
From Wikipedia’s history of Upper Bern Township.
The Kauffman Mill was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1990 .
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
B−History
History · Upper Bern Township
Upper Bern Township’s post office opened in 1863, and 12% of its homes were built before 1940
More historic than 49% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Its Register listing is the Kauffman Mill. Below: maps from 1889 on and the census since 1980.
1863first post office
1on the National Register
12%homes built before 1940
Quick answers
How Upper Bern Township began
When was Upper Bern Township founded?
1863
The Upper Bern Township post office opened in 1863, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Upper Bern (1863), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
First census: 1,159 in 19802020 census: 1,606163 years
How historic is Upper Bern Township?
B−
What drives the grade ↓More historic than 49% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first Upper Bern Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Upper Bern Township’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Upper Bern Township is more historic than 49% of U.S. towns. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.
B−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Upper Bern Township’s overall grade.
Founding era1863, from the first post office: founded 1850–1899, an older era than 37% of U.S. townsC+Homes built before 194011.5% of homes (±5.3) · typical PA town 17.7% · U.S. 8.4%B−National Register1 listing, 5.2 per 10,000 residents · typical PA town 2.1 · U.S. 2.4B
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 49%
NewerOlder
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 Upper Bern Township’s 5.2 sits above most of its state (68% of Pennsylvania towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% 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 (±5.3 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.
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 Upper Bern Township’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
★ What stands out · Help out
Start Upper Bern Township’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Upper Bern Township’s history is told.
Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.On the map
Upper Bern Township on the map, 1889 to 1999
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Upper Bern Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1889Pottsville sheet · 1:62,500U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Upper Bern Township.
Timeline
Upper Bern Township, 1830 to 1906
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
By decade
No old photos in the archives yet
Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Be the first to add onePhotograph a print flat, in daylight, no flash.
Add from your albumOn the National Register
1 historic place in Upper Bern Township
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
1
each building in a district counts
first listed
1990
Kauffman Mill
Buildings
Architectural styles listings
Gristmill with Attached Dwelling1
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
People over time
Upper Bern Township, census by census
Between 1,159 and 1,734 people in every census since 1980.
4 censuses, 1980–2010.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Upper Bern Township’s Wikipedia page.
Famous people
See all →Famous people close to Upper Bern Township
Nobody well known was born in Upper Bern Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
D
Doug ClemensAmerican baseball player · b. 1939
M
Mike TobashAmerican politician · b. 1964Places that used to be
Lost post offices, old corners and burying grounds
Another post office, Upper Bern, opened and closed inside today’s town.
Shartlesville
Upper Bern
18301930today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Shartlesville
3cemeteries and burying grounds inside Upper Bern Township
BellemanFriedens UnionSeifert Family
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Stories next door
History across the town line
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Questions about Upper Bern Township’s history
What year was Upper Bern Township founded?
The Upper Bern Township post office opened in 1863, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Upper Bern Township rank for history?
Upper Bern Township is more historic than 49% 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.
What is on the National Register in Upper Bern Township?
One place: the Kauffman Mill (listed 1990).
How old are the homes in Upper Bern Township?
12% of Upper Bern Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.3 points), against a typical 18% for a Pennsylvania town; the median home was built in 1980.
Memory lane
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
Start a conversation
Sources
Where this page comes from
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 (1), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.