The story
Read it all →How Upper Hanover Township came to be
From Wikipedia’s history of Upper Hanover Township.
Upper Hanover Township was formed from a portion of the original Hanover Township in 1741.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
C+History
History · Upper Hanover Township
Upper Hanover Township’s post office opened in 1829
More historic than 43% of U.S. towns · #818 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. What drives it
Most of Upper Hanover Township was built recently: 7% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1989. Below: maps from 1943 on and the census since 1850.
1829first post office
0on the National Register
7%homes built before 1940
Quick answers
How Upper Hanover Township began
When was Upper Hanover Township founded?
1829
The Upper Hanover Township post office opened in 1829, the earliest record of the town by name. Three smaller post offices, New Goshenhoppen (1821), Hillegass (1829) and Upper Hanover (1829), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
First census: 1,741 in 18502020 census: 8,350197 years
How historic is Upper Hanover Township?
C+
What drives the grade ↓More historic than 43% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first Upper Hanover Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Upper Hanover Township’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Upper Hanover Township is more historic than 43% of U.S. towns, #818 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. Its age holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
C+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Upper Hanover Township’s overall grade.
Founding era1829, from the first post office: founded 1776–1849, an older era than 75% of U.S. townsA−Homes built before 19406.9% of homes (±3.6) · typical PA town 17.7% · U.S. 8.4%C+National RegisterNo listings counted · typical PA town 2.1 per 10,000 · U.S. 2.4C−
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 43%
NewerOlder
Pennsylvania towns of 2,500+ (1,035)Ahead of 21%
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 Hanover 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.
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 (±3.6 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 Hanover Township’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Upper Hanover Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Shrank, then grewLost a third of its people between 1880 and 1930, then grew 5-fold.Lost villages3 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Upper Hanover Township, and 5 old place names are still on the map.Deep rootsA post office since 1829: 197 years of Upper Hanover Township.
★ What stands out · Help out
Start Upper Hanover Township’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Upper Hanover Township’s history is told.
Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.People over time
Upper Hanover Township, census by census
Lost a third of its people between 1880 and 1930, then grew 5-fold.
15 censuses, 1850–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Upper Hanover Township’s Wikipedia page.
Places that used to be
Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds
Three other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.
New Goshenhoppen
Hillegass
Upper Hanover
Palm
18201920today
Hamlets and corners on the map
FruitvilleHillegassKleinvillePalmPerkiomen Heights
Gone or out of use
Berman Airportairport
9cemeteries and burying grounds inside Upper Hanover Township
BethesdaEvangelicalHoly CrossHosensack SchwenkfelderKraussdale Meeting House andNew Goshenhoppen United Church of ChristPalm Schwenkfelder ChurchSaint Paul's LutheranYeakel
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Timeline
Upper Hanover Township, 1821 to 2020
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
- 19th century
- 1821Post officeThe New Goshenhoppen post office opens
- 1829Post officeThe New Goshenhoppen post office closes
- 1829Post officeThe Hillegass post office opens
- 1829Post officeThe Upper Hanover post office opens
- 1851Post officeThe Upper Hanover post office closes
- 20th century
- 1906Post officeThe Hillegass post office closes
- 1943
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey - 21st century
- 2020CensusPopulation peaks at 8,350
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 map
Upper Hanover Township on the map, 1943 to 1992
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Upper Hanover Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1943East Greenville sheet · 1:31,680U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Upper Hanover Township.
Famous people
See all →Famous people close to Upper Hanover Township
Nobody well known was born in Upper Hanover Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
S
Steve BurnsAmerican actor · b. 1973
Stories next door
History across the town line
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Questions about Upper Hanover Township’s history
What year was Upper Hanover Township founded?
The Upper Hanover Township post office opened in 1829, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Upper Hanover Township rank for history?
Upper Hanover Township is more historic than 43% of U.S. towns, #818 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 Upper Hanover Township?
7% of Upper Hanover Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±3.6 points), against a typical 18% for a Pennsylvania town; the median home was built in 1989.
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 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.