Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Photo: Jakec · CC BY-SA 4.0More historic than 75% of U.S. towns · #400 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. What drives it
Its Register listings are the Sodom Schoolhouse and the Col. James Cameron House. Its Register listings are the Sodom Schoolhouse and the Col. James Cameron House. Below: maps from 1893 on.
More historic than 75% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, West Chillisquaque Township is more historic than 75% of U.S. towns, #400 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. All 2 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its National Register listings ranks highest and its share of homes from before 1940 lowest.
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 West Chillisquaque Township’s 11.5 sits above most of its state (78% of Pennsylvania towns have fewer) while its 3 historic buildings outnumber those of 65% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: our sources. 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 West Chillisquaque Township’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of West Chillisquaque 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 West Chillisquaque Township.
Another post office, Chillisquaque, 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).
From Wikipedia’s history of West Chillisquaque Township.
The Rishel Covered Bridge, Col. James Cameron House, and Sodom Schoolhouse are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
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.
Born hereDavid Fullmer is born here
Born hereGeorge Funston Miller is born here
Born hereHerbert Wesley Cummings is 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.
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.
West Chillisquaque Township is more historic than 75% of U.S. towns, #400 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 Sodom Schoolhouse (listed 1974) and the Col. James Cameron House (1989).
14% of West Chillisquaque Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.1 points), against a typical 18% for a Pennsylvania town; the median home was built in 1978.
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 Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (2), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, 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.
