Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 64% of U.S. towns · #553 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. What drives it
Most of Upper St. Clair Township was built recently: 3% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1972. Its Register listings are the Gilfillan Farm and the Boyce Station. Below: maps from 1904 on and the census since 1850.
Upper St. Clair Township dates its founding to 1788 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1850.
More historic than 64% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Upper St. Clair Township is more historic than 64% of U.S. towns, #553 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. Its age holds the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls 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 Upper St. Clair Township’s 7.2 sits above most of its state (72% of Pennsylvania towns have fewer) while its 15 historic buildings outnumber those of 78% of U.S. towns.
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 →
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Five other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Upper St. Clair Township’s history is told.
Lost half of its people between 1860 and 1870, then grew more than tenfold.
18 censuses, 1850–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Upper St. Clair Township’s Wikipedia page.
From Wikipedia’s history of Upper St. Clair Township.
The first European settler in present-day Upper St. Clair was John Fife, who settled near what is now the intersection of Washington and McLaughlin Run roads in 1762.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
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 SurveyWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Upper St. Clair Township. 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 Upper St. Clair Township.
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
In 1788, according to Wikidata. Upper St. Clair Township’s post office opened in 1845, and the census of 1850 counted 1,626 people here.
Upper St. Clair Township is more historic than 64% of U.S. towns, #553 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.
Two places: the Gilfillan Farm (listed 1979) and the Boyce Station (1982).
3% of Upper St. Clair Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±1.3 points), against a typical 18% for a Pennsylvania town; the median home was built in 1972.
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 the National Register of Historic Places (2), Wikipedia, 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) 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.
